Now far removed from the innocence of Chris Columbus' literally faithful yet cinematically unsatisfying Hogwarts appertif "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" at the onset plunges to its increasingly horrifying world with little regard to establishing its characters or the story for the sake of those uninitiated, which is not to say it's a bad thing, since it's unlikely one would only start this deep into the series. Yet it's this same urgency that typifies this installment's character as less a product in itself than an obligatory assemblage of a gorgeous production design and a handsome cinematography designed for the series' inevitable denouement. Set to conclude with the seventh book split into two parts, there are no more surprises, only mandatory buildup.
The central point of returning screenwriter Steve Kloves' script involves teen wizard Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) trying to obtain a vital piece of information about their arch-nemesis Lord Voldemort and enlists the help of former Hogwarts Potions Master Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), who, being close with a young Voldemort (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin) -- then known as Tom Riddle -- possesses that knowledge. This gist, however, is cheerlessly relegated to minor concern, getting lost amidst numerable subplots that mostly include the brewing romance among Harry and his adolescent friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron's sister Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright).
David Yates' sophomore turn as a Potter director has the film in a more ominously cold-blooded and deliberate pacing, producing the ultimate flip side to the fanciful inception of the magical saga. Playful magic is now scrimped and the pervading melancholy manifested through the gloomy desaturated tones provides a fitting analogy to its love-spurned heroes, an aspect that the film so insistently prioritizes and, to some extent, accomplishes. Still, in the greater scheme of all things Harry Potter, "Half-Blood Prince" goes by without the requisite dramatic thrust to substantiate itself as more than a compulsory episode with mostly no consequences, and, save for its paramount climactic showdown, it's a constant looping around its panoramic mythology to give a constant sense of activity but one that actually leads nowhere.
The central point of returning screenwriter Steve Kloves' script involves teen wizard Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) trying to obtain a vital piece of information about their arch-nemesis Lord Voldemort and enlists the help of former Hogwarts Potions Master Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), who, being close with a young Voldemort (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin) -- then known as Tom Riddle -- possesses that knowledge. This gist, however, is cheerlessly relegated to minor concern, getting lost amidst numerable subplots that mostly include the brewing romance among Harry and his adolescent friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron's sister Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright).
David Yates' sophomore turn as a Potter director has the film in a more ominously cold-blooded and deliberate pacing, producing the ultimate flip side to the fanciful inception of the magical saga. Playful magic is now scrimped and the pervading melancholy manifested through the gloomy desaturated tones provides a fitting analogy to its love-spurned heroes, an aspect that the film so insistently prioritizes and, to some extent, accomplishes. Still, in the greater scheme of all things Harry Potter, "Half-Blood Prince" goes by without the requisite dramatic thrust to substantiate itself as more than a compulsory episode with mostly no consequences, and, save for its paramount climactic showdown, it's a constant looping around its panoramic mythology to give a constant sense of activity but one that actually leads nowhere.