Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

An introduction so dark that the first seconds are in black and white. Cue attack by death eaters on muggles and wizards alike, with a haunting score from Nicholas Hooper. Now this is something entirely different.

David Yeates wants us to be in no doubt that these are dark times. The filters are wildly grey and brown from the off (at times almost completely devoid of colours), and Dumbledore speaks low and emotionless.

The new guy on the block this time is Jim Broadbent. Not a great character as he is a bit of a buffoon, but he has a drunken beauty of a soliloquy at a crucial point. A wonderful story, told with the perfect blend of happy reminiscence  and bottomless regret.

Watson is still rock solid as the sassy, resourceful young witch, but her clear discomfort at an unwanted suitor is acting at a very high level for her age. Watch it and grin. After having been a footnote for several films, Felton is suddenly front and centre. Thankfully, this is his best effort by far. Encumbered by his sudden introduction to a task far greater than he's comfortable with and torn between duty, pride and morals. Well helped by great direction of dark, quite scenes with an absolute minimum of distraction. More of a nuisance is Grint's love interest, again turning his part of the story into something daft that doesn't really fit into neither the story, nor the general mood of the film.

As for the older cast, Gambon is travelling for lots of the duration, but he has a solemn demeanour as if he knows his ending before the rest of us (and he does of course). His last scene an exceptionally memorable death with a hauntingly beautiful theme accompanying him as his faithful strive to find light in the darkness, quite literally. Rickman keeps us guessing at every turn, enthralling with every syllable.

A bit more of Star Wars-thievery as we discover that Dumbledore of course discovered, and mentored, Voldemort. More of an original, but quite tantalizing, detail is the hour-glass. Great scene, perfectly edited.

Yeates keeps reminding us of the mystery of who the half-blood prince is. Firstly as a teenage caper, but later as a much more serious theme. And the disclosure does in no way disappoint. Nice build-up and concentration throughout.

So this instalment has some wonderful scenes, much better use of mood and symbolism than in the previous film, though lacking an enthralling end-game as it is substituted for emotional devastation. Very nice indeed.

8/10