Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Title: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009)
Starring: Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Felton
Directed by: David Yates
Written by: J. K. Rowling
Screen Play: Steve Clove
Music: Nicholos Hooper
Director of Photography: Bruno Delbonnel

Score 6 out of 10.

Summary: Director David Yates: "oops..we are 3 minutes beyond our limit of two and a half hours...stop it and roll the credits. We will continue in the next installment".

Plot (I wont spoil it): Harry Potter and his mentors takes on the challenge of battling evil for the 6th time.

I was a bit of an anti-Potter since the first installment came some 7 year ago. I felt it got famous beyond what it deserved. I had felt that J.K Rowling was running away with so much fame just for creating a character which got propelled by good marketing and a crowd that jumped on the bandwagon. Not withstanding my contempt, the movie franchise is turning out to be a money machine. Now the latest installment -the 6th one - is alleged to have made more money than the reigning champion 'Batman The Dark Knight' for an opening day.

But I had became a convert when I watched the 4th in the series (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). I must admit I was also influenced when when 'The Hindu' newspaper known for its balance and restraint wrote an editorial extolling the virtues of this franchise and praising it for giving children a magical story rich with imagination. Having watched most of the movie on DVD, me and my wife thought that this was a good movie to be watched on the big screen and we drove ourselves with the kid last Friday night for a 9.30 show at the AMC in Valco Mall, Cupertino. The bright neon sign on Wolfe road bearing the AMC name brings an atmosphere of yesteryear Hollywood... but I digress.

Although the dark atmosphere of Hogwarts, the flame lit halls of the temple of education majoring in magic and some of more-sinister-looking-than-the-bad-guy Professors can be interesting, it gets tiring after more than a few repeat productions. In fact I got so bored in this movie that when the movie ended abruptly, I found myself feeling relieved that the heavy stuff came to an end.

Having gone in thinking I will watch a magical fun film which gives shape to the imagination of children (of all ages) I kept waiting for it. Most of the story was about dark concepts in life like evil and death and people in the University of Magic seemed immensely serious about looking gloomy and sinister themselves.

In fairness the movie does have excellent visuals, settings and special effects. The locales are beautiful. But they all seem to aid this quest for exploring darkness. The usual suspects in the Potter franchise are here too - complete with their "it-may-look-clumsy but this is the costume I wear always".

The plot involves a character called The half blood Prince. The protagonist Harry Potter seems to be a passenger in a journey along with the bearded sage Prof. Dumbledore and others on the good side who are battling the dark side led by a character called Draco (played well by Tom Felton) with his own band of evil guys. Potter (Radcliffe) still remains a kid and does give a dignified performance. I was impressed by Prof. Slughorn played by Jim Broadbent - a performance which is brilliantly idiosyncratic.

In spite of its great box records I feel Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince falls way short of deserving the attention and accolades it is getting. The biggest letdown was the ending. It leaves you feeling that the director suddenly realized "oops..we are 3 minuted beyond our limit of two and a half hours...stop it and roll the credits. We will continue in the next installment".

I rate it as 6 out of 10