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Harry returns with the:
‘Half-Blood Prince’
‘Order of the Phoenix’ was, at just over a quarter million words, the
longest ‘Harry Potter’ novel to date. Even J.K. Rowling thinks it needs
editing, and it was good to see that the last two novels were shorter
than it. The usual adapter, Steve Kloves, took a sabbatical during the
film of ‘Phoenix’ but is now back with ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to show us
all how to boil down a still fairly hefty novel into two and a half
hours of screen time.
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Scenes from ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ |
David Yates returns as director, and the film opens with Voldemort’s
face appearing in the London sky, with devastating effects on the
Millennium Bridge. (This sequence will play in 3D at IMAX showings.) And
shortly afterwards, Professor Dumbledore whisks Harry away to meet
previous Master of Potions Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent). As he taught
Voldemort, or Tom Riddle as he was then known, Slughorn’s memories may
hold the key to defeating him.
‘Half-Blood Princ’ exudes confidence. Yates’s direction approaches
the sheer visual flair Alfonso Cuarón showed in ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’,
Bruno Delbonnel’s atmospheric photography being a big plus. Meanwhile,
there’s plenty of business on screen to keep us watching. The three
leads have grown into their roles, with Rupert Grint increasingly being
used as comic relief. So also have grown the supporting cast of
youngsters.
Most alarming is the change in Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) who now
towers over Daniel Radcliffe, and whose move over to the dark side is a
major plot thread this time round. Meanwhile, Hermione and Ron bicker -
while Ron is chased by Lavender Brown and Harry by Ginny Weasley.
Quidditch was excised from the last film, but it makes a reappearance
here, for the last time. Of the adult characters, many of them appear
only briefly. Helena Bonham Carter continues to give a startling
performance as the evil Bellatrix, and it’s nice to see Warwick Davis
being given a little more to do this time.
Two and a half hours of this is a little long, and no doubt some will
miss favourite scenes and bits of business.
More to the point, the story is mostly a curtain-raiser for a grand
finale in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’, Parts I and II. That
said, credit is due for the filmmakers for maintaining their quality
control.
The movie, exported by EAP Film & Theaters will begin screening at
Liberty cinema from October 1. |
