Yates returns as director after his superlative Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The opening frames of The Half-Blood Prince further the series’ urgency and panic, but once the students return for a new term at Hogwarts, it's business as usual. Gone is any escalation, the ever-thickening, ever-sickening sense of dread; The Half-Blood Prince would rather flush pink with its lovesick teens than forward-thrust toward the mammoth battle of good vs. evil. Don’t get me wrong: It’s a giggling good time, watching adolescent boys try to work out their feelings, and the film’s leading trio – Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson – has grown from stuttering child actors into confident, even subtle performers with an easy rapport. But with all the hemming and hawing over love stuff, the action and the epicness have gone missing. It’s always a pleasure to be in the company of Potter, but still: Where’s the magic, huh?
Opened 07/15/09
