Director: David Yates
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Alan Rickman, Tom Felton, Helena Bonham Carter
I apologise for the late review on "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". I just had to watch all the five previous Harry Potter movies first before writing this. I needed to be sure how the latest installment compares to the previous films in the series. The verdict? Well, I really enjoyed the film and I feel that it is better than 'The Order of the Phoenix' and 'The Prisoner of Azkaban', but not as good as 'The Goblet of Fire' (IMHO the best film in the series, so far).
It's really quite an experience to watch all the young actors grow up right before your very eyes when you plowed through all the six Harry Potter films back-to-back. In the latest installment, the characters continue to grow and evolve.
The acting from all the actors involved is quite good. Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfroy gets more screen time and shows us a different side to his character. Helena Bonham Carter is excellent as Bellatrix Lestrange and she virtually steals all the scenes she's in. The visual effects in the film are absolutely gorgeous and I especially like the water theme they use for the Pensieve memories. Brilliant!
Just like the previous films in the series, some details and sub-plots in the book are excluded due to the limitation of the film's running time. I understand that you can't include everything from the book into a film, but I feel that some of the events in the film just simply happened without much explanation. How did Draco find the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement? Why wasn't Harry playing in the Quidditch finals even though he's the Gryffindor team captain? Well, I'm afraid you'll need to read the book to find out.
Overall I think "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is emotional and visually stunning but at times relies a little too much on the audience’s knowledge of the book to make it satisfying.
Score: 8/10
2 comments:
Thanks for the review. I've not read a single Harry Potter book before the movie because I'm sure I'll get disappointed. Actually, I've not read a single Harry Potter book, period.
Your welcome, mate.
I believe that when a film is adapted from a book, it should be able to exist on its own. That means the audience should be able to enjoy the film without any knowledge of the source material. If you enjoy watching the Harry Potter films without ever reading the books, then the film makers has done a good job.
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