Potter is all filler, no thriller

2 out of 5 stars

Kate Shefte

I should probably start out by saying that I am a Harry Potter enthusiast (see: snob) who has read most of the books multiple times. I enjoyed the third and fifth movies immensely. However, the most recent film in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, turned out to be the biggest time-waster to date.

I excitedly bought tickets early, stood in line for an hour with dozens of teenagers in graduation robes with lightning bolt scars scribbled in eyeliner on their foreheads and dashed for my seat in an overly-packed theater, but when the credits rolled, I was exceptionally disappointed. Perhaps this book’s plotline was less conducive to becoming a movie script, as this penultimate book was used for the purpose of building up to the final showdown between Harry and Lord Voldemort and little else.

It is Harry’s sixth year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and he’s dealing with your average teenage drama – romance, angst, cursed jewelry and an evil superwizard who’s out for his blood. The romance part was what partially crippled this movie. The action took a backseat to the love hexagram of sorts, in which everyone sends meaningful glances, kisses and cries repeatedly while moody music plays in the background. At one point, I leaned over to my friend and whispered, “If I see one more close up of Lavender’s twitchy face, I might puke.” Too much time was spent on the meaningless, transparent drama. It was probably intended to ground the action, but it stretched on too long in an already two-and-a-half-hour-long movie.

The scenes flew by with little transition. Once the most exciting part of the film – the part where Harry and Dumbledore go in search of a horcrux – begins, the movie inexplicably sped up. (SPOILER ALERT:) I couldn’t figure out how this film managed a PG rating, because I’m very sure those creepy, crawly waterlogged corpses called “Inferi” would have scared the britches off my 8-year-old self. And what could have been a tear-jerking, emotionally meaningful scene where a beloved character dies turned into an afterthought.

The special effects were spellbinding, the three main actors have obviously matured in their craft and every scene involving Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) or Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) was strong, but overall this film did not live up to the hype. As a film, the poorly-reviewed “Angels & Demons” honestly thrilled me more than the latest in the Harry Potter saga, and I’ve read both books. Surely this film won’t alienate its alarmingly rabid fan base, but this Potter fan hopes the two-part seventh movie, for which filming is underway, focuses less on ridiculous teenage drama and more on the magic that made this series so beloved.

“Half-Blood Prince” gains full pedigree

3.5 out of 5

 Sarah Ewald

They’re back, and they’re better than ever.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” opened in theaters on a Wednesday (the first of the franchise to do so), opening the floodgates of fandom for the weekend.

It’s back to Hogwarts for Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), now in their sixth year, in director David Yates’ second outing helming the franchise.   As always, there’s a new teacher in school, this time Potions master Horace Slughorn (affably played by Jim Broadbent), and more adventures in store for the trio.  

Emotions are brought to the forefront.   Much screen time is devoted to young love and rampant hormones. Characters demonstrate broader ranges of emotions than had been seen in the previous five installments.   With this comes more comedy, wrung from the awkwardness of male-female interactions.

The adventure takes a backseat until the last half-hour to 45 minutes of the film.   But the sheer awesomeness of the sequence (both visually and in terms of action) makes it well worth the wait.

Differences between the movie and the book were readily apparent.

Flashbacks are kept to a minimum to ensure that the present-day action moves along at a brisk clip. Characters that figured prominently in the book are reduced to a few throwaway lines. Certain events, such as the wizards attending actual classes, are cut out entirely to dwell more on blatant plot points.

Despite these changes, the film works.   Stripped down, the plot proceeds briskly, leaving little time to waste. Only key elements are retained to drive home the points.

The production team makes the interesting choice of denoting evil characters by clothing them in 1980s garb and hairstyles. Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) sports teased, crimped locks usually associated with hair metal.   Ron’s short-lived fling Lavender (Jessie Cave) goes Madonna-lite with her sartorial choices, donning long pendants and graphically-patterned tops.   But the audience knows she’s bad news due to her penchant for curly teased-out hair held in place with a bandanna headband.

“Half-Blood Prince” builds on the wizard world that’s already recognized, adding in elements that will be useful in the final two installments of the franchise.