Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

This review is full of spoilers.Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released in 2009 and was directed once again by David Yates and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Alan Rickman in his best performance yet as Professor Snape.It follows a plot being orchestrated by an off-screen Voldemort to kill Dumbledore at Hogwarts, because the only wizard Voldemort fears is - you guessed it - Dumbledore. Harry believes (correctly, I might add) that Draco Malfoy, played really well by Tom Felton, has been chosen to do it. All while Harry and Dumbledore must find Voldemort's strange and difficult to destroy One-Ring-Ripoff objects called Horcruxes, because once they are destroyed Voldemort can finally be killed. All while dealing with a new Potions teacher, the odd Professor Horace Slughorn, Harry finding a mysterious cheating book written by "The Half-Blood Prince," Ron getting a new girlfriend to Hermoine's dismay, Harry trying to get together with Ron's sister Ginny, Hagrid losing his first friend the giant Spider... Wow, a lot more happens in this film than I remember.Now let's talk about the positives, because there are a lot. The acting, character development, and interactions are all top notch. The score is fantastic as usual. The cinematography and even set and costume design is a step up from the previous installment. The tone, while darker than previous installments, feels right and is completely consistent. The story is quite engaging, despite one glaring issue:Unfortunately, my biggest problem with this installment is that, despite so much going on, not much of interest happens until Harry and Dumbledore find the third Horcrux (the first two were destroyed before the events of this film), making the film far less investing than it should be. The good news is it does get investing in the third act, where an amazing action scene takes place in a cave with an army of unkillable zombie things, and some pretty cool spells casted by Dumbledore. And after that (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER) comes the big thing that everyone takes away from the film: SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE. I will actually wait to fully comment on it until I review Deathly Hallows Part II, as the story behind this unfolds at that time, but let's just say that in the confines of this movie, it is shocking and sad.Here comes another problem, and this is a moderate one: The film removes the most emotional moment of the book. Dumbledore's funeral. WHAT? Look, I get it. It's an adaptation. Changes can be made. But this? Seriously? And the scene kind of replacing it of Harry crying over Dumbledore's body while NOBODY ELSE cries just feels... manipulative compared to the book. This was a very bad change.Overall, I still recommend this book wholeheartedly, and I will be seeing it again. Even if it's not as good as the last two installments in my personal opinion.RATING:7/10

As Harry Potter begins his sixth year at Hogwarts, he discovers an old book marked as "the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is perhaps the most good looking of the seven films but also unfortunately the most dull of them all since nothing much really happens threw out 2hrs and 33mins except the ending which was very good but other than that? You could skip the entire movie and just watch the last 25 minutes or so and see what happens and sure it's still watchable but it could have been better. (6/10)

This movie is mostly nonsense. If you are a fan of barely explained plot devices, bad acting, slowly deteriorating effects, new magical items that will exist in one movie alone, and a convoluted story, then congratulations - you've made it this far. This movie is basically just fan service for the Harry Potter book fans (all the movies are fan service for the book fans). I would not recommend this movie.

I am a huge Harry Potter fan, so I was really excited to see the film version of this. There was a lot that I was looking forward to, and I was a little bit disappointed because most of the scenes that I would've liked to see on screen were omitted. That being said, the scenes that were there were fantastic. However, I am still a little confused even years later as to why Death Eaters burned down the Weasleys' home. I thought this films in a really good job with showing the progression of the trio from children to basically soldiers. I think this is one of my favorite of the films simply because it was done so well.