The Rough Cut
Written by Kevin Terpstra
Review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I would like to preface this review by saying that I am critiquing this film based solely on its filmic qualities and will not make comparisons to the book. That being said I would like to applaud the stunning visuals and fascinating imagery. The cinematography is demonstrated flawlessly and can only be described as magnificent. Even better, however, is the character chemistry. Every character complements one another, meshing together to create a brilliant tapestry. On top of that, the title character and his two best friends have stepped up their game, acting wise. With a noticeable difference from the previous film, the three young wizards gave quite a performance. It’s not all rainbows and butterflies, however. It is an unspoken rule in Hollywood that if you’re going to make a movie you don’t want to tell the audience the story, but rather you want to show them the story. If you do tell them at least make sure to keep it interesting and fill in all the blanks (i.e. Kill Bill Vol. 2). Director David Yates must have missed class the day they taught this lesson. I felt as though I were being spoon-fed a child’s dream that had many crucial moments left out, filled in with parts that should have been left out. Yates also failed to keep me interested. With a sub-par return to the Quidditch field (I’d have enjoyed seeing the game with highlights of Ron’s accolades rather than a ten second montage of him performing under false luck), and words speaking for actions instead of the other way around it would have been wise to wear pajamas to the theater as the movie was presented in the same manner as a bed time story, filled with slight moments of action. Despite slow delivery and overdrawn scenes, I can’t help but feel HP6 is an improvement on HP5, certainly HP2 and HP4, but definitely didn’t match HP1 or HP3. Based on a five star scale, I am awarding Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince three and a half stars.
Official Rough Cut Review
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 3.5/5 stars
