Film Guide

Picking up from where he left off with Order of the Phoenix, tail-end franchise director David Yates can’t quite keep the momentum of his finely honed previous effort with the 6th instalment of the Potter films Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (from here on in Half-Blood Prince).

Though both the fifth and sixth books are thematically rich many believe that Rowling’s mammoth Order of the Phoenix (the longest of the Potter books) would have benefited from a firmer hand by her editors and that Half-Blood Prince is the better standalone story while still advancing the overarching series narrative. David Yates’ directorial efforts seem to flip those sentiments: Phoenix bringing that sharp editorial hand to bear, honing the story to its crucial elements whereas with Half-Blood Prince the narrative seems to have gotten away from him making the movie feel unfocused, as if he was trying to manage too many threads to maintain the momentum.

Half-Blood Prince begins with Harry summering in the muggle world (even trying his hand with the ladies) when surrogate father figure #1, Professor Dumbledore, turns up out of the blue to enlist his help re-recruiting retired teacher Horace Slughorn (a wistful Jim Broadbent) before depositing him to finish out his summer at The Burrow with family Weasley. What follows is a multithreaded narrative tapestry which sees Harry obsessed with more things than just where Draco Malfoy is venturing to when he disappears off the Marauders’ Map – an obsession,incidentally, not shared by the other 2/3 of the ‘golden trio’. Harry is also taking regular trips down memory lane in special ‘lessons’ with Professor Dumbledore as they attempt to find a chink in the evil Lord Voldemort’s armour. But for all the screen time split between three major storylines it is the romantic relationship development that seems to steal the stage. What’s up with Ron and Hermione and Harry? Who is Ginny kissing now, and why do people care? How on earth did Lavender Brown become obsessed with Ron? Will Ron expand his emotional range past that of a teaspoon? And perhaps most importantly: who the hell is Romilda Vane?! Ok, maybe not most importantly, but you get the picture.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m probably more of a shipper* than many – I picked Harry’s key romantic relationship quite early on reading the books – but some of the more serious issues seem to get obscured behind the teen hormones that are raging. All this relationship stuff is important and transpires in the book but with much less space to play with the narrative balancing act gets the better of the filmmakers. For instance we don’t get much of the conflicted feelings of guilt that Harry is supposed to be dealing with post Sirius’ death at the end of the last film and Half-Blood Prince’s shocking finale happens so quickly, and without exploiting a prime opportunity for one of the series’ great battle scenes, that it almost seems underwhelming – at least when you already know what’s coming.

In terms of production values the Harry Potter films are still very much in good hands with the world as vibrant and evocative as ever. There’s some quidditch for those who’ve missed it, a couple of visceral one-on-one wand duels, and Dumbledore working his magical mojo in probably the film’s most compelling section. And though the younger lead actors are far outmatched by the supporting cast (many of Britain’s finest) I think it is only right that Yates gives them the spotlight both in terms of appropriately representing the story and the majority of the films’ audience.

So did I enjoyHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Yes, I certainly did, and I think any fan of the series probably will. For those who are talking it film by film: it’s hard to say. Yates has directed another enjoyable spectacle but it is not up to par with his previous effort and it is not the film it could have been.

*Shipper: a person especially concerned with the romantic relationships in a film/story

DVD Info + Special Features
The picture and sound quality of the discs is as top notch as you’d expect: this is a cash cow for Warner Bros and they’re not going to let the subsidiary things slip, which is great for us who are collecting. The specials on the Potter franchise DVDs seem to ‘age’ with the each subsequent film – unsurprising when it is the fast aging young actors who bear much of the weight in them. Gone are the simplistic ‘interactive’ games of the early DVDs, now they are stacked with documentary footage and featurettes of varying quality and interest. Foremost in this selection is a 50min documentary chronicling a year in Jo Rowling’s journey to complete the final instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (embargoed until after the book’s release). Despite the documentarian’s somewhat annoying narration, Jo Rowling as a subject holds plenty of interest so this will be a great insightful piece for many fans of her writing.

There are the obligatory 7mins of additional footage cut from the film and there are two featurettes hosted by some of the less central young cast members. Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) and Alfie Enoch (Dean Thomas) present a segment in which the camera follows a number individual cast members as they learn a little about an aspect of the production process in which they are interested: including Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter) checking out the editing process, Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) doing some stunts, Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) experiencing Makeup, and Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) investigating the Art department. Although the featurette plays like a recurring segment from a low budget youth TV show there are some interesting insights into the processes and the actors. For example we find out that Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) has made some of the ‘Luna’ jewellery herself which the costume designers preferred over their own creations and so were used in the film. We also learn that James Phelps (Fred Weasley) actually worked as a runner on the production crew when he wasn’t acting (realistically setting himself up with a range of industry option once the series wraps for good), much to the amusement of his fellow cast mates. A debonair Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) hosts a lighter ‘magazine’ style featurette where he poses a range of “what’s your favourite…?” and “which historic personage…?” type questions to the young cast members. The segment is fun and Tom makes for a likeable presenter; possibly something to look out for in the future?

A ’60 second recap of your character arc’ featurette isn’t so successful, though isn’t terrible, whereas the infomercial for the upcoming Universal Studios Harry Potter theme park in Orlando FL is truly appalling with the actors drifting between believing their own hype and just looking a little embarrassed.

In a forward looking move Warner Brothers has made the move to include a digital download version of the feature with each disc. This is available to be accessed and downloaded online with a code given in the DVD package for viewers to use on their computer/mobile video device. As you’d expect this is only available for one download with each code given and apparently only works with PCs. Still, this is several steps in the right direction for a big studio.Overall this is a satisfying package of extras on top of a great quality DVD release: definitely a good addition to the Harry Potter collection.

ÿ Two-Disc Special Edition
ÿ Region 4 PAL
ÿ 2.40:1 Aspect Ratio (16:9)
ÿ Dolby Digital 5.1 / Dolby 2.0
ÿ Languages: English or Hebrew
ÿ Optional subtitles: English, Arabic, Hebrew, Icelandic, or English for the hearing impaired

ÿ Close-Up with the Cast of Harry Potter
ÿ J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life (50min documentary)
ÿ One-Minute Drills
ÿ What’s on Your Mind?
ÿ The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Sneak Peek
ÿ Additional scenes
ÿ Digital copy of feature available for download





Reviewed by: Jacob Powell
Rating: M – contains fantasy violence.
Duration: 147 mins
Genre: Fantasy adventure/drama
Director: David Yates (2009)
Actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Bonnie Wright, Matthew Lewis, Evanna Lynch and co.
Country: UK
Distributor: Warner Bros.