Simply wizard ... Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) / Warner Bros.
Friday Jul 03, 2009 / By THE SNEAK
Last year Harry Potter fans bombarded the film makers with angry messages when it was
announced that the release of the sixth installment was being put back by over
seven months.
But now the wait is over. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is here. And
The Sun's film critic The Sneak has managed to sneak out an exclusive first
review of the finished product.
AT last someone has been brave enough to break the habit with
JK's books and do something different.
A good film needs some surprises and you don't get any
surprises repeating a best-selling novel.
Don't get your critic wrong. The Sneak loves Rowling's work.
The problem with the previous Harry Potter movies, though, is
that every important twist and turn has been slavishly crowbarred in.
It has made for some uneven storytelling - the worst offender
being the last instalment, The Order Of The Phoenix.
Thankfully, director David Yates has learned from his
mistakes and here he turns in the most confident, stylish, individual,
warm-hearted and witty Harry Potter yet.
He's also turned up the heat by focusing on raging
hormones rather than rampaging beasts, with the main characters more interested
in mixing love potions than aceing their exams.
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Instead of "going darker" again (yawn), Daniel Radcliffe as
Harry, inset, Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) go
lighter.
At times like a High School rom-com.
Hogwarts is Snogwarts as Ron lip locks with Lavender Brown,
much to Hermione's annoyance.
And Harry is jealous when Ginny Weasley falls under Dean
Thomas's spell.
Line after amusing line is dished out about teenage
urges. When Hermione tells Harry a girl is only interested in him "because you
are the Chosen One," he replies jovially "I am the Chosen One."
These three young leads have built up a strong chemistry over
the years and are at their best joking with each other. Of the young actors,
Bonnie Wright as Ginny and the icy Hero Fiennes-Tiffin (nephew of Ralph Fiennes
who plays Lord Voldemort) as a young Tom Riddle come top of the class.
Don't worry, The Half-Blood Prince is not High School
Musical.
The romantic diversions are skillfully worked into the
mystery of what Draco Malfoy is up to and what secret Prof Horace Slughorn -
played perfectly by Jim Broadbent - is keeping.
Most importantly, Half-Blood produces what none of its
predecessors have - tears.
The death of Sirius Black in 2007's Order Of The Phoenix was
an emotionless affair.
The demise of a beloved character here is told with heart and
power. This is a full-blooded affair.
Rather than giving us a series of computer-generated action
sequences (yawn again), Yates has gone for careful character development,
building to a dramatic crescendo. And that is the biggest surprise of all - The
Half-Blood Prince is masterful.
There was no stamping of feet from The Sneak because the film
differs from the book - the only sound from his limbs at the end was rapturous
applause.
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