Getting Back On Track?
Indeed, the way’s in which events unfolded in the last tale of The Order of the Phoenix, was possibly the worst in this lauded film series. It was a shame to witness a film that didn’t bring over tropes from previous films, and instead, relied on approaches that rushed and scattered a story that couldn’t quite make up its mind in being either a light-relief adventure flick, or a much darker representation that explored the contradictions and developments of the main characters. What a surprise it was then, to watch David Yates, who is at the directorial helm once again, to improve on the mistakes that were ever-present in the last instalment, and to make The Half-Blood Prince that was dark, thrilling and occasionally quite funny. With it’s main attention of being a mysterious and dark film that neatly threads and finalises the romantic elements in a balanced manner, The Half Blood Prince marks the return of catalytical camera and visual work; something that has been missing in this franchise since The Prisoner of Azkaban…
After the sudden and fateful events that took place for him at the end of The Order of the Phoenix, a 16 year-old Harry Potter once again returns to Hogwarts where circumstances are turning gloomy by the day. Lord Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the wizarding world and Muggle worlds as he chooses Draco Malfoy to carry out a secret mission. Should he fail, the dark deed will be passed down to Severus Snape, who makes an Unbreakable Vow with Draco’s mother, Narcissa. With returning back to the School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, Harry embarks on an adventure centred around the past; where, along-with Dumbledore, they explore Voldemort’s past in order to find out the Dark Lord’s vulnerabilities. In discovering not only a potions book that belonged to ‘The Half Blood Prince’, but also love with the attraction of Ron’s younger sister, Ginny, will Harry get a step closer in defeating Voldemort? Or will a dark providence have the last laugh on Harry’s progression?…
It’s very evident, judging from what I have said of it in the introduction and the review I did of the film two weeks ago, that the Order of the Phoenix is truly one of the worst Potter adaptations in the series being that it adopts a structure that is scattered, exposition heavy, and overly-long despite it having a lower run-time compared to previous entries. One of the things to notice that director David Yates has improved on, is to employ a story formation that is simplistic and going in a direction that shows coherent progression for each character and the sequences that they are placed in. There were moments in Yates’ last projection that strayed away from the main plot attraction, and instead focused on light-relief that didn’t really have an effect on the outcome of the film. With The Half-Blood Prince, it opens in a manner which lets us know, that the film is going down a much more serious tone with Voldemort’s Death-Eaters causing havoc in both the wizarding and Muggle worlds. From this, the film progresses by consistently condensing down pieces of key-plot information that is threaded sparingly within short time-frames, one of the more noticeable developments to witness. While it doesn’t shy away from utilising the various perspectives of the characters that all culminate towards final stages of the feature, these character specific moments don’t negate the films main focal angle, which is what happened in the last film, and instead, all contribute to an ending that feels rewarding to see. A good example of this would be within the first act, where we observe multiple points of view, with Harry and Dumbledore meeting Jim Broadbent’s Professor Slughorn and Snape deliberating with Narcissa and Bellatrix Le Strange, that are paced in a well-timed fashion to enhance this story idea that good and evil are going to coheres with each other at the penultimate defining instant. This is also backed up with the scenes in which we see Harry go through the memories of Voldemort, which are of course crucial to the progression of the story and are executed in a chilling mode; with the pallet of the frame being washed out in a green/grey filter that features a disturbing younger Tom Riddle. What is more apparent to see in Yates’ return of Harry Potter, is the balance of this dreaded inevitability, which is illuminated throughout with Malfoy, Harry’s intrigue in said character with the establishment of Snape’s complicated role, and the human and social aspects that are woven into the structure in a composed form. The main motif of the social aspects that is planted through the film, is the return of romance, which was handled wastefully and poorly in the previous entry. The romance never really feels forced upon like it did in The Order of the Phoenix and instead, like with the serious events that take place, it gradually builds itself up-to a moment that everyone expects to see. While I will go into more discussion of this scene in a more cinematic point of view in the next paragraph. one of my favourite scenes in The Half-Blood Prince that illuminates the Romantic element really well, is the sequence in which Harry and Hermione both confess their own love interests. It’s a moment within the film that sums up how the Romance is sophisticated in describing how awkward ‘love’ can be for young adults, something that was absent in the previous film.
Other than Alfonso Cuaron, who came into the Harry Potter set-up and directed a visually-stimulating film in the form of The Prisoner of Azkaban that pursued meaning through the use of the continuous-camera movement, there really hasn’t been any other director, who have entered the magical fray, that deliberately woo’s the audiences with the manipulation of the lens. With the Half-Blood Prince however, Yates employs the assistance of Bruno Delbonnel, a cinematographer now best known for his work for Joel & Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis, to give imperative meaning to the major characters and the settings/circumstances that they’re positioned in. An example of this, as subtle and as low-key as the situation might be perceived, is the little moment when Harry, as always in every film so far, meets Ron and Hermione again in which they talk about the safety of Hogwarts and the unknown impact that Dumbledore has still got, despite his long age. What is crucial about this scene, and in many other scenes where paramount individuals deliberate amongst themselves, is the effective way Delbonnel applies close-ups within the frame to make us, the viewer, connected with the conversation that the characters are having with each. It may seem like such a simple cinematic device to instruct, but it’s also a tool that can create suspense meaning for an audience member to be enriched in. My other small likeness towards this specific scene, is the way in which it ends; foreshadowing the next dark scene, and other future deadly events, with a burning newspaper of Draco Malfoy’s grim face to emphasise the important role that this particular character has within this next, and in the next last two. What is paradoxical to say the least, from what we do see of the camera-work that is seen in The Half-Blood Prince, is how Delbonnel hallmarks cinematic approaches that were last seen in The Prisoner of Azkaban. Like we see in the third film, where the camera projects objects/characters that are place in the background whilst the lens highlights a placement within the foreground of a location, this approach is similarly extorted within the confines of Yates’ filmic piece. Moments such as when Harry, Ron and Hermione follow Malfoy through Diagon Alley, where the poster of the were-wolf Fenrir Greyback is placed within the focused foreground of the frame to enlarge the longitude of the location, and when Harry’s focused silhouetted head-shape blurs out the body figures of Ron and Hermione who both placed in the low-shaded Gryffindor common-room, are clear examples Yates and Delbonnel taking inspiration from past Potter workings that ultimately gives the narrative, and its characters, a forward momentum. This can be also seen with the few tracking shots that are utilised within the film, to create a sense of fluidity. As noted in the previous paragraph, while it was mentioned that the scene where Harry and Hermione admit to one-another of their love interests is a sequence that epitomises the ‘true’ awkwardness of young love, it also upholds excellent cinematography that Cuaron himself would be licking his lips at. The scene in discussion, ends with a tracking-crane shot, which outlines the outside of Hogwarts school and touches upon not only Ron’s romantic encounter with Lavender Brown, but also Draco Malfoy who stares upon the dark-horizon all alone. It is this specific camera-work which implies that Harry Potter is more than just a story that revolves around one character, it focuses on different perspectives which culminate together for an interesting ending.
Of course, what sought of Harry Potter film review would this be if I didn’t go ahead and mention the performances of the central players. As it is with every Potter film, the norm is to always introduce a new character that in some way shapes the outline of the story. In the case of The Half-Blood Prince, that character is Professor Slughorn, portrayed by Jim Broadbent, who even though is catalytical for Harry’s progression in defeating Voldemort, is a mixed role; providing comedic-slurs where it is needed the most. In fact, as harrowing and as serious as The Half-Blood Prince is, compared to other Potter features that were mainly going the ‘dark’ route themselves, the film oddly doesn’t shy away from exploiting humorous indications that hold up better than whatever The Order of the Phoenix was trying to do. Like with the Romantic elements, the comedic moments are threaded in nicely, and they don’t cover a significant amount of time either. Each character definitely does have their own ‘quirk’ juncture; a moment in time when a certain character happens to be involved something rather eccentric that differentiates from the normal proceedings. The majority of the characters within this film possess this, whether it’s Dumbledore’s likening to knitting-patterns (inclining to us of his sexuality?) or Harry’s bizarre attitude when he drinks the Felix Felicis. Indeed, there are a few of these instances that definitely balance the film out. It’s worth noting, in terms of mentioning the characterisation of this film, the impact and much-needed screen time that both Snape, portrayed as always by Alan Rickman, and Draco Malfoy, acted out by Tom Felton. have in this film since both of them contribute to the moulding of events that take place. Whenever I’ve reviewed any Harry Potter in the recent past, it’s been clear how much it’s a shame that Alan Rickman doesn’t get the screen-time he deserves since, every-time he does appear on the silver-screen, he’s one of the better characters and performances to be enthralled by. Without any hesitation, I have to say that this is one of the best times that Alan Rickman has ever played Snape out of all the Harry Potter films. Yes, it’s easy to say that since the role in question dictates the story proceedings and has much more screen time than any other film in the series. But, you can’t deny that Rickman professionally goes about playing this role in such complication and ease. Much can be said of the Draco Malfoy character as well, since his role in the previous filmic entries is secondary and unfulfilling. Yet, within the confines of The Half-Blood Prince, he most certainly flourishes as Rickman does and both contribute to the dark strain that this film is going for.
Like it’s forerunner of The Prisoner of Azkaban, David Yates’ 2nd Potter try of The Half-Blood Prince succeeds in providing not only much needed detail that gives all the motifs that are present within the story a flow and meaning, but does prevail in simply improving on approaches that were horribly utilised in the wasteful Order of the Phoenix. Quite easily, Yates could have easily gone down the same uninteresting route as he did with his previous filmic encounter. Gladly, this was not the case as much of the necessary information that is presented, is this handled in much more condensed and accessible fashion. The film correctly balances all the contextual aspects together in a cohesive manner which inadvertently, sets up the two-parter of The Deathly Hallows, in a very good light…
On that note, it’s time for me to wrap up! As always everyone, thank you for reading my latest film review of The Half-Blood Prince and I hope you’ve enjoyed the read. If anyone has an opinion on either my review or on the film itself, please feel free to drop a comment down below. I will be back next week once again, with another film review. Thank you once again and I’ll see you all next week!! Have a nice day and weekend!! Adieu!! 🙂
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ – Alex Rabbitte