We've Eaten Plastic Weather

My history with the Harry Potter books and films is a bit complicated.

I'm of the generation that read the Harry Potter books as I progressed through my childhood, from when I was seven to when I was seventeen. As such, I enjoyed them immeasurably and they were an integral part of my childhood and my friends' childhood. In fact, while I probably wouldn't put any of them on lists of my favorite books, I have a great deal of nostalgia and affection for the series.

J.K. Rowling's writing abilities were on a sharp upward incline the entire series, meaning as my appreciation for prose and dialogue grew, so did her ability to write prose and dialogue. Until, of course, the seventh book. It all bottomed out when J.K. Rowling died and the publishing company scoured the internet for fan-fiction. They then loaded it into a cannon, fired it in the air and collected whatever pieces were left, pasted them onto the pages of a 10,000-page book and proceeded to burn piles of money when their bankers said "Sorry, no more room". All the good will built up by the first six books in the series was demolished like an orphanage on Orphan-Crushing Day.

At the same time, I often point to the Harry Potter films (along with many, many other films) when people talk about how sequels are always worse than the original. That's a different rant for a different time, though. My point is, every Potter film has been better than the one that preceded it, meaning I tend to get pretty excited about these films as they come out. But it shan't last, for the next film will be the first part of the Deathly Hallows, a pair of films which I'm not sure I can even bring myself to watch.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the last hurrah of the Harry Potter films, and it's a great way for this series to end, because in my mind, it IS over. There IS no seventh book. J.K. Rowling was eaten by bears, goddammit, and I won't listen to anyone who says otherwise.

Don't I feel silly. Five paragraphs in and I haven't even started talking about the film.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the best film in the series so far. Every film made so far, the filmmakers have learned lessons and applied those lessons to the next film. Every film has been a step forward, and this film is a culmination of all those baby-steps.

I know I'm wasting my time, but I feel unwashed if I don't give a plot synopsis. Harry Potter and Friends travel back to Hogwarts for another year of obscenely dangerous adventures on the Hogwarts campus under the eye of teacher who should probably be doing more to take care of the 11-year-olds who find themselves in the company of dangerous three-headed dogs. This is a bit more cerebral of a film than the last few. A lot of it is concerned with tracing the rise of the evil Lord Voldemort without actually showing him in all his Ralph Fiennes-y glory. Similarly, there are far fewer magical shootouts this time around, which was a bit of a disappointment for me, although a shallow one. I have nothing but high praise for the magical shootout at the end of the fifth film and had hoped for more of that this time around. More on that later, though.

The film also concerns itself with the melodrama of teenage angst as the characters develop their first loves and all that. The actors in this case all acquit themselves nicely, although none of them seem to be able to go beyond the call of duty and really garner the audiences sympathy and affection. That's okay. We're stuck with Chris Columbus' casting choices, so I'm not really surprised that these kids didn't turn out to be great actors.

Nothing short of top-drawer talent is present in cast. The mind-boggling entourage of the greatest living British actors from Michael Gambon and Helena Bonham Carter to Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith return for this film. Jim Broadbent is the most recent addition to this cast, and he is absolutely delightful as the vaguely scummy Professor Slughorn.

I had been very excited to see Michael Gambon stretch in this film, as the book is very Dumbledore-centric, but a lot of that was toned down for the film. The book is also very Snape-centric, but a lot of that is disappointingly toned down as well. More on that later.

But someone I'd like to single out for praise is Tom Felton, one of the younger actors and the one who plays Draco Malfoy. Most of his scenes are without dialogue, in fact I think he only really has a handful of lines in the entire film. But he does so much more with less, making his character the most fascinating, compelling and, strangely, sympathetic of everyone in the cast. This is an enormous tribute to his acting skill, considering that Malfoy is possibly the least-sympathetic character in the series. Cannot praise this performance enough. During a certain confrontation between him and Potter (again, more on that later), I was truly hoping it would end with a big hug.

Director David Yates, making only his second feature film after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix two years ago, proves again to be more in-tune with the series than any other filmmaker to have sat in the director's seat. He brings a flat-out brilliant visual sense to the film, breathing more life into them than I could have imagined and making all the previous films look like calculated failures.

But it's not just him. David Yates' long-time editor Mark Day and the great cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel conspire to make the film exceedingly beautiful and efficient.

In particular, the bathroom duel between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy is jaw-droppingly gorgeous and is not only the highlight of the film, but possibly THE highlight of the entire series. I have a nasty habit of hyperbole, but it's been almost 24 hours since seeing the film and I can't gush enough about that scene. Anyone who will stay in one place long enough has heard my giddy, malformed praise for this scene in excruciating detail, but I'll spare you, dear reader, for I want you to see it and enjoy it all on your own, free from any bias provided by my schoolgirl crush on this scene.

If I have any complaints about this film, it's that we need more time with Snape. His actions and the big reveal at the end of the film are more shocking the more time we've spent around the character, and we spend very little time around the character. That didn't stop the film from moving everyone in the audience to tears, though.

This is one of the best films I've seen all summer. It's exciting, unique, scary, suspenseful and singularly cinematic. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

9/10