This film though, just like the whole franchise is television on big screen. We’re just watching installments, which as well might be episodes. The only objective is to stretch the thing for over two hours. The plot meanders, wherein silly romantic arcs provide the diversion.
Or the source of bloat. Depends on the way you look at it. For every character, these stock romantic angles are not unlike those we’ve on those silly sitcoms. The girl is interested in the guy, and though the guy subconsciously loves her, he is too stupid to realize it, and in a case of hormonal rage picked up right off the shelf, he falls for another girl, causing envy and tears to the first girl.
And so on. And so forth. There’re potions after potions. Are our young so unimaginative to actually fall for this trick, again and again? Is modern cinema really so unimaginatively repetitive? Is this all it come up with in the name of character development and back-story? Where’s that young kid J.G. Ballard conjured up, and Steven Spielberg brought to life in Empire of the Sun?
And when we’re not busy in unfunny comic-relief sequences, we follow Draco Malfoy (Mr. Felton) lurking around the halls of Hogwarts with I-AM-THE-BAD-DUDE written all over his face. The faculty does not realize it, and maybe they have a secret plan. Doesn’t matter. Harry is unaware. So, in what seems like a ridiculous piling up of coincidence, Harry almost always manages to sneak behind Draco whenever he is pursuing his evil endeavor. Most concern a visit to a room called Room of Requirement where Draco is doing some kind of experiment with an old cabinet. It is one of the mysteries of the plot. He places in an apple and it comes out eaten. You should wonder what it can be. It is one of the film’s few better threads that actually have a sense of intrigue about them.
Others, not so much.Half Blood Prince has little understanding of what consists of a mysterious plot, and how to unravel a mystery. Nothing here unfolds. They just happen at their designated time. Dumbledore and Harry stumble upon a secret of Lord Voldermot. This leads them to a secret cave. But reader, if you happen to be a viewer who hasn’t read the books, you shall wonder what *exactly *led them to the cave. What are the reasons behind Dumbledore’s cave-trip? You never know. Our thirst for that mystery is never quenched.
For that matter, the film doesn’t do much with its title either. There’re mere references to the Half-Blood prince, and though the identity is supposed to be a mystery the film never sets upon to discover it. We just handed it out as an obligatory piece of information. We don’t even get to know why the half-blood prince is the half-blood prince. The problem is that too many of these adaptations of popular books assume we have a fair knowledge of the source. I’m sure many readers shall answer many of my queries, but that is not the point. The point is why the film is unclear. The point is not that I seek a Potter-expert and seek my answers from him. The point is that I am drawn emotionally and visually into this world, from whereon I can understand and feel it on my own. I shouldn’t be left cold during the romantic interludes, I should be smitten by them. I should feel the dread, the mystery of these characters, and not just tick off plot points. Most adaptations ignore that in their race to cram as much of the book as possible. There’s obligation piled upon obligation. I perceive that as a failure of imagination and creativity.