‘Potter’ countdown: ‘Half-Blood Prince’ is a ‘formidable entry’ in series
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Tick, tick, tick. We’re getting closer to the July 15 release of ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’ and here at Hero Complex we’re counting down with a daily dollop of Hogwarts news. Today, we bring you a bit of outsider perspective with an excerpt from Variety movie critic Todd McCarthy’s lengthy review of the upcoming film. The Hollywood trade is always one of the earliest reviewers since its key audience is the industry crowd, including exhibitors, who want a sense of what to expect with their next big release. Check back here Monday as we return to the workweek with more of our exclusive interviews with key ‘Potter’ players.
Kids’ stuff is a thing of the past in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” Suddenly looking quite grown up, the students at Hogwarts are forced to grapple with heavy issues of mortality, memory and loss in this sixth installment in the series of bigscreen adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s Potter tales. Dazzlingly well made and perhaps deliberately less fanciful than the previous entries, this one is played in a mode closer to palpable life-or-death drama than any of the others and is quite effective as such. Delayed by Warner Bros. from a late 2008 release date so as to spread the wealth after “The Dark Knight” scored so mightily last summer, this “Prince” is poised to follow its predecessors as one of the year’s two or three top-earning films. After sitting out “The Order of the Phoenix,” screenwriter Steve Kloves happily returned to once again skillfully condense a massive book into manageable dramatic form; among many tough narrative decisions, he has cut back on the violent mayhem surrounding the murderous climax and put off the introduction of Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour until the next episode. Director David Yates, after a prosaic series debut on the prior film, displays noticeably increased confidence here, injecting more real-world grit into what began eight years ago as purest child’s fantasy; messenger owls and chattering house elves have been superseded by a frank Underground tea-room flirtation, school security checks and raging teenage hormones. The sets have been stripped down to reduce Hogwarts’ fairy-book aspects and emphasize its gray medieval character, and even the obligatory Quidditch match is staged with greater attention to spatial comprehensibility than ever before. As the overarching story ramps up toward one major character’s death at the end of part six and the final confrontation between Harry and archfiend Voldemort in the climactic “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which is being shot as a two-part film, this increased seriousness is all to the good. It’s hard to imagine watching “Half-Blood Prince” as a “Potter” virgin without a clue as to what’s come before, but it’s a formidable entry. READ THE REST AT VARIETY RECENT AND RELATED Jessica Cave spills about smooching with Rupert Grint Rupert Grint gets swine flu -- will he miss premiere? VOTE: Who deserves Oscar: ‘Up,’ ‘Trek’ or ‘Potter’? Dan Radcliffe on the art of acting Emma Watson talks about her e-mail pal, J.K. Rowling Getting to know the real-life Weasley boys Arthur Weasley speaks! ‘Rowling has a musical brain’ David Yates reveals where he will split ‘Deathly Hallows’ On the ‘Half Blood’ set: A chat with Jim Broadbent STILL WANT MORE? All ‘POTTER’ coverage at Hero Complex