Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price is a good movie that progresses the storyline in the now epic battle between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Before I talk about any of the other acting in the movie, much must be said about Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Severus Snape. The man is brilliant. Each word he speaks during the movie is embroiled with the hate that you know Snape has for Harry’s very existence and, at the same time, it is mixed with the hidden love that Potter fans know Snape had for Harry’s mother. For those of you who aren’t Harry Potter fans, Rickman is the same guy who played the bad guy in the first Die Hard, Hans Gruber. For this fan, it’s safe to say that without actors like Rickman, Smith, and Carter (more on them in a minute) this movie would be mediocre at best.

Two quick mentions for Maggie Smith and Helena Bonham Carter who play Minerva McGonagall and Bellatrix Lestrange, respectively. They’re fantastic. Smith brings the class and dignity that one would expect of her to a role in fantasy movie that could be very easy to screw up. However, the poise and calmness that Smith adds to her character is noticeable and a good touch. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, no one could be a better Bellatrix Lestrange than Carter – a woman who has that crazy person look about her at all times! Carter’s ability to play a crazy person is evident in this movie and I think she really steps up to the plate and hits a home run as a lunatic. Excellent work by both of these talented actresses.

Daniel Radcliffe continues to do a good job as Harry Potter, though Radcliffe is aging quicker than they can film these movies!

Fans of the books know the plot of this movie, but the big event that takes place is the death of Albus Dumbledore at the hand (wand?) of Snape. Again, if you want to see good acting, then watch these two extremely talented actors in this critical scene for both the movie and the series. The reservation that Snape shows before he carries out the most secret of missions is tangible on the screen. And the way that he completes the mission (killing Dumbledore) with such nonchalance is performed brilliantly.

That scene alone is worth the price of admission.

This is a movie that Harry Potter fans have probably already gone out to see. But for those of you who haven’t seen it, you may want to consider giving it shot just for the acting of Rickman, Smith, and Carter alone. I think you’ll enjoy it.

The first thing that I want to say about this seventh and final installment of the Potter series is that the last 100 or so pages did exactly what the tens of millions of Harry Potter fans needed it to do: it wrapped up the loose ends and then gave a quick snapshot of 19 years into the future (more on that later). The brilliance of Rowling’s final chapters make the dissatisfaction of other finales become more pronounced…

One of the things that is especially well done in the final book is the story of Albus Dumbledore, his family history, and the introduction of his brother, Aberforth. The pesky Rita Skeeter makes her way back into the story as a filthy, low-down reporter once again. The climax of the Dumbledore storyline comes in two scenes, surprisingly. The first is when Aberforth meets Harry and explains his side of the story around his mother and sister’s deaths. The second is when Albus meets Harry in King’s Station after Harry is “killed” – or in proper terms – after Voldemort destroys the Horcrux hidden within Harry. More on that scene in a minute. I cite this scene specifically because it shows the younger fans of these novels that even the all-knowing, seemingly all-powerful, and inherently “good” character that was Albus Dumbledore had his flaws in life. A resentment towards his responsibilities as the oldest member of his family, a lust for ultimate power, and a predisposition towards telling half-truths are some of the many flaws in Albus. This is a great lesson for the reader as it shows that even the best of the best have their hidden secrets – this subplot made Albus Dumbledore more human.

Another part of the story was excellently written revolved around the Malfoy family and Dumbledore’s constant assertion throughout the series that love is the strongest force out there. Voldemort’s inability to understand this concept is displayed as he constantly bosses around Draco Malfoy in his mother and father’s presence after he takes over their home. Though it is not written, I suspect that the devolution of her son in front of her fellow Death Eaters awakens that deep magic that Lily Potter used to protect Harry when Voldemort attacked. One could guess that this deep magic is simply love, but that is for Rowling to talk about since these are her books and her creations. Narcissa’s betrayal against Voldemort is perfect story swerve that leads us to a magnificent final scene.

In this final scene, Voldemort is outside of a broken Hogwarts demanding that all surrender to him as he has the “dead” Harry Potter at his feet. Thanks to a few giant distractions and an onslaught attack by magical creatures including the centaurs of the Forbidden Forest, Harry is able to sneak away as the Second Battle of Hogwarts begins. These final scenes are satisfying for a few reasons from this point forward. First, you get four epic-style duels between the series’ good and evil characters. It begins with Voldemort dueling with Professors McGonagall and Slughorn and the Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt. Finally, after seven books, these professors are allowed to show their true magical prowess! A second duel is taking place between Bellatrix Lestrange (who easily becomes the most evil witch on the planet during book seven) and Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasley. When Ginny nearly dies from one of Bellatrix’s spells, Mrs. Weasley jumps in front of the girls yelling, “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!”

Easily the best line of the book – that instantly made Mrs. Weasley one of my favorite characters.

Mrs. Weasley goes on to kill Bellatrix in what had to be Rowling’s way of showing that the deep magic that is “love” will always overcome the lust and destruction that is evil. When Voldemort sees this, though, he is enraged and attempts to attack Mrs. Weasley, which leads to Harry revealing himself (and shocking everyone in the room). What follows next is brilliantly written as Harry shows his intelligence by logically proving that he is in possession of a stronger wand than Voldemort’s Elder Wand. When both wizards perform their “signature” spells, Harry’s logic proves true as he acquires Voldemort’s wand and kills him on the spot.

There are other magnificent scenes depicted in this book including the Gringott’s break-in and escape on the blind dragon, the torture of Hermione as Dobby saves the gang in the Malfoy basement, and the opening sequence when Hedwig dies as seven Harry Potters leave Privet Drive at the same time. Which brings me to another matter in this book and all of Rowling’s books – death of the supporting characters. While we are not hit with major deaths from any of the core group of characters, we are hit with Severus Snape, Fred Weasley, Colin Creevey, Mad-Eye Moody, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and her father, Dobby, and Hedwig’s death in the final installment of the series. Other characters are killed including Minister Scrimegour and Bathilda Bagshot, but the big deaths in the book are really of Lupin, Tonks, and Fred (at least I think so).

Rowling showed another act of brilliance when she included an epilogue, showing the main characters 19 years into the future. As one could have predicted, Harry and Ginny Weasley are now married and have three children: James Sirius Potter, Albus Severus Potter, and Lily Potter. It’s obvious who the children are named after. Ron and Hermione are also married with a child and we are also shown Draco Malfoy with his son. The most telling part of his appearance is the slight nod he gives Harry and Ron on the platform as their children board the train to Hogwarts. From my perspective, this shows the reader that the Death Eater movement is truly gone and that Malfoy has obviously learned the error of his ways. Good stuff.

Now, pulling myself out of the Harry Potter world for a minute, I think the true magnificence of Rowling’s final book is the fact that it is final and there is a definite ending. Unlike other major entertainment phenomena, the Harry Potter series has paid off for the fans who invested a decade’s worth of time, effort, and enthusiasm for the books. Rowling justly rewards Potter fans with a story that gets progressively “grown up” over the course of the seven books and a story that comes to a definitive ending. Not to mention that Rowling breaks with current trend of having some shady of gray be the ultimate winner. In the Harry Potter series, good clearly defeats evil and the heroes are rewarded with what appear to be full, healthy lives during the glimpse that we see 19 years after the final battle. It was actually a refreshing change to read such a decisive ending.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I give this book my highest recommendation and if you are not a Harry Potter fan, than I would recommend the entire series to you (even if you know what happens in the final pages of the final book). A job well done by J. K. Rowling.

The only thing that this film is good for is to put faces with names. Other than the obvious lack of including all, most, or even a majority of the storyline features from the book, there is no contiguous logic in the story. It’s like watching a bunch of scenes from what could have been a much, MUCH longer movie. It’s disjointed and there are not enough explanations in the two and a half hours that the thing tarries on for.

I will say that the special effects and wardrobe are done very well. So was the casting and make-up. Warner Brothers does do a good job of giving you a look at what Hogwarts and the characters would probably look like in real life.

But in terms of telling a story, this movie sucked. If you’re a non-Harry Potter fan, then I would suggest not using this film as a basis to judge whether or not you’d like the series.

Albus Dumbledore’s death was long overdue in terms of the storyline. Why, you ask? Because his presence made certain things too easy. Harry Potter knew that he could always run to Dumbledore and get his problems either solved or just-about solved. Makes for a boring story in the long run. Killing off this seemingly omniscient, omnipresent character really does make sense, though given the fact that Dumbledore was the only person that Lord Voldemort ever feared – it probably should have been Voldemort that killed him in the end.

Severus Snape killing Dumbledore wasn’t really a shock, but here is another problem that I have with Rowling’s story. She spends five books building up Snape as someone that Dumbledore trusts while she also builds up that Dumbledore is the wisest wizard of his age and that Snape is a real bastard to the kids in the school. From the get-go, some of this logic just didn’t work. For example, our muggle-equivalent to having Snape (a known Death Eater) teach at Hogwarts would be for a convicted sex offender to work in a Sesame Street amusement park! Yet, there was no parental uprising over his hiring?

My other issue with Snape being the one to kill Dumbledore is that it sends a really horrific message to the legions of children around the world who are reading this story. For literally thousands of pages they read how Dumbledore is a kind, loving man who sees the best in people – a truly great lesson for the kids out there. Then they learn that even though the world seems set against Snape because of his past and his present malicious ways, that Dumbledore still trusts him and expects others to trust him. And then – Snape kills the loving, old wizard. What do we learn here? That if you suspect someone is a sneak then you should NOT give them the benefit of the doubt and give them a chance? What exactly is the lesson that the kids out there learn from this killing other than that they shouldn’t trust people with bad histories? A very bad lesson indeed. Unless Snape was in on the death (see link below).

Then there is the practicality of it all when you think back to the memory that Harry saw in the pensieve where his father and Sirius tortured Snape. Why didn’t Harry apologize for his father and Sirius when he saw that memory? It was obvious that they were in the wrong and that Snape did nothing to provoke that attack. Shouldn’t the lesson here have been to be the better man and apologize for the sins of the past?

Oh, and I didn’t like how the book opened with the muggle Prime Minister waiting for a call from that “wretched” President. Sure, Rowling didn’t name who the President was or from what country he was from, but come on…what a completely unnecessary and awkward cheap shot.

The Horcruxes – eh, I don’t take too many issues with them. Honestly, I think that it’s a way to prolong the story and for Rowling to make a thicker seventh book. I also think that Harry Potter’s scar is a horcrux and thus Harry will need to die before the end of this story…

And Rowling is getting a bit loquacious in her writing style. A lot of what is in the book as “filler” was, at times, tedious to tread through. However, from what the internet tells me (and if it’s on the internet, it must be true), we aren’t going to have to suffer through any more Quidditch play-by-plays in the final book.

Now, I have to say that I enjoyed the Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley love affair much more than the Cho Chang one in the previous novel. It was well played out – good job there. I didn’t, however, like the way it “ended” with Harry saying that he couldn’t be with Ginny because Voldemort would go after her again. Seemed like too easy of a cop out to me. And, quite frankly, sixteen and fifteen year olds shouldn’t be concerned about whether they can “be” with someone for a prolonged period of time.

I also enjoyed the reintroduction of Fleur into the storyline as Bill Weasley’s fiance. It provided some entertaining moments in the beginning of the book and a touching scene at the end where she and Mrs. Weasley embrace over the werewolf-battered Bill Weasley. Sticking with the love stories, the Ron/Hermione love story is coming along nicely, too.

And I couldn’t write a review of this book without saying how much I absolutely love the Luna Lovegood character. She’s a riot! I could watch an entire movie that dealt solely with Luna and what she does in a day. Fantastic bit of writing by Rowling with this character. I found myself hoping that Luna would show up in some (if not all) of the chapters in the book. Her whole airy manner is thoroughly entertaining. I mean I even laughed out loud when she went on about the Auror scheme to take over the Ministry at Slughorn’s Christmas Party. Genius!

Professor Trelawney – brilliant! Another great character who is completely “out there!” I love it.

Finally (before I write a book myself), I have to say that one of the best parts of this book was all of the conspiracy theories that spawned from it! Take a gander at this page that supposes Snape and Dumbledore were quite aware of what was going on and that Snape would kill the Headmaster that night. The only other “clue” that I would add to what is presented here is that throughout the book, Harry tries to alert Dumbledore to the Malfoy/Snape connection and their apparent plot to do “something bad.” The most that Dumbledore responds to this is that he is not concerned about it, but he is aware of it. Of course, if Snape was killing Dumbledore by the Headmaster’s own request…then why would Dumbledore be concerned about it, right?

Interesting stuff to think about until the next Potter book comes out…

This book, though, also brings more darkness into the series. As GGL would say, this is the darkest of the Harry Potter books (so far). From the twisted scene of the Longbottoms in St. Mungo’s to the fierce battle between the Order and the Death Eaters, this book at least has some gusto in terms of mixing it up a bit.

I can understand, for cinematic reasons, the need to include the Cho/Harry love spat. Yet, I sometimes think that these parts of the book get in the way of what could be a great story. Quite frankly, no one gives a hoot if Cho is mental because of Cedric dying and Harry is a real “git” when it comes to the ladies. But once again, I read this from a 25 year-old perspective when the general age group of Harry Potter readers is 10 years my younger, so this may be a moot point.

The length of the book is certainly something to consider when getting ready to read it. I came home for Thanksgiving with just a few things and this book was one of them. When I got home, I was less than halfway done with the book, yet last night (after dinner), I had so much free time that I actually finished the book. This is something to keep in mind – you need long, unused expanses of time to get a good reading session in with this book!

What else can I say about this book? It’s nice to get a view of Harry and Snape needing to work together, though I wonder how this will come across in the movie version of the story. Also, it was nice that we got the background on Sirius’ family and his relation to pretty much all of the “bad guys” since he comes from a family of dark wizards. Interesting stuff.

I thought the prophecy part at the end of the book left something to be desired. One has to die, right? Well, duh! Dumbledore’s speech was pretty good in terms of explaining a lot of the finer points of the previous 850+ pages!

For Harry Potter fans, I obviously have to recommend the book so you can continue reading the story. But in terms of storytelling, it seemed at times that Rowling wrote parts of the book so they would be good for a video game, parts that would be good for a movie, and parts that were too Da Vinci Code-esque. Yet, whenever I criticize her too much, I always remember two things. First, she’s writing for preteens and teenagers (though her original audience is now in their twenties). Second, the Harry Potter series is her first go-around with writing professionally in terms of mass publication. The exaggerations and over use of trickery are to be expected in what is essentially a novice’s writing.

All in all a decent book that advanced some storylines and moved the story forward.

The thing that really strikes you in terms of content in the first Harry Potter book is how badly he’s treated by the Dursleys. On top of that, the utter fear that people in the book have of Voldemort is well portrayed by author J.K. Rowling. I also think that as far as content goes, this book seems very elementary – which is OK! Whenever I hear some of the fraternity guys that I advise talking about Harry Potter, I always have to remind myself that today’s 18 – 22 year olds grew up reading this story. So it’s only natural that these guys would be talking about it like it’s second nature – just as it’s only natural that I would read this book and think that it’s written for young kids.

As far as the writing style, again, it’s elementary. That’s not a knock on Rowling, though. She wrote it VERY well in an elementary style and focused on details and character development like not many elementary books do. Overall it was a very well-written piece of literature.

And no one can deny the impact that this book had on the populous. People read this and went absolutely bonkers over Harry Potter and the entire world he lives in. It spawned successor books, movies, merchandising, and a ton of other Potter-related things. I enjoyed reading this book probably for the same reasons that many readers around the world enjoyed it – it was a nice, quick read that had a good story to go with it.

I’ll get some reviews of the movies up here on the blog at some point – be on the lookout. I recommend anyone who hasn’t read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to go out and get a copy (chances are any little kid on your street has a copy that you can borrow). You’ll enjoy it!