Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a return to form for the franchise as it delves deeper into it’s own lore and takes the franchise back to it’s darker roots.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince returns with David Yates continuing his directing journey with the franchise. The film is noticeably darker than Order of the Phoenix and doesn’t shy away from the true plot line of the series. The school life of Hogwarts takes a backseat in the film as the series nears the finish line. Harry Potter and his supporting friends take the fight to Voldemort. With the Ministry and the public eye well aware Voldemort’s return. Dumbledore is hard at work at finding a way to defeat the Dark Lord.
Taking place during Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince continues to keep the franchise fresh as Harry and Dumbledore work together to uncover the secret to Voldemort’s power.
One part of the film that hurts the overall feel is the sometimes murky cinematography. While the film is noticeably dark in tone and in story, the overly dark color grading leaves you missing the very crisp cinematography of Prisoner of Azkaban.
The cast is near perfect in their performances but Alan Rickman’s Severus Snape took the prize in this film. His brooding but emotional performance as Snape is powerful and poignant. Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore is sobering and heart wrenching to watch as the film gives an emotional conclusion for the wizard.
Overall, Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince is another great entry in a magnificent series. In many ways, the Harry Potter franchise seems to do no wrong as each film builds upon the last and has an amazing cast, score and story to tie it together. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood is a worthy part of the franchise.
4/5
