Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

And so Harry Potter And The Interminable Franchise rumbles on, with a Voldemort-like confidence that nothing can stop it now. We’re almost within the finishing line now, and even hardened Pot-Heads will be gritting their teeth and willing Radcliffe and his chums to get on with it.

Movie number six, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince all looks pretty enough and the effects are as special as you’d expect them, but there’s an increasing sense that, while the stakes in the narrative are raised, the storytellers begin to care less. It’s true that there’s a challenge with the source material: HP&THBP is a story based on reveals: Who is the half blood prince? Who will end up with who? And crucially, who dies? The problem here is that the film makes the (possibly quite fair) assumption that everyone and his Familiar is, uh, familiar with the book, and so it doesn’t bother gearing up any atmosphere. Apparently, you all know how it’s going to end, so why bother with that old spell, dramatic tension? Characters are going through some pretty significant arcs in this chapter (for instance, the revelation of a half blood prince, in other words, a mud-blood, should be a Earth shattering scene) but the mood is that of bored recital.

Simply put, this film doesn’t stand up on its own. While it could be argued that very few people will come this late into a franchise without having explored the earlier movies, it’s an argument that doesn’t stand up. It’s equally true that very few people will refuse to watch, say, Star Wars: A New Hope because they haven’t recently viewed Revenge Of The Sith. We’ve invested a great deal of time, hope and affection into the world of Hogwarts. As the final two terms descend, Mr Potter has only one report: 'Has shown early promise: Must try harder.'



Released on DVD and Blu-ray on 7th December 2009 by Warner Home Video.

Written by Andrew Allen.