The strengths and weaknesses of David Yates's Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince could be summed up by looking at the first ten minutes of its running time. Its beginning is frankly beautiful; I got goose-bumps as Dumbledore leads a broken Harry through the pressing reporters of the magical world. Continuing in Yates's flair for brilliant scenes, this beginning one was incredibly artistic. The lighting, the colors, the acting, the music: they gave me such great pleasure.
Fast forward to Harry, sitting in a subway cafe and reading the Daily Prophet. A flirting waitress informs him that she gets off work at 11, and Harry nods his head and hurriedly checks his breath. Wait, what just happened? No longer the young hero, who bears burdens beyond his years and learns to be the responsible man he must be. No, here we see Harry as a shallow young man who drives around on subways and flirts with waitresses to, as he puts it, "take his mind off things". I call this mediocre at best, and downright shameful at worst.
So, what's the problem? The film adaption of Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince, hated as it is by many fans of the books, does have some truly incredible qualities. Hooper's soundtrack is inspirational. Delbonnel's cinematography made me feel like I was watching a Vermeer painting; he plays with light like a true master of painting. And most of the acting remains thoroughly solid ground for the film to stand on.
Yet the film has some serious failings which made it impossible to like completely. Because the film focuses more on the story's romantic relationships than on Harry's discoveries about Lord Voldemort's past, problems in the relational development are far more glaring. The greatest of these was Harry and Ginny Weasley's outrageous "romance", or so some call it. In the book, Harry and Ginny's relationship is not as appealing as Ron and Hermione's, but it still has a life of its own. But in the film, when Bonnie Wright's nondescript Ginny meets Radcliffe's inconsistent Potter, we're given a prime example of teenage drama and disaster. Radcliffe's Harry drifts his way into a crush on Ginny after apparating to the Burrow and seeing her reading in a window sill (please, hear me scoff). Even more disgustingly miraculous is that somehow, after a a handle of pining looks from Harry, Ginny appears to reciprocate Harry's emotions. Oh, young love in all its glory! I'm afraid I'm left with Hermione, saying "Excuse me, I have to go and vomit."
The other relationship, between Hermione and Ron, requires a tad more examination. Apparently, self-confident, sassy, and brilliant Hermione Granger also has room in her schedule for a heart overfilling with powerful emotions. And though Hermione does a relatively good job of keeping those emotions in their proper place, the audience watches Hermione's trials with the greatest sympathy. The delightful Miss Emma Watson milks her character for everything it's worth, and the result is charming. She makes every twitch of Hermione's eyebrows, every glance of her eyes count. Her mastery of the character is remarkable; in Watson's hands, Hermione blossoms even more. She stammers, makes sharp intakes of breath, and yet remains the reliable Hermione we all love so much. I must admit that, somehow, Watson manages to make her side of the romance very realistically endearing.
But the movie runs into a serious problem that I've been awaiting since The Chamber of Secrets. Through no fault of his own, Grint's Ron just isn't convincing as a romantic possibility for the incredible Hermione. I kept asking myself why Hermione Granger would possibly fall in love with an emotional, irresolute, and (to be completely honest) non-existent character. In the films, Ron has merely been comedic relief, and very rarely does the movie-Ron capture the very real character in the book. In the book Ron is irresponsible at times and very insecure; he does, however, have real character qualities that suit Hermione perfectly. He's got an inner calm that Hermione often needs to rely on (particularly when she's freaking out about her schoolwork). And above all else, Ron is not flashy, a fact which he eventually comes to accept. While sniffing Slughorn's love potion, Hermione says, "For example I smell freshly mown grass, and new parchment, and spearmint...toothpaste." She smells touches of a simple life, the life in which Ron excels. He's very grounded, and it is this solidity of character which makes him perfect for Miss Granger. But unfortunately, the movie-Ron lacks the book-Ron's strengths, making any romance between the two friends truly implausible.
A few notes: Tom Felton excelled as Draco Malfoy. He more than captured the psychological quandaries the young Death Eater faces. Michael Gambon is decent as Dumbledore, but he still doesn't capture the powerful contemplator of the book. And though Radcliffe and Gambon work well together, Harry and Dumbledore's important hours working together to destroy Voldemort get lost behind the relational issues the characters face.
And so, to conclude, I found Yates's Half Blood Prince a Chex Mix of brilliant artistry and revolting hogwash. Please, pardon a very bad pun when I say that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was, shall we say, half and half.
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