Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

It's unfortunate that the conversational aspect from the life of teenagers returns. I'm used to the undersized story, but I’m simply not interested in the emotional chatter of the little wizards. It’s a good thing that Yates gets the film going decently again in the second half. After the promising fifth film, it was confirmed to me again that the film version of Harry Potter is a precisely treated product, but there is no great magic – it disappeared with the departure of Oldman and the influx of hormones. Fans will be pleased, the infidels will not be offended, and the film will amuse and do no harm. Stupefy... not a chance. [65%] (07/13/2009)

For me, this is the most messed-up film adaptation of the Harry Potter books, mainly because the creators focused mainly on that one scene at the end and kind of forgot that the story has something more to it. Yes, it is much more for adults, parents can watch it and enjoy it too, but here the original material got quite badly beaten. (02/03/2014)

I read somewhere the other day that the sixth Harry Potter film will be a bridge from the fifth to the final episodes. And that's what it looks like in the overall scheme of things. Since David Yates has been in the director's chair, this saga has taken on a grim veneer of action. I don't think that's missing here. The audio-visual execution, including the cinematography, is really good, especially the Millennium Bridge and the cave scene. The screenplay is based on the book, but other material has been brought to the surface, which at times mars the overall look of the film. The soundtrack fits the scenes perfectly – again, I liked the cave scene best. Casting Jim Broadbent as Slughorn was an excellent move, because that's sort of how I imagined his character. The final scene with Dumbledore and Snape and then with Snape was quite disappointing for me, but it is a "bridge" after all. For me, probably the weakest episode of the whole saga, excelling in the technical area rather than the script and the actors. (07/29/2010)

I enjoyed most of the sixth Potter (despite the guy in front of me who was farting throughout, I’m not kidding!), or rather that applies until the movie reached the end and I was literally disgusted by what the screenwriter was doing (from the point where Harry and D return to the Hogwarts). I haven’t see a more bungled finale in this series yet. Certainly Yates gets the maximum out of this, but that means that, differently to in the book, the characters behave illogically and everything seems a little slow. The finale in the book was as tense as a guitar string. Surprising, logical and maybe the best that Rowling wrote. Where is the big battle, where is the inevitability? Wasted words. It’s completely different right from the start. The story takes off a amazing speed and if it weren’t for the rather exaggerated love interest (they only included that to lighten the mood a little) I would be happy with it. I really liked Jim Broadbent’s Slughorn - he was just right for the part and more than satisfied my expectations. Otherwise, it’s a classic, but maybe Tom Felton and Alan Rickman were more striking than last time. In the end I’m giving it 4 stars, even though it was rather lame this time. P.S.: At home we have exactly the same water glasses as the ones that Harry, Hermi and Ron drink the butterbeer from at the Three Broomsticks. (07/31/2009)

Considering Yates managed to get something out of the most superfluous part of the book that ends up not working because of that superfluousness (aka zero action), then I have nothing left to do than look forward to the adaptation of book seven which might at last aspire to toppling Cuarón’s offering from its position of best Harry Potter movie adaptation. (07/20/2009)