Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review

Delbonnel's photography is extraordinary, a nearly monochrome palette of pewter and bone that makes Hogwarts look like it is already in mourning, and it earned the only cinematography nomination the series ever received. There are individual images here better than anything else in the franchise, and the cave sequence, with its black water and its ring of fire, is the most frightening thing Yates ever staged.

The problem is what the film decided to be about. This is the book that explains Voldemort, and the adaptation keeps two memories out of the several that matter, then spends the recovered running time on Ron's love life and a snowbound flirtation, so the finale arrives without the history it was supposed to have delivered. The invented attack on the Weasley house exists for no reason at all.

Worse, Dumbledore's death is staged with Harry frozen under the tower and then followed by raised wands instead of a funeral, which strips the moment of the public grief the story needs. Tom Felton is the quiet success, playing a boy who cannot do the thing he has been ordered to do. Alan Rickman claiming the title for himself in the last minutes is perfect. Everything around them is a beautiful stall.