In Harry Potter’s (Daniel Radcliffe’s) sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, he finds a book marked mysteriously, “This book is the property of the Half Blood Prince“, which helps him excel at Potions class and teaches him a few dark and dangerous ones along the way. Meanwhile,
Harry is taking private lessons with Dumbledore (Sir Michael Gambon) in order to find out about Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes’) past so they can find out what might be his only weakness.
Let me say this. Half Blood Prince as a movie alone was very good. It stands it’s ground as a film better than any of the others of the series. But only as a film.
And only because there are so many parts to a film. This installment obviously stepped everything up a notch: the cinematography, the special effects, the darker score, the improved acting, etc…
But the key element which was boosted this franchise into world-class fame, is the story. And in this one, it’s just not there.
As a fan of the books and having had no SERIOUS gripes with any of the other films,
Everything that made the book amazing was ripped from the film, and instead replaced by annoying large quantities of romantic subplot. Yes, there is romance in the sixth book but not shoved down your throat. JK Rowling masterfully crafted a novel that was perfectly balanced.
The romance was there although it didn’t detract from the main plot and at times was intertwined with the larger goings-on at hogwarts. In the movie the romance takes up most of the screen time. Not to mention the ending of the film was brutally butchered.