Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts is the most dark, scary, funny, and dramatic year at Hogwarts yet. This is the first Harry Potter movie where you get the distinct feeling that these characters are growing up. Not only are they faced with a brand new set of high level classes, but they also must deal with their high level of teenage hormones. The movie focuses more on the latter aspect of school, as Harry and Hermione struggle with their separate relationships-in-the-making, and Ron finally gets some experience with the most annoying, clingy girl in the whole school. At first I was skeptical about how they would play out the love interests in the movie, when they had already been laid out in the book. I shouldn't have worried; some of the funniest and best scenes in the movie centered around the teenagers love lives.
The director of this film is David Yates; the same person who directed the previous film, and who will direct parts 1 and 2 of the seventh film. All I can say about him is, I am extremely glad that this franchise has finally found someone who can deliver a really great Harry Potter movie. I have to hand it to the cinematographer too, because the film looks beautiful in every aspect. The scenery, the props, the camera movement, the effects, all blend together perfectly and look great. The editing is tight and tells the story as well as anything else, and there were points where it was really creative. Also, this movie does not pound you over the head with magical effects, it is all much more subtle. I like this, because it keeps the magical elements in the film, but doesn't show them off, because after all, we get it, they're wizards. It stayed away from being cheesy, and as a result, everything magical that happened was that much cooler. The book tells a very dark and dismal sort of story, even more so as it goes on, and the movie reflects that. As it builds up to the climax, there is a definite sense of foreboding, and all the magic fades into the background and the story focuses on the tale of Tom Riddle and finding the Horcruxes.
A complaint I've heard about the movie (which I don't agree with) is that it has no plot, and is just a setting-up movie, and therefore is slow paced and boring. Of course this movie sets up the seventh one! That is its purpose, and that is the purpose of the book as well.
The book is also a scattering of information and events that are only resolved in the next book. It had to be that way, and to me it is fascinating. I didn't find this movie boring at all; I really liked watching the characters develop, and there were parts that were genuinely funny and I laughed out loud. It was broken up enough by action sequences and important bits that it kept my attention at all times. I can actually say that I think I bought into the world of Harry Potter so much that I was actually able to sit back and have a lot of fun watching it, without waiting for it to screw up a part of the book.
The new addition to the cast, Jim Broadbent as Professor Horace Slughorn, does a really incredible job bringing that character to life. He was really everything I imagined the character to be, although he wasn't nearly as large and had no mustache. I actually prefer imagining him as Slughorn when reading the book now. The returning cast did an even better acting job in this movie I think than in the previous ones, especially Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), who showed much more character in this film than ever before.
My only small complaint is the ending. I won't ruin it, but I'll just say that there is a whole aspect of it that is left out (nothing is left out of the cave sequence, just what comes after). David Yates did it with the fifth one too; he kept the essential part of the ending but left out the part that I enjoyed reading the most. It's almost like they either don't have enough money or they got to the end and realized they had no room for more. Anyway, he has kind of got a habit of doing it, but this time it wasn't so bad. The only thing I wish for the next one is that he does at least the last battle scene the exact way it is described in the book, with almost nothing left out, and make it as awesome as a Harry Potter movie can be, and break the habit of including only the most essential parts. But, like I said, what he did doesn't take very much out of this movie at all. I'll give this a 4.5 out of 5, just because of the ending.
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