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Movie:		8.0
Picture:		9.0
Sound:		9.0
Extras:		7.0
Score:		8.0

Director(s):	David Yates
Writer(s):	Steve Kloves (screenplay), J.K. Rowling (novel)
Starring:	Alan Rickman • Daniel Radcliffe • Emma Watson • Jim Broadbent • Maggie Smith • Michael Gambon • Rupert Grint
Genre:	Adventure • Drama • Fantasy
Release Date:	December 08, 2009
Rated:

List Price:	Blu-ray - $15.49
Amazon:

If the Harry Potter fandom camp was ever united in public opinion on the film adaptations they never made that concordance known. Some stand by the earliest two films for their loyalty to the original vision while others (and I would say rightfully) deplore them for including even the smallest minutiae which had no place on the silver screen. It’s a toss-up and as a whole the Harry Potter film series varies wildly in quality, but opinion seems to be pretty unanimous when it comes to David Yates’ takes on the 5^th and 6^th books of Rowling’s popular series: the man’s getting it right.

Right from the get-go Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has one of the most interesting set pieces in the series; a trio of death eaters streak through the murky London weather twisting the Millennium Bridge until it breaks and “abducting” Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), now tasked with killing Hogwarts’ headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon). Aiding Draco in is task is longtime teacher Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) who’s taken an oath to protect the boy at the insistence of Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter). The other half of the tale’s setup sees Dumbledore and Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) making a visit to retired professor Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) in an attempt to have him return to the school. Slughorn taught at Hogwarts when troubled student Tom Riddle (who later became Voldemort) was enrolled. The year’s story goes on with the normal mixture of awkward teen romance between Hermione (Emma Watson), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Harry and whoever else stumbles into the picture for that particular installment (in this case it’s the introduction of Ron’s sister Ginny (Bonnie Wright), who actually sticks around). Dumbledore tasks Harry with becoming a closer acquaintance of Slughorn in order to gain access to an old memory and learn what it was that Tom Riddle asked him about all those years ago.

All three of the leads have long since hit their stride and are now comfortable playing their respective roles. The chemistry has evolved with each film and Grint and Watson have a firmly established back-and-forth romance which the two play up perfectly. Radcliffe on the other hand makes it all too clear what Chris Columbus saw in him all those years ago. It may seem cheesy to say so, but Radcliffe has grown from a boy to a man in front of the camera and his portrayal of Harry Potter has benefited accordingly. The youth might be great, but the veteran actors of the Harry Potter films have always left a major mark on the series. Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman can’t be beaten as the recurring advisors of the future generation of wizards. Considering the final moments of The Half-Blood Prince it’s more important than ever to take Rickman’s performance into account. He’s always been one of the brightest spots in the series’ legacy, but this time around Rickman plays a crucial role in making this film excellent. It should be noted that I've been awaiting Jim Broadbent's appearance in this series since the first film, so now that he's finally appeared the film gets a little extra nudge of popularity in my book; the man has an interesting way of handling himself in his roles. His speech patterns seem careful and meticulous despite having very sudden outbursts of joy and enthusiasm. The man acts well.

After Yates made a near pitch-perfect Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, his take on The Half-Blood Prince seems righteous, as if there was no other film he could have created as a follow-up. Maintaining the dark-edge established back in The Prisoner of Azkaban, Yates’ choice of aesthetic seems the natural choice for a story that’s slowly winding into the deep dark heart of the antagonist. Most important of all is that crucial moment at the end which, for everyone in the know, retroactively sets the mood for everything that comes before. Even if you go in with no knowledge of the film’s final plot point, everything in the film falls into place to make the moments preceding it all the more heartfelt in retrospect.

The Blu-ray disc allows for pristine picture and crisp audio. It looks better now than it did in theaters and makes for a superb home viewing experience.

Blu-ray Bonus Features

It’s got a pretty healthy supply of extra features for being such a blatant first-run release. Watching it all you can tell they held back a lot so as to make the forthcoming ultimate edition of the film worth a purchase. If you should to decide to buy the first release you’ll find a lot of the extra features stem from the BD-Live function, so if you’re not taking advantage of that quite yet you’re going to miss out on a big piece of the disc’s extra features. Don’t ask why they split this set into a two-disc edition (the movie on one disc, extras on the other), but they did, and it’s pretty clear the extras aren’t enough to have warranted their own. A variety of featurettes complement the basic bonus features (deleted scenes) including an interview with J.K. Rowling as she details her creative process and a Q&A session with the cast and crew. One of the best featurettes offered is each of the cast members attempting to trace the path their characters have taken in the last 6 films in 60 seconds or less. Hearing them simplify things down to as few words as possible makes it pretty entertaining.

To be quite honest, I’ve been hoping ever since seeing the film in theaters that the final scene of Bellatrix and her notorious horde fighting their way through Hogwarts had been filmed. If it was and was omitted from the theatrical version for the rating purposes it should have popped up here as an extra feature. It didn’t. Maybe it was never filmed, in which case my fondness level of the film dropped. However, if it was filmed and Warner Brothers has withheld it for the Ultimate Edition release, which might just make it worth a future purchase. We’ll see.