Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Plot (2009)

Stars: Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson

Director: David Yates

Plugs: None

Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock for the past few weeks is surely aware of two “important” pop culture events: Michael Jackson died, and there’s a new Harry Potter film. I’m not suggesting that there’s any link, though I’m sure there’s some conspiracy nut out there who is convinced there is.

The sixth, and latest in the series is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Harry and his friends Hermione and Ron are once again at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and once again steeped in mystery and intrigue. The plot is far too convoluted to summarize, either here or in the film itself, but suffice it to say that we learn more about the backstory of the series’ main villain, Lord Voldemort; Harry goes on a quest with aged wizard Dumbledore; and he finds a mysterious book. Oh, and the three main characters deal with typical teen crushes and romantic jealousies.

I understand that the Harry Potter audience has grown up along with the characters in the series, but frankly, the teen angst and love triangles grew a bit tedious about halfway through the film. What’s next? A spin-off where Hermione gets pregnant, and her mother (played by Molly Ringwald, in a lilting Devonshire accent) helps her decide whether to have an abortion?

Many of the scenes in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince seemed like afterthoughts shoehorned into the script. For example, the Quidditch game (played on flying broomsticks) makes an appearance, as does the gentle giant Hagrid. These scenes serve little or no plot function in the film except perhaps as a bone thrown to rabid Harry Potterites: Don’t worry, we didn’t forget these fan favorites! Harry’s arch nemesis Draco spends much time skulking---often when Harry happens to be around to watch. The first 90 minutes of the film are sprinkled with scene after pointless scene of Draco looking devious, skulking in shadows, playing with a large wooden cabinet. I wanted to yell at the screen, “Okay, thanks! We got it: He’s up to something, let’s move this along!”

As a film, this Harry Potter installment is just barely adequate, and has many flaws. One cannot, I suppose, expect part six in a series to be its own self-contained film, but nor should an encyclopedic knowledge of the Potterverse be necessary to understand what the hell is going on. For instance, let’s take the “half-blood prince” person in the film’s title. Early on, Harry finds a used potion book that, according to its inscription, belonged to the “half-blood prince.” Harry spends some time trying to figure out who, exactly this mysterious prince is (though he apparently never bothers to ask Dumbledore or anyone else at the school). At the end of the film, we do indeed find out who the prince is—and the revelation lands with a giant “So what? And…?”

The faux mini-mystery has nothing to do with anything—until the next batch of films, of course. I have been told by those familiar with the story that this prince is very important in the final books and films. While Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is essentially a transition film setting the stage for the others, these sorts of details felt like dead-end red herrings in this film. It is clear that there was a solid, compelling story that this film was based on, and it is just as clear that the screenwriter, Steve Klowes, had no idea what to do with it. The result is a disjointed film with key explanatory parts noticeably missing. (To give just one example, the shadowy wizard instructor Snape kills headmaster Dumbledore toward the end of the film, but in the following scenes, no one else at the school seem to notice or care. None of the other teachers seem upset or surprised or angry by this ultimate betrayal. Ho hum.)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a mediocre film, neither slumming nor soaring. The action and special effects are a step down from earlier installments, and seemed too disjointed to really gain momentum. It has all the requisite pieces to set the stage for the rest of the series, but sags as a film in its own right.