Everyone and their cousin had reviews out before I went to the midnight premier with a few thousand other people in King of Prussia. And the odds are you’re only reading the reviews to find out if your favorite scene from the book made it into the movie: my two favorites didn’t. The bottom line is everyone has made their opinions and decided whether or not to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Instead of driving home a series of points about why you should see it, I just want everyone to know that Harry Potter 6 reminded me of Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back.

WARNING: This post is full of spoilers.

In the movie Clerks Dante and Randall have a prolonged conversation about which is better The Empire Strikes Back or The Return of the Jedi. And the argument is made that Empire is the better film because it has a down ending. Kevin Smith, the writer and director of Clerks, echoes the point on one of his interview DVDs when he says something like, “In Empire no body gets what they wanted. But you know Jedi is coming so it’s okay.” And the same thing happens in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Dumbledore dies and Harry is left to fight Voldemort with Ron and Hermione. Snape is ousted from Hogwart’s and everyone is left to question where is loyalty truly lies. Hogwart’s isn’t safe. The world is under attack and the future feels uncertain at best. But Harry has decided to fight Voldemort. And in Empire Vadar failed to capture Skywalker, Han is frozen in carbonite, and Luke had his hand cut off. I am by no means claiming the films parallel each other. However, they both left me with the same feeling: satisfied but unfulfilled.

There have been a lot of bridge movies released in the last decade including, Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest, Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones and The Matrix: Reloaded, none of which handle the movement from the middle to the end of a saga as well as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And, The Empire Strikes Back is the standard by which all those movies are measured. Granted most are the second film of a trilogy and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is film six of an eventual eight, but structurally they are at the same location just on a different scale.

The quieter character driven climax is a balls-out move, especially when you realize these movies are still marketed at children. In point of fact, I was floored by Yates’, the director, choices. Choicing to let the moment and gravity of Dumbledore’s death sink in, rather than trying to minimize it by showing a lot of action going on around him. I feel kids will probably grow into this movie. I’m pretty sure the 8 years behind me were asleep twenty minutes in, which was awesome since he and his siblings spent the two hours before the movie yelling answers to Harry Potter Scene-It at each other.

The rest of the midnight release was quiet– too quiet– disappointingly quiet. There were a bunch of people dressed up, but nothing to write home about. The age range was enormous. I saw parents hauling 8 year olds around and I saw several people who looked to be in their 50’s without any children or grandchildren. When the movie was over, roughly 2:40 am, we all exited the theater in a calm organized fashion. People said their good byes, staggered to their cars, and drove home. This is the opposite of last year’s Dark Knight midnight release, which had people screaming and running around. Instead everyone felt like they were punching a clock. It’s worth noting that the studios delayed the release from November 2008 to July 2009 in the hopes of making a larger profit margin.  Presumably these are the same people who decide the IMAX version would have a separate later release date. (I’m NOT planning to see it again in IMAX.)

The film has a focus the book lacks. We’re not bogged down with the Half-Blood Prince subplot or endless amounts of snogging. The elements are present on screen, but they aren’t overbearing like they are on the page. As a result the character progression works even better than it did in the book.  At the end of book six I didn’t feel Harry was ready to go fight Voldemort, but at the end of movie six I do. I’m sure a great deal of fans will gripe over missing scenes, I mentioned my two favorites were not present: the end fight between the Hogwart’s Staff and the Deatheaters and the scene between the two ministers. In fact, I had an argument on the ride home about the relevance of the Half-Blood Prince subplot to the films. In the end the cuts were worthy sacrifices for what ends up being a solid film.

All that said, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is my favorite of the books. It’s interesting, there is a ton of character development, and we get a lot of answers that should have led us into a triumphant conclusion in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Instead we got Harry, Ron, and Hermione wandering around the woods like Sam and Frodo; followed by a not quite satisfying battle at Hogwart’s. But there will be time to explore the errors of book seven when movies seven and eight come out.

Finally, I’d like to leave you with my Harry Potter Scoreboard. Currently, I rank the Harry Potter movies in the following order:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (slightly less unwatchable)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (unwatchable)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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