Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Review By Daveactor7

Harry Potter and the half blood prince, the sixth adaptation of J.K. Rowling's novel and I must say, better then the fifth adaptation directed by David Yates, but then again it isn't much better.

The story- Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione, return to Hogwarts for their sixth year amidst the darkening wizarding world, due to Voldemort rising closer and closer to achieving vast power. Amidst this sixth year, Harry, under the guidance and wisdom of Professor Dumbledore, learns of a secret that Voldemort had achieved: splitting his soul into seven pieces into various objects called Horcruxes. Most of the film however is devoted to the troubles of love, especially between Ron and Hermione. Only towards the near the ending of this film do we fully grasp the concept of these Horcruxes and what the trio have to do in order to save the wizarding world. A strong concept conceived by J.K. Rowling but yet again, the storyline throughout the film, though strong, falters in many ways particularly being the fact that this is now the sixth film of the franchise and only one year is left and yet we do not fully understand what the three main characters have to do. Screenwriter Steve Kloves does a great job in keeping love the main basis of the story but he doesn't achieve the same for keeping the secrets on how to defeat Voldemort as a main basis as well. Steve Kloves however does a magnificent job in pulling out of the mess left after Order of the phoenix in which screenwriter Michael Goldenberg had failed to achieve on the big screen.

The acting-Daniel Radcliffe returns as Harry and in this one he does a good job in portraying a struggling character who tries to understand his destiny and a new dark world he will have to face. Rupert Grint returns as Ron and he does a good job as well though the love basis of the story is the only thing that keeps him really in the movie. Without the ongoing love between him and Hermione, Ron would have been absolutely unnecessary for this film. However, Steve Kloves gives Ron much more attention and a stronger character then Michael Goldenberg did in Order of the phoenix in which he made Ron seem so unnecessary in the film. Emma Watson returns as Hermione and she gives a great performance as a girl struggling with her love for Ron. One particular scene in which I loved her in was the scene in which she is sitting alone at the bottom of a spiraling staircase. She gives so much emotion to her character that it is almost impossible for audience members not to relate with her. Bonnie Wright returns as Ginny and she does well in this film and she has much more to her character so that Harry can relate to her and this I found Steve Kloves pulling off astonishingly well. Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore gives his best performance as the great sorcerer and he delivers much emotion in his character that we actually feel sorry when he is killed. Not a great achievement, but one done well. The entire cast does great and they keep the story flowing with some rich performances that It actually keeps your attention despite the fact that the storyline falters.

The directing-David Yates returns for this sixth installment and after his work on Order of the phoenix, I had wanted someone else to direct this film. However, Yates seems to grasp much more in this film and he improves with much thanks to Klove's screenplay. He also draws so much more from his actors then in the previous film in which the performances were not that great. Though Yates improves, he does not succeed.

The visuals-The cgi was astounding, much more realistic then the previous film, which featured a much unrealistic looking Grawp and centaurs. This time Industrial light and magic dives deeper into the realm of computer generated images and brings out much more to praise and appreciate. The plume technique when the death eaters travel is amazing and the most amazing sequence is in the cave in which Harry and Dumbledore are attacked by Inferi (though they are undoubtedly cgi) and the fire effects are so astounding that it definitely brought ILM back on track. The cinematography however is the main technical aspect to praise here. Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel does so well in capturing the film in such magnificent shots and angles it is no surprise his work, out of the entire film, was nominated for the oscar for best cinematography. To me the best shots in this film are one: the spiraling stairwell where Hermione is crying. The large space in front of her symbolizes how much she loves Ron and it symbolizes that without him she is so little. Excellent shot there and the second shot is when Dumbledore is churning the flames all around him as the inferi back away into the dark waters. A long shot and one that shows Dumbledore as being the master and it shows him conquering death once more despite being amidst the very embodiment of death, being the inferi. Delbonnel did so well in this film and going up against other films such as Avatar, Inglorious Basterds, shows how great he did.

The score- Nicholas Hooper does great with this score and much better then the score he had conceived in Order of the phoenix, which was good, but easily forgettable. He does well in churning out pieces that greatly capture the love throughout the story especially, going back to the stairwell scene with Hermione as she is crying. He does well in bringing out more emotion and mood from her that it makes us feel more sorry for her.

Overall, this film was good, not excellent, but a much better achievement then Order of the phoenix.

This has been another long review by daveactor7 :)