The beloved series reaches maturity with “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
Harry Potter — the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, the kid with the lightning-shaped scar — is all grown up.
Over the past seven or so years, we’ve watched Harry go from a cute, precocious tyke eager to make friends to an angst-ridden teen beset by anger, arrogance and doubt. We’ve seen him work magic, battle monsters and, most recently, struggle over guilt and grief with the death of his godfather, Sirius Black.
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” finds our 16-year-old hero halfway between the anguishes of adolescence and the grim reality of adulthood.
As the film opens, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is engaged in an activity all too common for boys his age: flirting with a waitress in a Surrey greasy spoon.
The budding romance is cut short, however, when Harry spots Dumbledore (Michael Gabon) — the wise, kindly headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry — eying a billboard.
Naturally, Dumbledore needs his help. He’s trying to recruit Professor Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), a portly professor who collects gifted and well-connected students like souvenirs. But why? And what happened to Dumbledore’s mysteriously wizened and blackened hand?
The mystery only deepens upon Harry’s return to Hogwarts, where he reunites with friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson).
There, the usual jumble of classes, Quidditch games and hot butterbeers at The Three Broomsticks is interrupted by what Dumbledore describes as “love’s keen sting.”
Brainy Hermoine is growing distraught over her unrequited love for bumbling Ron. Ron, who’s flummoxed by girlkind in general, finds himself trapped in a juvenile love triangle.
Meanwhile, Harry is struggling with his own feelings for his best mate’s younger sister, Ginny (Bonnie Wright). The two seemed destined for each other. Yet Ron interrupts every chance they get for a quick snog.
If only life’s travails were limited to homework and heartbreak.
You see, Harry has another, more pressing mission this year: learning more about the evil wizard known to the stout-of-heart as Lord Voldemort.
As Dumbledore begins tutoring the young wizard about Voldemort’s origins, Harry launches into an investigation of his own. He suspects his longtime rival, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), and sinister Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) of being in league with the Dark Lord.
Despite its PG rating, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is easily the darkest, most brooding chapter of the series based on J.K. Rowling’s books.
Although director David Yates keeps sex (kissing and hugging) and physical violence (a brutal confrontation in a rail car) to a minimum, “Half-Blood Prince” deals with a slew of moral dilemmas. It also tackles some of the most important coming-of-age experiences in any young person’s life — love, duty, and yes, death.
Make no mistake, though. “Half-Blood Prince” is also the funniest Harry Potter film to date.
Ron’s romantic entanglements provide most of the film’s comic relief, especially the memorable scene in which he’s mistakenly drugged with a love potion. Just watching him moon over a girl he’s never met, much less talked to, is worth the price of admission.
“Half Blood Prince” jumps ably from comedy to suspense to tragedy, always keeping the action moving briskly.
Previous films may have suffered from too much exposition, but that’s hardly the problem here. This movie practically gallops to its explosive climax.
Just like its protagonist, it seems, “Harry Potter” has finally grown up.
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Image courtesy of MovieWeb.com.
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Am I the only one who doesn’t get the Harry Potter movie thing? Potter doesn’t abide for his dude.