Film Review – Harry Potter And Half-Blood Prince
- July 17, 2009
- Hollywood News
- Add a comment
The saga of boy wizard Harry Potter (now almost a man-wizard) remains as fascinating as ever in this film, based on the sixth book in J.K. Rowling’s series. Handsome but dark — literally sunless — the movie has fewer action sequences, a lot of thoughtful dialogue and assumes near-total knowledge of 
the books, though of course director David Yates had to leave some things out or change them for the film. In a way, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” despite a major incident in its closing scenes, is a sort of place-holder for the two-part finale of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” scheduled for 2010 and 2011.
The PG rating, as opposed to the last two films (”Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”), which were PG-13, reflects the fact that the action sequences are less violent and bloody. Yet the film is still iffy for children younger than 10. It has scary images, as when the Death Eaters collapse London’s famous footbridge full of people and when skeletal beings swarm out of an underground lake to attack Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon).
With Harry and his friends now in their later teens and experiencing romantic longing, there is more sexual innuendo. After the Death Eaters attack London, Dumbledore takes Harry to meet professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent). Slughorn knows crucial secrets about the early Hogwarts years of Tom Riddle, who became the villainous Lord Voldemort. Harry also suspects Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) is a secret Death Eater. Draco does have a secret, but that’s not it. And Harry still wonders which side mysterious professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) is on.
Amid all this, Harry develops a romantic yen for his friend Ron Weasley’s (Rupert Grint) sister Ginny (Bonnie Wright) — which leads inevitably to THE KISS — and Hermione (Emma Watson) loves Ron, who is too busy flirting with Lavender Brown (Jesse Cave). Teen angst and magic create a heady potion.
Source: washingtonpost.com