For everything that has been written during what will undoubtedly be a 10-year reign in Hollywood when it’s all said and done, “Harry Potter” will go down as one of the best film series. And that’s not because Warner Bros. was smart enough back in 1998 to take this beloved series on, which was only two novels at the time. The reason this series is among the best is because of J.K. Rowling’s vision; without that, this series and everything that goes along with it would cease to exist. So, as we reach the final chapter dubbed “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I” this week, I figured there’s no better time than right now to take a look back at where we last left off with “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
In Harry Potter’s world, a year has passed since the dramatic events with the Dark Lord, a.k.a Voldemort, which opened his eyes to the darkness that was coming to the doorsteps of his beloved ‘home away from home,’ Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Darkness to the likes of Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) and the rest of the so-called Death Eaters, who were beginning to weave their way into the indestructible confines of the famed school protected by Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon). However, these days Dumbledore had a bit more on his mind, as Harry quickly found out one night when the great wizard showed up outside a local coffee shop he was dining at. Turns out, Dumbledore has this notion that an old colleague of his, Horace Slughorn was withholding critical knowledge that could help fight and possibly defeat the Dark Lord. After convincing him to rejoin Hogwarts as the new professor of potions, Dumbledore then asks Harry to get close to Slughorn, with the hope that he could get the information he needed out of him.
Of course, doing so would be no easy task for the young wizard, especially when every roadblock he faced included Draco, who had his own plan to finish Hogwarts and Dumbledore. Finally, after a long and drunk-induced night at Hagrid’s, Harry was able to use his sneaky luck potion to get the crafty old professor to divulge the memories he so desperately was holding from Dumbeldore. Turns out these very memories revealed that the young Riddle (a.k.a. Voldemort) was seeking information on Horcruxes, devices that store a portion of the creator’s soul, allowing them to become essentially immortal, unless all the scattered items are destroyed. After realizing he already had a couple of these items, Dumbledore and Harry set-off on a mission to locate more, in hopes of ending this threat, but right when they thought they were close, another threat pursued, throwing this happy ending into a tailspin that will have you shocked and a tad bit let down when it’s all said and done.
By, now if you don’t know who the cast is for this series, you might as well stop reading, because it won’t do you any good. Typically, the only time we get the chance to see young stars grow up in the ‘limelight’ is on a TV sitcom, but this series has treated us over the past eight years with a group that has matured into something better than expected. Just look at Daniel Radcliffe, who has become Harry Potter inside and out, and to this day still believes he will break away from this series stronger when it’s all over in a few years. And it’s rare we get to see a young actor progress in the way that Radcliffe has and with this installment, he showed he could even throw around that uncomfortable humor when needed. Combine that with Radcliffe’s unforgiving ease with the role he has made his own, helping to set the bar for all his fellow stars like Emma Watson and Rupert Grint to rise to, which they did with ease.
Not having read the infamous books, I have absolutely no idea what should or shouldn’t be included in this series. All I can do is trust the producers and director in compiling all the right pieces to make the story work. And sure, after five successful installments, you start to wonder how fresh it can still be; yet still trusting the director will not let you down. In this case, David Yates may not be totally at fault, but somewhere during filming, someone forgot what got this series to this point. And that’s class and detail, none of which was a large part of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which felt more like the first piece to this series instead of the sixth.
Maybe it was the new PG-rating that forced the writers to somewhat “dumb it down,” but either way it just didn’t feel right early on and had trouble recovering by films end. That’s a shame, because the cast was great and the story was there to be had, but for some reason Yates and the writers chose to focus more on what I would call “fluff” than the intrigue of what was going on at this point in the storyline. I don’t know, maybe it’s because this film serves as the “bridge” before the big ending that is “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part I and II,” but to me that doesn’t change the fact they missed on this sixth piece to the series, which had the chance to be something better.
C+