Steve kloves and David Yates come together to bring JK Rowling’s sixth installment to the big screens. The task of writing a screen play for a Harry potter book is a difficult one. The Half blood prince is extremely tricky as the book involves very limited elements that can be cinematized. The sixth Harry Potter book is where lot about Lord Voldemort is unearthed through a series of conversations and flashbacks. But all these necessarily do not make a good movie script. Steve Kloves has taken a lot of poetic license in omitting such things and adding a few interesting ones. Some have come out well, while others were found wanting. I must say he has done a fair job in putting together a decent screen play.The movie beginning for example is very impressive. Unlike the books which opens at Harry spending his summer with the Dursley’s, the film opens with a flashback to just after the events of The Order of the Phoenix when Harry and Dumbledore are being questioned for the Daily Prophet . The collapse of a bridge in the muggle world which is mentioned briefly in the book is set as the opening sequence of the movie and has been done brilliantly.
The cast of the movie is what makes this edition brilliant. David Yates does not waste any time in
introducing the real star of the movie Jim Broadbent(Earlier seen in Iris, Bridget Jones Diary, Moulin Rouge) , who plays the role of Horace Slughorn, a retired potions master being persuaded by Dumbledore to return to Hogwarts once more. Jim Broadbent is an exciting addition to an existing galaxy of extremely talented veteran British actors such as Michael Gambon, Alan Rick Man and Maggie Smith. Jim Broadbent’s portrayal of Professor Slughorn is mesmerizing. He easily glides between the two sides of Professor Slughorn, the one where he is a proud, haughty man who prides on his success and his contacts to the one who is extremely ashamed of helping the young Voldemort learn about horcrux. The teenagers in the movie are also maturing well as actors. There is a marked improvement in the performance of the three lead characters (Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliff). Tom Felton who plays Draco Malfoy has for the first time in the series was given a more central role and he has grabbed it with both hands. Hero Fiennes-Tiffin and Frank Dillane each play Tom Riddle, the child who becomes Lord Voldemort, at age eleven and as a teenager respectively and both of their performances were stunning. All retuning veteran actors were at their best, especially Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) and Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange).The screen play is lot more character driven and emotional, which is a welcome relief form Steve Kloves previous attempts. The love- hates relationship between Hermione Granger and Ron Weasely were captured well, given the limitations Kloves had. Rupert Grint naturally brings out the funny side of Ron Weasely and makes you laugh quite a lot. Although I understand, that the movie cannot be made word to word as it is in the book, Kloves missed a few interesting plots. For example, there is only one class room scene in the movie. The running feud between Professor Snape and Harry reaches a melting point as Snape is appointed as the DADA teacher, which is Harry’s favorite subject. Kloves and Yates have denied Alan Rickman a wonderful opportunity by deleting all DADA class room scenes. Harry kissing Ginny was the highlight of the 6th book. But the scene was replaced by a very filmy romance scene which did not go too well with the die hard Rowling fans. The burning of the borrow was unnecessary and I still don’t understand the purpose of adding a completely new scene out of the book when the 5 minutes could have been used for any of Rowling’s original plots.
If you have not read the books, you will definitely loose the plot in the middle. Lot of prior knowledge is assumed by the writer which leaves the non reader clue less at many places.
But what makes the film stand out, is its outstanding cinematography, visuals, art direction and the over all dark theme of the movie, which haunts you throughout. The scene where Harry and Dumbledore visit the cliff by the sea is breath taking. Easily the best part of the movie, it has been executed brilliantly. Although you know what’s going to happen, the scene terrorizes you and keeps you in the edge of your seats.
The climax is what leaves you wondering if the movie is really that great. The death of Dumbledore in my opinion could have been done better (no disregards to Alan Rickman & Michael Gambon). Daniel clearly failed to lift himself in what was the most testing scene for him in the movie. When Harry’s great mentor just got killed by a man who Harry loathes the most, it is not unfair to expect some amount of fury and anguish from the lead actor. Clearly Radcliff disappoints in what was otherwise remarkable performance. However I can say that the movie clearly sets the tone for the closing two editions which are due for release on late 2010 & 2011 respectively.
There is a buzz that, the half blood prince could be the first Oscar entry for the franchise, give that the number of movies to be nominated for Best picture has been increased from 5 to 10 this year. However if on Feb 2010, if I find the Half blood prince in the list for best picture, my only conclusion would be that there were not enough good movies for the year 2009. But I will not frown if Jim Broadbent gets a nomination for his performance. The HP franchise is still a long way behind the Lord of The rings trilogy in spite of Yates best effort.
Overall a thorough entertainer, for die hard potter maniacs. There is no point in even considering the question “Is the movie as good as the book?’. Let me just say that the half blood prince is probably the best movie yet from the HP franchise. But that does not say much, as the earlier movies had not set much of a bench mark.
