Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I feel as if I'll be writing this review for a select few people since it seems that the majority of America saw The Half Blood Prince last night. At least enough to record a $22.2 million Wednesday opening. My wife & I were one such couple who found themselves in a line that stretched over a quarter mile out the theater. Harry Potter is the current cultural phenomenon that seems to defy all classes: rich and poor, young and old, black and white, men and women. Only a fringe constituency of religious conservatives seem not to be enraptured by the series of films and books. Harry Potter is The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars of our times rolled up in one.

That being said, such a phenomenon makes it hard to criticize the film , as if this story and these characters are our children putting on a school play and no matter how dreadful the production, we're overjoyed that our kid's up on that stage! Before anyone gets the wrong idea, the film is great. But it's not perfect. And I'll get to that in a second.

First off, for the two people who know nothing about Harry Potter or his adventures in the Half Blood Prince, Harry Potter is a teenager in wizardry school who, with the help of an ever growing cast of allies, is slowly unraveling the mystery of how to defeat the dark Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents when he was but a baby and is out to take control of the world. That's the story in a nutshell. The Half Blood Prince, as but one cog in the wheel of this epic tale, has Harry and Professor Dumbledore exploring the origins of Voldemort through various memories pulled from Dumbledore's mind which had been literally bottled up for future investigation. Through these memories, the two learn the truth of how Voldemort has risen from the dead and how he plans to avoid kicking the bucket again. There's a sizable sub-story about teenage love and angst as magnified by magic and potions.

That's about as much as I'm willing to divulge of the story (mostly because so many of you already know the plot, it would just waste bandwidth) but for those who require a more detailed plot summary, I suggest you pick up the novel.

So, what are the goods? Well, just about all the elements of cinematography, set design, lighting, costumes, special effects, sound and every other production department is wonderfully created and/or rendered. Bruno Delbonnel's cinematography alone, shot in amazing high definition, is outstanding. The special effects department must be commended for some spectacular visuals. It is, to date, the best looking Potter film. Per usual, the acting is spot on and the teenager cast members have really grown each film with their acting chops. Radcliffe, although his range is a bit stilted, nonetheless holds us captured. David Yates' direction is exceptional. Beyond exceptional. His ability to structure a scene or a moment is, well, pardon the pun, absolutely spellbinding and outdoes his previous work in Order of the Phoenix.

The problem, however, with the Harry Potter films is that, while each of the books got progressively longer, more complex and more complicated, the films, guided by a financial necessity and by an expectation of audiences, must conform to certain standards. Even though The Half Blood Prince is twice as long as the first book, the latest film is only a minute longer than the first film. I think the producers are doing right by splitting the last book into two films but they should have used Prince as precedent for, as the film stands, it seems at once bloated and lacking. Steve Kloves is an extremely talented writer and anyone who has seen the previous films can attest to his ability to weave a narrative arc. But he has too much story and not enough time to give it justice. The development of Tom Riddle, Slughorn and Malfoy in this film seems almost as if it were a passing thought in the eyes of Kloves & the producers even though their narratives really push the story forward. Instead, Kloves lends too much time to the teenage love stories & Quidditch matches and not enough time developing the major plot. Granted, the scenes between Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron are lovely & wonderfully crafted but could have been editted to leave more room for exploring the larger themes and plots in the series.

As I mentioned, Yates has great control over Kloves screenplay but the individual scenes, as lovely as they are, do not add up to a fully realized film and, by the end of the film, you feel as if you've seen a the visualization of chapter in a book, rather than the visualization of a book in a series. Perhaps this feeling of wanting more from the film was the intention of the producers who are well aware of that the audience has two more films to see before finishing the story. Be that as it may, I left the theater feeling as if I had taken part in a great five course meal but was saddened not to find room for dessert.

**** (out of five)