The Movie
It's been a while since I checked in with the gang at Hogwarts Academy, and I was surprised to see how much they have grown by the start of Year Six. These wizards-in-training are not only taller mind you, but their challenges--both personal and of the good-versus-evil variety--have also become heavier and more complex in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. While not actually seen, "the most dangerous dark wizard of all time," Voldemort, remains a threat to Harry in particular and new clues to defeating him are uncovered, but at great cost.
Even at two-and-a-half-hours-and-three-and-a-half-minutes, the movie is fairly jam-packed, the pacing brisk, with a pair of lighthearted romantic subplots to balance the heroes' noble quest. Interestingly, The Half-Blood Prince assumes a working knowledge of the events thus far, who's who and what's on the horizon, with precious little backstory given. This is not a freestanding adventure, like classic James Bond: Hopefully you've seen the previous Harry Potters and remember who has done what to whom.
Be sure to read Joe Lozito's review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, too.
The Picture
The 2.4:1 video is off to a good start, with virtually no ringing in the delicate glow of a wand poking around a dark room, or the moon over a village at night, and in general the clarity and sharpness is excellent. Unfortunately, I detected some noise early on (Harry's grey shirt under his black jacket), more in the out-of-focus backgrounds (foregrounds, too), sometimes quite severe. The black school uniforms look good, but shadows can be mushy. I would blame the problems here on compression born of the long running time, plus the elaborate Maximum Movie Mode bonus.
The Sound
This movie is apparently meant to be played loud, as evidenced by the low dialogue levels even when my receiver was set to substantial master volume. Bass is used generously in the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track, and the trio of wildly soaring wraiths are a directional nightmare...in a good way! Sonic setpieces like a house in shambles magically repairing itself are an obvious treat, with plenty more subtle cues in the discrete rears. In the words of Albus Dumbledore, "Well done, Harry."
The Extras
Warner's "Maximum Movie Mode" picture-in-picture feature returns, with scene comparison windows plus branching off to Focus Point videos (two or three minutes or so each, also directly accessible), in addition to nifty stills like pages from the Daily Prophet newspaper, behind-the-scenes photos and more. Plan on watching this one more than once--tacking on about another hour for the Focus Points--to achieve the full experience. Disc One is also BD-Live-enabled.
On the second platter, we go "Close-Up with the Cast of Harry Potter," eight segments hosted by the young stars, each illuminating a different aspect of the production (28-and-a-half minutes) In "One-Minute Drills," the teen thespians try to sum up their characters' history thus far in a minute or less, while "What's on Your Mind" bombards them with rapid-fire personal questions (seven minutes each). The "Additional Footage" is a collection of eight deleted/extended scenes in Dolby Digital 5.1, seven minutes total. All of the extras are in high-definition.
"J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life" is an intimate biography of the bestselling author, showing her at work on the final Potter book, starting in November of 2006 (50 minutes, with Spoiler Alert). The "First Footage from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" teases us for the next film (two minutes), and the twelve-minute "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter -- Sneak Peak" hints at the upcoming Universal Studios Orlando attraction, opening next year.
Disc Three is a standard-definition DVD of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, preceded by a bunch of promos/commercials. A code is also included for an internet-downloadable Digital Copy of the movie for iTunes and Windows Media (both PC and portable files), not on a physical DVD-ROM disc as has usually been the case.
Final Thoughts
While dark (too dark for younger children, in my humble opinion), the movie is also capable of great fun, and the extras are right up the (Diagon) alley of Harry's throngs of fans who have grown up right along with him. Recommended.
Product Details
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