MOVIE DETAILS
Runtime: 153 minutes
Release Date: December 8th, 2009
Rating: 7.6 out of 10
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ronald Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Jim Broadbent (Professor Horace Slughorn), Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Michael Gambon (Dumbledore), Alan Rickman (Snape), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy)
Written by: J.K. Rowling (novel), Steve Kloves (screenplay)
Directed by: David Yates
TRAILER
OVERVIEW – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth installment of the Harry Potter saga, follows the world’s most popular wizard, Harry Potter (Radcliffe), and his friends as the fight against Dark Lord Voldemort continues. Like an individual episode from a television series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is not a film that can be treated as a stand alone piece. As all Harry Potter fans know, Half-Blood Prince is but an individual part of a detailed fantasy world in which wizards and witches live in secret, sending their young to train at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to become… well, witches and wizards.
Like previous Harry Potter films, Half-Blood Prince is based upon its corresponding novel by J.K Rowling, and follows the plot of the novel accurately. Throughout most of the film’s approximate two and a half hour length, the major plot points of Rowling’s novel are presented and adequately explained so that viewers who have not read Rowling’s novels won’t feel as though they’ve missed out on anything important. Expect to see some major plot and character development, as well as a lot of unfolding romances between several of the main characters.
This Harry Potter film is all about progressing the story, which by this point has shifted from light-spirited to very dark and bleak. Don’t expect much action to go on in this film; the few action scenes that exist are fairly short. However, though this film may be regarded by many as one of the more dull installments (due to the lack of magic wand fighting and dark-wizard slaying), it is crucially important to the overall Harry Potter saga (and is still entertaining) because it provides the viewers with overdue answers to some very important questions: How can Harry defeat Lord Voldemort, and what is his connection to the powerful dark wizard?
With the final Harry Potter films on the horizon, Half-Blood Prince does a great job of continuing the story that so many people have come to love. The acting in the film is well done. Each character is genuinely portrayed in accordance to Rowling’s novels, often with strong emotions that will leave many viewers feeling empathetic. Looking back at the previous Harry Potter films, it’s obvious how much the overall acting of the cast as a whole has matured.
Daniel Radcliffe is no longer a little kid, and this film helps its audience realize that Harry and his friends are growing up. Fights that were once trivial between Harry and Draco Malfoy have now turned deadly; romantic crushes for Harry and his friends are now blossoming into legitimate relationships; threats of the Dark Lord’s return are now all-too-true as he begins regaining control over wizard and muggle worlds alike. All this combined with a lot of love potions and snogging makes for one pretty good package that us muggles can enjoy. Yates does a great job of setting the scene for the upcoming Harry Potter films by creating an ominous and decaying Hogwarts, a dark theme that surely foreshadows what is yet to come.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince also comes with a slew of extra features that are sure to make Harry Potter fans ultra happy. The first item up on the special features list is an exciting sneak preview of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a short piece that all Harry Potter fans will surely be excited to see. Next up on the list is the “close up with the cast of Harry Potter,” a special feature that follows various cast members of Harry Potter as they talk about many of the special effect devices used in the film, the movie editing process, the training of the owls used in the movie, film stunts, and much more.
Afterward is a one-minute drill of each of the main cast members in which they have to try and sum up their characters. Shortly after viewers will get a chance to see a Q & A session with the cast to get to know them better. Finally, there is a brief preview of “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” a Harry Potter theme park located in Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
My Recommendation: To truly appreciate this film, you must be familiar with the entirety of the Harry Potter saga. You will have want to have seen the previous Harry Potter movies, or at least have read the books before watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Fans of the Harry Potter story will definitely want to add this one to their collection. If you’re one of those who are just mildly entertained by what Harry Potter has to offer, then Half-Blood Prince is worth renting.
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