Released: July 15th, 2009Length: 2hr 33 min
Genre: Fantasy
Director: David Yates
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson
Harry Potter is a fixed point in the early 21st century. It's a series that has captivated nearly the entire world, and has changed literature forever. It seems the simplest of things, and the most ancient, can sometimes act as an escape for us all. And that thing is magic. The film adaption of J.K. Rowlings sixth tale in the unforgettable Harry Potter saga is a marvelous journey into the world of wizardry. But you know what makes Harry, Ron and Hermione so lovable? Do you know what makes Hogwarts so appealing? Do you know what makes this series so priceless? The fact that its not so far from our own. The characters jump off the screen and into our hearts because they ARE us. The love, fear, hate, and humor of life are picture so perfectly on the silver screen. In this installment, the young love of the three characters, with its ups and downs is portrayed so spectacularly by Radcliffe, Grint and Watson, that it stirs up memories of own personal experience. The darkened world of magic seems to be in just as much turmoil as our own, and through the eyes of Potter and his friends we feel the emotions and tensions that make their world so appealing. But is theirs so much different? Do we not have wars? Do we not have heartbreaks? Do we not have exams and angst and failures? Do we not have death and love and laughter? And most importantly, do we not have owls? Rowling's world is so real and so big that the movie theater seems barely able to contain it. Needless to say, I loved Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. But it goes without saying...nothings perfect. Particularly the first half of the movie seemed a bit choppy, but it was the familiar choppy that you get with any Harry Potter movie because you know they are trying to tell as much of the story in as little time as possible. It jumped around a little bit, and anyone who hasn't read the novels might have found themselves a little thrown but once the movie found a rhythm it became a bulleting train I did not want to get off. It had everything, the interactions between the characters in every way was mesmerizing (although the near-absence of Neville Longbottom and the complete absence of Lord Voldemort was disappointing) and the on-screen visual effects were stunning. The score of the movie was every bit of heart-pounding as the action dashing across it. The climactic scenes, with Harry and Dumbledore on their last hoorah adventure was edge-of-your-seat drama, with the feeling of doom lurking not to far off. If I had one complaint, it lies with the ending. The funeral scene is absent because the powers that be felt it didn't fit in with the tone of the film. Fine, but the ending didn't have that smash, thunderous, the war is on ending that I wanted. Harry, Ron and Hermione sort of had a moment where they looked out onto the landscape of Hogwarts and subtly decided to finish what Dumbledore started, but you kind of wanted Harry to say something like "there's no turning back now" or "neither can live while the other survives" or even "THIS IS HOGWARTS!" but it just kind of faded to black. Not with a bang but a whimper, and its a shame. Nevertheless, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince lived up to expectation, the actors, particularly the main trio continue to grow with each movie, the story comes to life so vividly on the massive screen, and the moments and memories that Rowling had written so beautifully play out like a dream symphony. Needless to say, this movie was...well...magic.
Score (92/100) A-
Story: B+
Characters: A+
Visual Presentation: A-
Writing: A-
Impact: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment