Harry Potter

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince is a fans only movie. If you have never seen any of the Harry Potter movies and suddenly decide to see what the fuss is about...this is not the movie to start with. Don't get me wrong - the movie is terrific! But you need to be following the story. AND it would help if you reviewed the last movie, The Order of the Phoenix, before seeing this one.
Once again the movie can stand on it's own for someone who has not read the book but just barely. You know the movie mommy rule about movies made from books - the movie has to be enjoyed without reading the book. Since I did read the books it is hard to separate myself from that BUT it has been a while since I read The Half Blood Prince and much of the narrative seemed new to me.
I would call this movie the Empire Strikes Back of the Harry Potter movies. If you saw Empire in the movies and felt that pang in your stomach of, "WHAT?!?!" when it ended, that is, with no real ending to speak of. What about Han frozen in carbonite? What about Darth Vader being Luke's father? WTF?! Well, we didn't have that last acronym back then but you get the point.
However, if you read the books, The Half Blood Prince is kind of anti-climactic. You know what happens next! Dumbledore? Harry and Ginny? Raging hormones? Ron and Hermione? Snape? Malfoy? WTF?! Well, you get the point!
This movie has all the darkness you expect plus some things you have been looking forward to seeing. Like we finally see the Weasley twin's joke shop and more cool places in Hogwarts. The set designers like to keep Hogwarts changing and that is fine with me. Plus, a great Quiddith match, wand duels, dark magic, a new teacher and excellent effects.
No, I am not going to go into the plot because you will have to go and enjoy!
As a fan of the books, you will want to read the final book again after watching this movie. As a fan of the movies - you are just going to have to wait until the next movie (which I heard will actually be two movies) to finish the final story for you.
You are just going to have to live with that Empire feeling in your stomach.
MMMM1/2Ms (out of 5 M's)