Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
The Penultimate J K Rowling Tale Hits The Big Screen
Jul 20, 2009
As the film opens, it quickly becomes clear that Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the wizard and human worlds. The Death Eaters storm through London, laying waste to half of Diagon Alley and destroying the Millennium Bridge. Draco Malfoy and his mother Narcissa are once again lurking at Bourgin and Burke’s in Knockturn Alley – has Draco taken his father’s place as a Death Eater?
Love Is In The Air
Back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the hormones are positively raging. Love potions in chocolates, plenty of “will they won’t they” moments for Ron and Hermione and Harry and Ginny, and a testosterone-fuelled Quidditch match – will the students get any work done?
The school itself has been turned into a veritable fortress to keep out the Death Eaters, although Dumbledore himself keeps disappearing and reappearing in search of a vital key to the Dark Lord’s power. No new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year – Snape, fresh from plotting with two people who are most definitely not members of the Order of the Phoenix, has finally been given his long-coveted post. This time round it’s a new Potions Master, Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), who has taught at the school in the past, most notably during the time of Tom Riddle, aka the young Voldemort.
Who Is The Half Blood Prince?
No teacher is ever appointed by chance, of course. Dumbledore needs a vital memory from Slughorn concerning a conversation he had with Riddle. Slughorn, possibly the world’s most shameless namedropper, is desperate to add the legendary Harry Potter to his “collection” of wizarding notables Harry is teacher’s pet in no time, thanks to the spells in a battered potions textbook which once belonged to the mysterious Half Blood Prince of the title.
So while Harry is busy with his task for Dumbledore, what are loyal friends Ron and Hermione doing to keep themselves occupied? The answer, alas, is very little. Apart from being frustrated that she is no longer the best potions student, and madly jealous of Lavender Brown who cannot keep her hands off Ron, there appears to be absolutely nothing for Hermione to do. No spells to cast, potions to brew – not so much as a trip to the library.
And once again, Ron has returned to the role of comedy sidekick. Whether standing around gormlessly in his Keeper’s helmet praying he won’t throw up before the match, or rolling about half-drunk from eating too many of the spiked chocolates, it’s almost impossible to believe this is the same boy who played the spellbinding game of wizard’s chess in The Philosopher’s Stone.
There is certainly no let up in the action, the set pieces are stunning, and the pivotal scenes with Harry and Dumbledore are genuinely gripping. But many characters, such as Hagrid and Neville Longbottom, seem to have been shoehorned in simply because the audience expects to see them. Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) is practically reduced to a cameo role, and much more could have been made of Helena Bonham Carter’s gloriously demented Bellatrix Lestrange.
Daniel Radcliffe continues to improve with each film, and there is an undeniable chemistry between himself, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. But the real revelation is Tom Felton’s Draco Malfoy. Finally given the chance to do more than sneer at Harry or insult Hermione, Felton lets the arrogance fall aside to reveal the utter anguish and terror Malfoy feels at the task HE has been given. Truly a worthy adversary in the absence of the Dark Lord.
