IMDB Plot Synopsis: As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.
- Overall, I enjoyed this movie in the same way that I enjoyed the book: there were a lot of really great parts, but in the end it only ends up as exactly the sum of its parts, no more, no less. This isn’t really a bad thing since those parts add up to something hilarious, enjoyable, and watchable but I didn’t get the same sense of epic that I have from the other movies. I think this is in part because HBP is a stop-gap book and, Dumbledore’s death aside, not a hell of a lot really happens. So much of the book had to do with finding a sense of normalcy amidst a fresh new war so like in the book, that fight stays largely on the periphery of the story. The main purpose here is to set up the final film(s), I guess, but that leaves me feeling like something is lacking in this one. There’s a hole in here somewhere.
- I know I constantly go on and on about how condescending filmmakers are towards kids in both how they’re depicted on screen and how films cater to a younger audience, so what I loved about this movie is how they’ve continued the trend they started in Goblet of Fire of really presenting the kids as real, genuine children. There’s this quote from a review on the back of my copy of Philosopher’s Stone that says “Harry and his friends seem intensely real — parents report a frequent refrain of ‘they’re just like us’” and it’s that kind of relatability that is so very much welcomed. I know I am frequently indignant about how awful people are depicted in movies and how I cannot relate to those characters; I take offense at poor behaviour being presented as the norm. These characters aren’t like that. I could never relate to characters in the various teen sex farces that pass for comedies these days, but these kids? I’d be friends with these kids. Even when they get two seconds of screen time, they’re still more fully realised as three-dimensional characters than most other characters in most other movies. I LOVE THESE KIDS.
- I greatly enjoyed DanRad in this. It didn’t occurred to me until the scene with Aragog’s burial that Harry rarely gets to be purposely hilarious, but when he was like “Pincers!” I nearly died. The whole Felix Felices sequence was pretty amusing in general.
- Also, a fun way to get through Harry’s longing glances at Ginny is to pretend that every time she comes into view, Harry’s probably got a boner. SPROING!
- LOVED RON IN THIS. I have continued and known issues with the way Steve Kloves writes Ron and thus was quite happy with the fact that he didn’t write Order of the Phoenix. That said, he’s finally gotten it right. The great thing about Ron is that he’s such a boy and the more they emphasise this, the better he gets. Each and every single scene that involves him eating just about slays me.
- Truthfully, my heart belongs to Lavender Brown in this movie. Everything about her was hilariously perfect, from how she always looked like she was about to throw up from the sheer hormonal joy of having a boyfriend to breathing on the window on the Hogwarts Express and writing hers and Ron’s initials in the steamed up part. SO PERFECT. And I was absolutely THRILLED that they left in the bit where she gives Ron the absolutely hideous necklace because that whole part is one of my favourites in the book. MY SWEETHEART, OMG. The fact that they didn’t do it over Christmas made me think they were cutting it all together and then when she gave it to him later on, I died of joy.
- Slughorn was fabulous and pretty much exactly as I imagined he would be, since I pictured Jim Broadbent when I read the book. Points to me for excellent casting.
- Teen!Riddle was fucking creepy, holy crap. Ickle!Riddle was creepy too, but teen!Riddle was quite awful.
- I’m not sure that there was enough of a connection made between Riddle and the seaside cave to explain why Dumbledore would look for a Horcrux there. There was a small picture of the cave in ickle!Riddle’s room at the orphanage, I think, but you’d miss it if you blinked at the wrong time. I won’t question it too much since I think Harry’s “I just kind of go with it, sir” at the start of the movie was probably meant as a direction for the audience so that we could ignore any leaps in logic that might have to occur on account of leaving various things out.
- Nice to see Bellatrix Lestrange hasn’t tired of singing her “I Killed Sirius Black” song.
- My problem with Draco has always been that every time he opened his mouth, I wanted to sock him in the face because he always says the stupidest, most moronic things and basically acts like a suck who needs his daddy to fix everything for him when things go wrong. He’s also always been a cardboard stand in for Voldemort in Harry’s microcosm at school and since he’s always acted like a lame villain in a silent movie, it seemed appropriate and entirely too welcome to have him have very minimal dialogue despite the fact that his screen time increased significantly. Malfoy is best when he’s brooding and not doing anything else. I really, really liked him in this movie specifically because he shut up and just went about trying to complete the task he was assigned. I thought Tom Felton did particularly well in the Sectumsempra scene. Poor weepy Draco. I’m glad they kept Moaning Myrtle out of it, she would have added an unnecessary comedic element to the scene.
- I felt like the Sectumsempra scene needed more blood to convey the utter devastation of what Harry had done. I liked the preceding duel a lot, though.
- Snape finally ascends to the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and we don’t get to see a single class with him? Really? I guess we’ll have to be content with the WEREWOLVES, WEREWOLVES, WEREWOLVES lecture from Prisoner of Azkaban.
- Aw, yeah, Regulus Black. Reggie B’s the one for me! His note could only be improved by writing “Suck it, Voldemort” on it.
- Why are Neville and Crabbe in NEWT level Potions?
- Fenrir Greyback was pretty unnecessary in this since there was nothing that set him apart from the other random Death Eaters aside from a brief wanted poster with his name on it. This guy is the ultimate sadistic paedophile in the wizarding world and he was basically boiled down to some hairy guy Bellatrix keeps company with. I hate it when they include characters in order to satisfy the fans but don’t actually do anything with them to justify casting anyone in the role.
- Enjoyed the Astronomy Tower. I like that we get one new piece of architecture at Hogwarts every movie. I thought it would be a whole lot more windy up there, but I digress.
- Filch’s makeshift armour of some kind of sports equipment was quite fabulous and I adored the part where he was standing as a lone sentry atop a wall, as if he could possibly keep out anyone bent on breaking in. Say what you want about Filch, but he does love his school.
- Luna was ten kinds of amazing in this. HER HAT! HER DRESS! She’s great. I didn’t enjoy her in the last movie, but she definitely grew on me in this one.
- Cormac McLaggan was FABULOUS. He was a great combination of cocky, charming, and absolutely vile. The shot of him during Quidditch try outs where he’s got the handle of the broom stick coming up right between his legs was absolutely hilarious and nearly had me in tears. Oh god, I had no idea that I’d love him in this movie after hating him so much in the book.
- Speaking of which, there is an astounding amount of sexual innuendo in this movie. It’s there in the book too, but I’d forgotten how much of it there was.
- I really liked the part where Harry touched Tom Riddle’s ring and had all those minute flashback-y moments, as if one horcrux could somehow connect with another (or former) horcrux and share memories or something. I especially like Dumbleore’s “What. The. FUCK.” reaction to it, as if his worst fears had come true and he had realised Harry is indeed a horcrux himself.
- Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes was done absolutely fabulously. I especially loved the Umbridge toy that said “I will have order!” over and over. I thought that was a nice little touch.
- I liked that they kept the “Death Eaters travel in plumes of black smoke” thing they established in the last movie. I don’t know why I love this so much, but I do, and I enjoyed that it aesthetically mirrored the way memories looked inky in the Pensieve. I also enjoyed how they used that to great effect in the closing credits.
- I thought Snape’s wine glasses were oddly decorative for a man who has a penchant for Jesuit fashion.
- I thought Dumbledore’s death was well done. Actually, all the deaths have been done well and have managed to avoid being cheesy, so I’m not sure what I was worried about. Harry’s reactions are disarmingly intimate and so I always feel like I’m intruding on something deeply personal. Awkward. But good.
- Like in the book, Snape’s “I’m the HBP, BTW!” revelation is lame. It’s especially lame because they don’t mention his mother at all in the movie, so Snape looks like an even bigger loser because your only recourse is to interpret “Prince” as a level of royalty and not as a last name. Check out the ego on this guy!
27 points! Is this your biggest review yet?
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It’s quite possible. I’m slowly archiving a bunch of old reviews and it’s possible that The Departed will be longer. I’m not sure how long my review for Order of the Phoenix was since I didn’t do it in numbered points (fail).
Edit: I switched to a numbered list for the OotP review and evidently I’ve got at least 42 points. It’s two viewings combined in one review, though, so I’m not sure if that counts.
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There were a couple of things that ticked me off:
Snape finally gets the DADA position and they never show anything about him teaching a class.
Snape’s reaction after being called a coward was way too mild; instead of simply revealing to Potter that he was the Half-Blood Prince; he should have gone fusion. I expected to see that one scene as it was shown at the end of the book.
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22: probably my favorite part of the movie and my favorite addition they’ve ever made. I think I missed it the first time because I was appalled over what they’ve done to Ginny’s character in the movies (“Here, let me tie your shoelaces for you…”), but when DanRad does that neck crick thing…it gave me chills. AWESOME.
I read just recently in an article that he didn’t like his performance in that movie, so he tried to step in up in DH. AAAAAAAAAAAHH.
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