Harry Potter Collection

Adventure

Fantasy

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Warner Bros. Pictures

Heyday Films

United Kingdom

United States of America

English

Daniel Radcliffe

Rupert Grint

Emma Watson

Jim Broadbent

Michael Gambon

Tom Felton

Alan Rickman

Bonnie Wright

Jessie Cave

Evanna Lynch

Freddie Stroma

Robbie Coltrane

Helena Bonham Carter

Maggie Smith

Timothy Spall

David Thewlis

Julie Walters

David Bradley

Warwick Davis

Gemma Jones

Helen McCrory

Natalia Tena

Mark Williams

Dave Legeno

Elarica Johnson

Geraldine Somerville

Oliver Phelps

James Phelps

Alfred Enoch

Robert Knox

Amber Evans

Ruby Evans

Louis Cordice

Scarlett Hefner

Jamie Waylett

Josh Herdman

Matthew Lewis

William Melling

Anna Shaffer

Devon Murray

Georgina Leonidas

Isabella Laughland

Afshan Azad

Shefali Chowdhury

Amelda Brown

Hero Fiennes Tiffin

Jack Pryor

Mark Lockyer

Paul Ritter

Frank Dillane

Joerg Stadler

Caroline Wildi

Ralph Ineson

Suzie Toase

Rod Hunt

Katie Leung

Nathan Clarke

Olivia Jewson

Freddie Rose

Jason Isaacs

Steve Kloves

David Yates

J.K. Rowling

Stephenie McMillan

David Barron

Jany Temime

Bruno Delbonnel

Mark Day

Lionel Wigram

Fiona Weir

David Heyman

Stuart Craig

Peter Gleaves

Glen Gathard

Peter Burgis

Antony Bayman

Shaune Harrison

Paula Eden

Andie Derrick

Ed Colyer

Charlotte Rogers

Chris Lyons

Robert Edwards

Sarah Weatherburn

David Holmes

Tolga Kenan

Marc Mailley

Chris Shaw

Stephen Woolfenden

Neil Lamont

Jamie Christopher

Emma Norton

Tim Lewis

John Trehy

Nick Dudman

James Mather

Russell Lodge

Simon Emanuel

Jamie McPhee

Lisa Tomblin

Chloe Grysole

Martin Foley

Rosie Goodwin

Sharon Nicholas

Mike Dowson

Stuart Hilliker

Belinda Hodgson

Gretchen Libby

Jed Loughran

Rupert Steggle

Paul Riddle

Mark Coulier

Greg Powell

Jill Brooks

Charlotte Loughnane

Dominic Gibbs

Michael Fentum

Andrew Ackland-Snow

Amanda Knight

Paul Spateri

Vivienne Jones

Aimee Lisby

Charlotte Finlay

Paul J. Franklin

Dominic Sidoli

Gregory Yepes

Andy Kennedy

Amanda Burns

Oliver Money

Gemma Powley

Tilly Powell

Lucy Allen

Gabrielle Fritz

Elaine Ford

Amanda Foster

Joanna Whitney

Nina Armstrong

Tina Maskell

Helen Steinway Bailey

Alisha Smith

Donna Williams

Charlotte Hunter

Jade Gordon

Sarah Franzl

Nicholas Hooper

Molly Hughes

Gary Tomkins

Kate Baird

Hattie Storey

Anna Worley

Hermione Byrt

Tino Schaedler

Alastair Bullock

Jaap Buitendijk

Sloane U'Ren

Stuart Wilson

Rob Bliss

Ferran Domenech

Hormones over excitement as part six is merely an appetiser to the double billed closure to come.

Death Eaters are running amok as Dumbledore has an important task for Harry and Voldermort has one for Draco; all set to the backdrop of raging adolescent hormones. While Harry also acquires a rather helpful book written by the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.

Potter 6 is not as dark as the pre-release chattings suggested it would be. Yes there's the usual dark moments, including a shattering turn of events that sets it up nicely for the finale, but this instalment is mostly fun, gentle and even sexy. Harry, Ron & Hermione are more under threat from their own adolescent urges than they are from the swirl of a Death Eater or the appearance of one young & creepy Tom Riddle. This of course makes for good viewing to most of us who have grown with the characters, with the principal young actors having nicely grown into said characters. But can it sustain a two and half hour running time? No it can't is the ass numbingly honest answer. There's some quality set-pieces including Quiddich (for a change) and a swamp attack by the Death Eaters, but by and large it's talky and breezy in equal measure.

A filler Potter movie then, one that is far breezier than expected. Good but not great, but as a set up for the epic conclusion it hits all the right buttons. 6/10

The seventh installment, the appetiser.

As the ultimate wizarding battle between good and evil draws ever closer, Harry, Hermione and Ron bunk off from Hogwarts to go search for the "Horcruxes" with which to halt the ever stronger Voldermort and his army, on the way they learn the importance of the Deathly Hallows artifacts.

So this is the one that sees the comfort confines of Hogwarts left behind as our intrepid trio of best pals hit the mountains and forests in search of the tools to stop old snake face in his tracks. In what is ultimately a chase/escape movie, one where the characters have to fight not only a number of challenges that come their way, but also their new found in-fighting capabilities, Deathly Hallows 1 wonderfully dangles the carrot for the final series entry to come. But the overriding thoughts you come away with from it is that firstly it's not really that much fun, and secondly that it shouldn't have been a stand alone movie. Too much of it plods where exposition and padding strains to get the film through its near two and half hour running time. Without the hustle and bustle of Hogwarts, and the myriad of characters that reside within, film struggles to escape the over reliance on just three central characters and a ream of MacGuffins. While some of the comedy and tender moments fall flat because tone is firmly pitched at dark clouds a gathering. However, where it does reward is with the action sequences, with David Yates once again proving he's a considerable talent when it comes to directing such passages.

New additions to the cast list feature Rhys Ifans, Peter Mulan and Bill Nighy, all welcome, and all sadly underused. As is the return of some older characters from earlier series entries (do you remember John Hurt was in the first film?!). While the thread involving the Ministry of Magic, and its nasty transformation into a Nazi like call for non-magical folk ethnic cleansing, is supremely adult and hits the nerves as it should do. Of the three principal young adult actors, it's still Emma Watson leading the way on ability, but alongside her, Radcliffe and Grint have earned our love and respect over the years for having to carry the weight of such expectation that has come with these roles. Fact is, is that now, having grown up with them and their characters for over ten years, we surely can accept them for not being multi ranged child actors. They have had to embody one character each for a decade, the range as such is the naturalism of aging through childhood like they have. Job done!

Tension is high and the magical moments engage big time, but the draggy nature of the beast makes this a film purely working as an appetiser to something sure to be far bigger and better. 6/10

Gimly

Has the quality direction of _Order of the Phoenix_ but manages to separate itself from that movie by having a script that isn't shit. 

Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go.

Nathan

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince may be the most mature film of the franchise with fantastic character development, but at the cost of action and a somewhat slow pace.

The beginning of the film suffers from what a lot of these films do where the audience is taken from location to location, without any explanation as to why. It is difficult to follow at times, but it's a sacrifice that unfortunately has to be made when adapting a long novel into a feature-length film. Despite this film being the slowest of the series, it does a tremendous amount of leg work setting up the epic conclusion. From the introduction of the Horcruxes to the multiple scenes of Voldemort's past, the audience gets a ton of background information revealing details from the previous film that creates a more coherent story structure.

Half-Blood Prince has a more focused return to Hogwarts and the class aspect which I enjoyed. Jim Broadbent's Professor Horace was a great addition and his connection with Potter is so seamless, with some aid from the Half-Blood Prince's textbook. Not only does Harry have great chemistry with Professor Horace, but his relationship with Dumbledore blossoms, and his reverence for the headmaster is captivating. It was great to see these two finally working together and trusting each other. Previously Harry would always hold information or Dumbledore would tell Harry to never mind, but finally, they get on the same page, and it was great to see.

This connection aids tremendously in the final scenes of the film. The trials that these two characters are put through are immense, but Harry's trust in Dumbledore is shown in a very uncomfortable scene of Dumbledore forcing down a poison of some sort. This struggle crescendos into an incredibly impactful finale with Dumbledore, unfortunately, dying at the hands of Snape. There were some fantastic character moments between Snape and Malfoy, and the light inside both of them is hinted at in this final scene. Dumbledore's death is felt, not only by the students of Hogwarts but by the audience as well. This is one of the more effective deaths in the series due to the audience's time with the character, as opposed to the death of Sirius Black in the previous film.

Overall, this movie is slow and can drag on a bit. But there are some great character moments and plot developments that make this a fantastic beginning of the end for the series.

Score: 84%
Verdict Great

CinemaSerf

David Yates now really begins to take these stories to a new, potently darker level as "Harry" (Daniel Radcliffe) comes into possession of a book - formerly the property of the eponymous Prince. His skills increase exponentially and he soon begins to question whether he, himself, might be closer to the evil lord "Voldemort" than he had ever thought. The three principals are very much on the same wavelength now; the supporting cast likewise and there is even a little late hormonal activity as the awkwardness of teenage years (remember?) starts to feature too. This film also sees the arrival of Jim Broadbent as "Slughorn" - quite an engagingly enigmatic character and we can easily now sense that the battle lines are starting to be drawn... This is highly entertaining cinema. A big scale production and fine scoring builds on a strong story with characters we now know. A big screen must.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

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Cast

Daniel Radcliffe

Rupert Grint

Emma Watson

Jim Broadbent

Michael Gambon

Tom Felton

Alan Rickman

Bonnie Wright

Jessie Cave

Evanna Lynch

Box office

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