Harry Potter returns in the sixth film of the series and this time he has discovered the ancient magic called teenage hormones. The film sets its mood and main topics right from the start with a scene that features three wizard terrorists known as Deatheaters blurring across the screen in order to abduct an innocent wizard from his store, proceeded immediately by Harry Potter reading about this crime in a Wizarding newspaper, while being hit on by a hot British waitress who informs him that she will be off work at eleven. These two scenes capture the mood of the film perfectly and sets up for what will follow. If we can say this Harry Potter is a much darker film than its previous incarnations than it is also a funnier film as well. When the film isn’t exploring the origins of Tom Riddle’s rise into the Dark Lord Voldemort, it follows the teenage characters light-hearted attempts to fulfill their quest to get laid (in a PG-13 sort of way).
In this film, Harry joins Dumbledore to recruit a former Hogwarts professor named Slugworth who retains an important secret about Voldemort that may hold the key to defeating him. Harry must convince Slugworth to divulge this secret, while watching his nemesis Draco Malfoy who seems to be sneaking around a lot these days with some secret mission from Voldemort. Meanwhile, the now older cast of Harry Potter have finally discovered their libidos and hormones rage as the characters explore their truth feelings for each other.
The film strikes the right notes of serious and comical. The effects and art design are as spot on as usual, replacing the light-hearted whimsical world from earlier films with a colder meaner Hogwarts that feels like a place transported out of a Gothic novel. Rupert Grint as Ron Weasely performs the comic role especially well, and is noticeably absent from all the serious conversations in the film. The half-blood Prince subplot in which the movie takes its title never really fits into the main story line, and seems like an after thought, or even less than an after thought as it plays very little consequence at all. I cannot blame this on the film, however, as I remember feeling the same away about it in the J.K. Rowling’s novel. Nevertheless, a pretty good movie, and the best installment thus far.
Oh, and Dumbledore dies! Ha, I spoiled it for you.
