It’s year 6 at Hogwarts - a very eventful year, as it proves. In no particular order: Harry helps Dumbledore recruit Slughorn as the new Potions master. Dumbledore puts Harry to work prising a Tom Riddle-related memory out of Slughorn.
They discover that Voldemort may have created a Horcrux or 7 and set out on a seek and destroy mission. Harry comes by an old Potions book, previously the property of one Half Blood Prince whose notes help Harry become a Potions whiz. Draco Malfoy is upto all sorts of no good. Harry, Ron, Hermione and pretty much most of the students are awash in teenage hormones. Clearly, an action packed year for the wizards which should have translated into a zinger of a movie. Strangely, nothing much happens in it, except in fits and starts.
I was mystified by Half Blood Prince. Condensing the complex narrative and plot of the book into film length is admittedly a Herculean task. Even so, the movie is peopled with ciphers - Fenrir Greyback and Blaise Zabini, for instance, are included, introduced and referred to but they do exactly nothing. The climactic fight at the castle has been discarded in favour of an entirely gratuitous and pointless scene featuring an attack on the Burrow. The revelation of Snape as the eponymous Prince gets all of 30 secs screen time. Why? Unsolved mysteries, both.
Half Blood Prince the book was the penultimate of the series and served as a great build up to the climactic 7th book. However, the movie series will consist of 8 installments - Deathly Hallows will be made in 2 parts - which robs this movie of the mood of anticipation and tension that helped make the book so special. It is a stop gap movie, consisting mainly of backstory, serving only to fill in some blanks.
Aside of the essential pointlessness, there are several good reasons to watch the film. The sweeping cinematography is one. The special effects are another. Most importantly, there are any number of outstanding acting performances: Rupert Grint’s Ron shines among a cast of the British acting nobility; Alan Rickman’s Snape is venomous, chilling; Jessie Cave as the Ron-obsessed Lavender is hilarious and natural; and Jim Broadbent is a marvelous and memorable Slughorn.
Despite the impressive acting credentials and stunning visuals director David Yates is clearly having a hard time staying faithful to the books. Alfonso Cuaron’s Prisoner of Azkaban remains the best screen adaptation so far. Have Yates and Warner Avada Kedavra-ed the series? Only time and Deathly Hallows part 1 will tell