Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

As Harry Potter begins his sixth year at Hogwarts, he discovers an old book marked as "the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.

Director:

David Yates

Writers:

Steve Kloves (screenplay), J.K. Rowling (novel)

Stars:

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 38 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daniel Radcliffe	...	Harry Potter
Michael Gambon	...	Professor Albus Dumbledore
Dave Legeno	...	Fenrir Greyback
Elarica Johnson	...	Waitress (as Elarica Gallacher)
Jim Broadbent	...	Professor Horace Slughorn
Geraldine Somerville	...	Lily Potter
Bonnie Wright	...	Ginny Weasley
Julie Walters	...	Molly Weasley
Rupert Grint	...	Ron Weasley
Emma Watson	...	Hermione Granger
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Bellatrix Lestrange
Helen McCrory	...	Narcissa Malfoy
Timothy Spall	...	Wormtail
Alan Rickman	...	Professor Severus Snape
Oliver Phelps	...	George Weasley

Storyline

In Harry Potter's (Daniel Radcliffe's) sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, he finds a book marked mysteriously, "This book is the property of the Half Blood Prince", which helps him excel at Potions class and teaches him a few dark and dangerous ones along the way. Meanwhile, Harry is taking private lessons with Dumbledore (Sir Michael Gambon) in order to find out about Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes') past so they can find out what might be his only weakness.

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Plot Keywords:

school of magic | hereditary gift of witchcraft | witchcraft | hourglass | lifting a female into the air | 

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Taglines:

Dark secrets revealed.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

(At around two hours and five minutes) Visual effects supervisor Tim Alexander described Dumbledore's (Sir Michael Gambon's) ring of fire as "someone sprayed propane and then lit it." Then, to enhance the effect, the visual effects team spent a lot of research on molten volcanoes (which have a lot of heat, but no actual flames), and other references, including flares that burn underwater. The whole fire scene was very time consuming, with computer graphics artist Christopher Horvath spending eight months on it.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 45 mins) In the scene with Hagrid and Professor Slughorn, you can see them both moving their hands when talking. Slughorn's hand often disappears/seems to go right through Hagrid's arm. They were filmed separately to exaggerate Hagrid's height.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bellatrix Lestrange: [faded voiceover] I killed Sirius Black!

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Crazy Credits

The end credits take their shape from what look like ink spills, resembling the appearance of the collected memories when they are poured into Dumbledore's Pensieve.

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Alternate Versions

Some of the dubbed versions change the names of a few characters, to match their translated novel counterparts in each respective language. Examples include Hermione, who in the German version (of all the Potter films/books) is named Hermine, and Dumbledore, who in the Dutch version is Perkamentus. (Source: Multi-lingual Blu-Ray copies of the films)

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Connections

Referenced in Good Morning Britain: Episode dated 3 October 2019 (2019)

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Soundtracks

Big Beat Repeat
(uncredited)
Written & Performed by Josh Powell

User Reviews

As a movie it's the most well crafted of the series. But as an adaptation of the book, it was by far the worst.

Let me say this. Half Blood Prince as a movie alone was very good. It stands it's ground as a film better than any of the others of the series. But only as a film. And only because there are so many parts to a film. This installment obviously stepped everything up a notch: the cinematography, the special effects, the darker score, the improved acting, etc... But the key element which was boosted this franchise into world-class fame, is the story. And in this one, it's just not there. As a fan of the books and having had no SERIOUS gripes with any of the other films, I must say i HATED the screenplay for this one. Everything that made the book amazing was ripped from the film, and instead replaced by annoying large quantities of romantic subplot. Yes, there is romance in the sixth book but not shoved down your throat. JK Rowling masterfully crafted a novel that was perfectly balanced. The romance was there although it didn't detract from the main plot and at times was intertwined with the larger goings-on at hogwarts. In the movie the romance takes up most of the screen time. Not to mention the ending of the film was brutally butchered.

So much time could have been detracted from the silly romances to focus on more important things which were completely ommitted or deliberately changed. The ending is extremely anti-climactic and once it's over it'll leave you in your seat thinking "it's over?"

My final gripe with this movie is that it really should have been PG-13. If you've read the novel then you know the subject matter is MUCH darker and the story would have been done greater justice with just a higher rating(and a better screenwriter, yes i'm looking at you Steve Kloves).

Overall as a movie i'd give it an 8 out of 10.

But as a HARRY POTTER movie it gets 4 out of 10. And that's pushing it.

Well heres to 2010 to see how they screw up the finale. Oh wait, they already did. I didn't know there were 8 years at hogwarts...

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 July 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Half-Blood Prince

Filming Locations:

Wiltshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$250,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$77,835,727, 19 July 2009

Gross USA:

$302,305,431

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$934,454,096

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Heyday Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

153 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS DTS (DTS: X)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1