THE CRITIC-AL LIST
Reviews by Alan Jones
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Inception
Predators
The Twilight Saga:Eclipse
Toy Story 3
Hot Tub Time Machine
Iron Man 2
Repo Men
The Collector
Clash of the Titans
Shelter
How To Train Your Dragon
Kick-Ass
Shutter Island
Alice In Wonderland
The Crazies
Case 39
The Wolfman
Legion
The Lovely Bones
Black Death
Daybreakers
Avatar
Ninja Assassin
The Descent: Part 2
Amer
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Box
2012
Disney's A Christmas Carol
The Horseman
Solomon Kane
Pandorum
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
District 9
An Education
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra
Orphan
A Perfect Getaway
The Imaginarium Of
Doctor Parnassus
Up
Harry Potter
And The Half-Blood Prince
The Taking of Pelham 123
Transformers
The Revenge Of The Fallen
Antichrist
Terminator Salvation
Last House On The Left
Inglorious Basterds
Angels & Demons
Adventureland
Star Trek
Crank: High Voltage
Coraline
Dragonball Evolution
Let The Right One In
Drag Me To Hell
Race to Witch Mountain
Knowing
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Not Quite Hollywood
Lesbian Vampire Killers
Martyrs
The Children
Surveillance
Watchmen
The Unborn
The International
Friday The 13th
Franklyn
Push
Punisher:War Zone
The Good The Bad And
The Weird
Hush
Underworld
The Rise OF The Lycans
My Bloody Valentine
Bolt
Slumdog Millionaire

Directed by David Yates. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, David Bradley, Jim Broadbent, Jessie Cave, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Frank Dillane, Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, Matthew Lewis, Evanna Lynch, Helen McCrory, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Natalia Tena, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Julie Walters, David Thewlis and Bonnie Wright. Fantasy, UK/USA, 154 min.

I gave up reading the Harry Potter books just before ‘The Half-Blood Prince’ got published. Frankly I was getting bored with the same old boy wizard going up against yet another annoying Hogwarts teacher wanting to stop him fulfilling his Voldemort-killing ‘Chosen One’ destiny. Plus the fact that they really are nothing better than average kids-lit, with all the titter-some adolescent problems, that even the most arrested development of adults should be slightly embarrassed reading. So is it because I was unfamiliar with the plot line, and the shock death of one beloved character, of the sixth in the J K Rowling series that I preferred HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE to the rest of the variable film adaptations? Because this David Yates directed episode is truly outstanding and everything I had hoped the others would be from a mature and magical standpoint.

Beginning with a dizzying Death Eater attack on central London resulting in the Millennium Bridge crashing into the Thames, the main plot focus is Dumbledore (Michael Gambon in super-serious mode) luring former potions professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent, an eccentric blast) back to Hogwarts so Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, looking older and wiser) can dislodge a key clue regarding the Dark Lord from the teacher’s resistant mind. Because Slughorn taught Tom Riddle, who transformed into Voldemort, and only he knows critical information crucial to unlocking the Dark Lord’s defences. Meanwhile Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) is experimenting with a Vanishing Cabinet in Hogwarts’ attic as Professor Snape (Alan Rickman, fabulously slimier than ever) makes an unbreakable vow leading to the cataclysmic demise.

A difficult book to adapt because it’s more about setting up ‘The Deathly Hallows’ finale (which Warner Bros in their financial wisdom have split into two movies), returning scripter Steve Kloves (he took a break from HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX) does an admirable plot condensation without losing the engrossingly emotional depth of the surprisingly adult narrative or its darker tonality. The result of this accent is the romantic entanglements (between Harry and Ginny Weasley) and rampaging hormonal comic relief (the Ron Weasley, Lavender Brown, Hermione Granger triangle) gets somewhat overshadowed. So does the inevitable Quidditch match, hooray! Always thought they were tiresome. Yet returning ORDER OF THE PHOENIX director Yates dazzles with an evocatively brooding style, demonic foreboding and conjuring up of deliciously doom-laden atmospheres. Especially the scary wonder of the underground cavern centrepiece where Dumbledore turns into a wizard Moses parting a red sea of flame in truly awesome TEN COMMANDMENTS manner. Seamlessly directed throughout its lengthy running time, top-drawer in terms of production value and it’s murky morality play vigorously conveyed, this satisfyingly grown-up segment raises the story-telling and technically superior visual effects bar for the entire series.

Alan Jones

© London FrightFest Ltd. 2000-2009
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