As the fans of the gigantic franchise of Harry Potter grow older year by year with their favourite characters, the stories by J K Rowling also move more and more away from being innocent and naive.
The Half-Blood Prince was dark and menacing and was far from what this series was when it started with The Sorcerer’s Stone.
With the death of Cedric Diggory at the end of The Order Of The Phoenix, there finally came a sense of dire danger. But the change in direction the story arc has taken also became more interesting and thrilling. And This looming darkness has carried on into this sixth instalment, bringing back director David Yates for seconds.
The driving force behind the story this time came from Harry searching for the evil left behind by Voldemort. And his encounters with Draco became more than just shoving and throwing useless punches at each other; they are actually hurting each other now with deadly spells.
Perhaps deliberately less fanciful than previous instalments, The Half-Blood Prince puts its characters closer to life-and-death drama as Yates injected more grit and grime into the filming, and making the story more serious in preparation for the final story arc, which will be made in two parts.
Radcliffe is slowly and finally growing into the role. His acting has come a long way since he started the series. And so are his cast-mates; although while Watson is becoming a young woman in her own right, Grint has developed a physique that is beginning to be difficult to hide his real age.
Felton as Draco portrayed the biggest change in character since the last instalment, fully embracing and yet still too young to understand the dark side. He definitely has been given more this time and is a fine and welcomed change from his usual one-dimensional character.
But the best performance belonged to Jim Broadbent with his eccentric portrayal of the professor who holds a secret link to young Voldemort.
The only character that should have been given more screen time is Bellatrix because Helena Bonham Carter plays her with such care-less abandonment that is pure evil and yet mesmerising at the same time.
But who’s the Half-Blood Prince? And this is where the movie fails to make a connection. There were only one or two points in the movie where you will be asking this question because for the rest of the time, the movie-makers do not make you wonder or show you how Harry is affected by this mysterious character.
Having said that, however, this is still one of the stronger entries from the franchise; and hopefully it will bring out the best in the finale.
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