Gifted Typist

I went.

I saw.

And I was disappointed by the newest Harry Potter blockbuster, The Half Blood Prince.

In fact, the flick left me feeling a little steamed, so steamed that on the way out I gave a big thumbs down to friends on their way into the movie.

I later phoned to apologize for being a downer. They accepted the apology but said I was apologizing for the wrong thing – I should have just stopped them from going in at all.

O-keee, so why was I steamed? Well, it’s probably got to do with my own expectations. They were high. And they were not met this time.

Here’s the deal with Half Blood Price: If you like teen RomComs a la the Twilight fanchise, you will probably like The Half Blood Price.

But if you expected a tightly plotted wizardy adventure that holds you to the end, you’ll be disappointed.

OK, yes there was some of that old Harry Potter magic. There were great scenes with evil death eaters buzzing around, and Snape and Draco Malfoy were deliciously villainous. (Of course, my enduring crush on Alan Rickman makes me love everything he does no matter how evil.)

The plot also revealed some interesting insights into Harry’s arch-enemy Voldemort and his elusive powers.

As always, there was some lovely photography and a spectacularly slimely and cringe-making scene in a cave. A  few “gotcha!” moments made me jump. And I love the scenes in which that warm amber glow casts into the dark, dampness of Hogwarts. It serves as a cozy refuge from the evil and dangers that lurk all around.

But Half Blood Price came up short for me.

The RomCom subplot with Ron falling under his love spell felt contrived and a little too cute for the HP franchise.  If there was a more sinister undertone, it might have worked better. Instead, it was very junior high and goofy, a clumsy distraction from the main story.

And in that main plot, we didn’t have enough development of Draco’s character and insights into his motivations. You need insights into the “bad guys” in order to make the plot sing.

Professor Horace Slughorn was a very interesting character who also wasn’t revealed to his potential, considering his central involvement in the rise of Voldemort.

The story arc felt uneven and pitchy and when we finally reached the climax, I wasn’t sure that it was a climax at all. It left me reaching for something more to close the movie.

I know there will be another movie to end the Harry Potter story, but if I’m paying good money and investing precious weekend time on a movie, I want to leave feeling satisfied.

Half Blood Price was like one of those essays you padded out in highschool because you only had 500 words to give the topic, and teacher wanted 2000.

Let’s hope for better next time.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 9:30 am and is filed under movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.