Here is another batch of critic reviews of the Half-Blood Prince.
Box Office.com:
The hallmarks of Rowling’s brilliant concept are all on display here, and while this blockbuster franchise could coast at this point and still rake in the dough, The Half-Blood Prince instead takes great risks by getting dark in the film’s second half and killing off a major character along the way. This one goes where no Potter has gone before and it all works beautifully.
Allowing the characters, the actors who play them and the audience to all grow older and wiser together is a smart decision. Radcliffe, Grint and Watson are again all pro, really digging into their now familiar roles with style. Grint in particular gets to shine by showing strong comic chops as he deals with girl problems in the form of the aggressively horny Lavender Brown (a hilarious Jessie Cave), underlying romantic tension with Hermione and Harry’s sudden heart palpitations for Ron’s sister, Ginny (a lovely Bonnie Wright). Oscar winner Broadbent is a great addition and Rickman skillfully dominates much of the proceedings. It’s Gambon, however, who steals the movie with a towering performance as Dumbledore—particularly in a spectacular set piece in which he takes Harry to the heart of Voldemort’s fortress.
Scifimoviepage.com
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince clocks in at two-and-a-half hours. We found it took us a while to get into things, but once we did it was gripping enough right up to the genuinely moving ending. Not much really happens when one thinks about it. After all, Rowling’s original book serves as nothing but a setup for the final book in the series (Deathly Hallows, which will be filmed as two separate movies). Also, the acting isn’t always consistent, but the movie has heart which is more than one can say of most special effects blockbusters.
Still despite the generous running time – fifteen minutes longer than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! – the movie feels almost too economical. One wants it to spend more time on plot aspects such as Alan Rickman’s “is he or isn’t he?” villain, especially considering how pivotal his character’s loyalties are to the plot. One also wants some more scenes featuring the trio of Death Eaters led by the demented Bellatrix played by Helena Bonham Carter. Proceedings suffer from the absence of an off-screen villain to boo and hiss. The previous film had Dolores Umbridge – a camp schoolmarm version of Nurse Ratched. Here Voldemort appears as a, er, threatening cloud formation. Bellatrix and her Dead Eaters could have been this movie’s General Zod and fellow Kryptonians, but it was alas not to be. Maybe the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I (release date: 19 November 2010) and Part II (15 July 2011) will make more of them.
If your idea of the best possible time at the cinemas is the audio-sensory pummelling of the Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen variety, then you might be disappointed by this latest Potter instalment. If you’ve been loyally following the movies and / or reading the books then Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a worth-while entry in the series.
Chud.com:
If you’re not onboard with the Potter films don’t even think of jumping aboard with this one. While Half-Blood Prince is so good that I think it would charm even the most jaded Potter non-believer, the film makes no bones about being the sixth in a series. Characters, locations and creatures show up without any sort of intro or memory-jogging namedrop. In fact some characters never even have their names or functions spoken in the film, and even for someone like me, who has read all the books and seen all the movies and actually knows a spell or two, things could get daunting. But it’s a testament to Yates and screenwriter Steve Kloves that the continuity never gets in the way of the storytelling, which moves forward vigorously, while also making sure to take time and concentrate on the characters.
Yates’ visual style has evolved in a massive way since the last film. His Hogwarts is now less about magical moving paintings and stairways that move and more about long corridors and dark passages; these passages reflect the journeys the characters make on their way through puberty. He uses the geography of the school in ways that advance the characters while also making stunning shots – the camera pulls out of a parapet window where Hermione cries and flies up, peeking in a window where Ron kisses a girl and then continues all the way to the top, where Draco Malfoy stands alone, fuming. It looks beautiful and it succinctly encapsulates everything you need to know about these characters at this moment. Yates also really understands how to integrate magic visually into his film; there’s a matter-of-fact quality to it here that never diminishes the joy of the magic but also never makes it the centerpiece.
Yahoo Movies UK:
The Half-Blood Prince certainly opens with a bang, with hordes of Death Eaters attacking London. Perhaps it’s a swipe at director David Yates‘ critics, who claimed 2007′s Order of the Phoenix wasn’t action-packed enough.
It’s a bold statement of intent, but one that is misleading. While The Half-Blood Prince
Harry wants Ginny Weasley, but is worried about her boyfriend Dean and brother, Ron. His best friend, meanwhile, has to contend with Lavender Brown’s not too subtle affection – while Hermione’s time is split between secretly pining for Ron and knocking back the attentions from Cormac -the brash Quidditch player (Freddie Stroma).
It’s like Hollyoaks with wands.
But if you fear that it sounds a tad soap opera-esque, not too worry as Yates has laced the film with an abundance of sly humour. It’s easily the funniest one yet, with newcomer Jessie Cave (Lavender) a dab hand at physical comedy.
The humour and romance certainly add a bit of edge to the proceedings, as the climactic actions scenes don’t really hold your attention as much as they should. The special effects, while impressive, aren’t very involving, just pretty to look at. You never feel like you’re in the action, just very much a passive bystander. There are also too many action CGI scenes that seem to ape The Lord of the Rings. doesn’t hold back on the explosives, it’s more of the romantic kind than the action ones. Perhaps it should have been called Harry Potter and the Hormones of Hogwarts, as there is barely a scene without longing looks and lustful glances steaming up the screen from the young characters.
jediyoda
