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 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Save Your Money... and Rent
Okay… so we all know what we get from a Harry Potter DVD release. We get the movie. And that’s what we came for, right? In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, we specifically get the tale of how Dumbledore uses Harry as bait to dig into Tom Riddle / Voldemort’s past via former (and once-more) Hogwarts instructor Horace Slughorn—who once “collected” Riddle as a tonic to his own vanity, and now wants to collect Harry as well. This, of course, in the wake of Sirius Black’s death at the end of the last episode, and Lucius Malfoy’s incarceration in Azkaban. Along the way, we get the usual condensed school year, Harry’s budding romance with Ginny Weasley, and the continuing confounding of Ron’s relationship with Hermione. And, of course, we get that particular scene with Snape and Dumbledore. Now, for my money, Half-Blood Prince is perhaps the most purely enjoyable of the six Potter movies thus far. Yes, One and Two were sprightlier and simply more “fun.” Yes, Three brought something new, dangerous, and dark to the series, which felt awfully good at the time. And yes, with Alfonso Cuaron helming Four, it not only seemed to continue as a step in the right direction but introduced something cinematically mature to the game.
Five? Eh. Too many scenes felt like something missing in action. But as one who has never read the books, this is the first time I’ve felt like I hadn’t walked into a party to which I had not been invited—and it’s not just my developing familiarity with the characters and world of Harry Potter, I don’t think. It probably helps that writer Steve Kloves is back on the job, in preparation for the final two movies based on the seventh book in the series. But I heartily applaud director David Yates’ decision-making with regard to character moments and pacing. It’s nice, for instance, that we get a Muggle’s-eye view to start as Deatheaters wreak havoc on London—and when we cut to Harry feeling awfully adolescent in the Underground a few days later, the director’s touch feels very human. And with a key conspiracy between Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Professor Snape revealed before we even get to Hogwarts, the transition to school seems less forced as more plot is set up prior to the teens’ arrival there. Once at Hogwarts, it’s nice to see Evanna Lynch get more screentime as Luna Lovegood, and even with teen romance being such a significant part of the story, the production team really didn’t have to spend as much with Harry and a frustrated Hermione as they do; but they do, and it is nice. Once again, Emma Watson gets to play the glue that holds the team together. With a duo of fun gadgets this time out—the vanishing glass and Slughorn’s hourglass—I just had a lot of gentle fun with the film, dark though it is. It’s too bad Warner Bros. doesn’t have the courtesy to really pitch the DVD release as much fun. Instead, before the movie even starts, the merchandising previews inform you how much fun you could be having doing something else. Like:
Yes, folks, this basic DVD release in one which reminds you that, no matter how good the film is, you just shouldn’t be satisfied with having bought it. And no special features, either. How non-magical is that? Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is rated PG for “scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality.” Baloney. One scene of near-death possession is intense enough, all on its own, to send this to PG-13 land. These are not children’s films any more. Courtesy of the film’s distributor, Greg screened a promotional DVD of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Artwork display a requirement of Warner Home Video as terms of agreement for review material. |
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