Hopefully I won't mislead too many people with the title to my review, because I can definitely say that this movie was certainly one of the better films that I have seen so far this summer, and is definitely worth going to see in the theatre if you have even a meager interest in the Harry Potter series.  A lot of reviewers have been ready to call this one the best in the film series so far, but unfortunately I have to disagree.  There are a lot of fine lines here, and while this film does many things better than the other films, certain aspects are a little lacking.  First of all, the things that the movie does well.  What is most immediately apparent is the character and dialogue overhaul which has occurred since the last film in the series.  Most of the main characters are considerably more relatable and feel like real people that you may actually know instead of stock actors who are doing their level best to replicate the dialogue and characterization of characters in a novel.  Some friends of mine who went to see the movie didn't really care for the change, but since alterations have to occur when translating a book to film, I didn't mind at all. A lot of the dialogue and characterization was added to give a little comic relief to the fairly depressing tone of the film, and it was actually well done, which was refreshing.  The aspect of the film that next caught my (and many other critics') eyes was the cinematography and the actual mechanics of how the film was shot.  While the film form of all the movies in this series has traditionally been very good, this one stood out for me by really having a strong grip on how to use the camera to drive a scene and really take advantage of the vast real and CGI scenery that's present throughout the film.  In terms of technical excellence, this film really steps it up from the others in the series.

Unfortunately, as the title says, the film also seems to lose track of some of the things that it did well in prior films.  Admittedly, this could be due to the ever-greater plot density and page count of the later books in the series, which requires further plot modification in order to make sure the movies don't run incredibly long, but they were problems that I noticed.  First of all, and the main complaint of a lot of critics, is that the end of the film seems rushed.  I will now place in the necessary SPOILER ALERT in case someone out there has neither read the book or seen the movie yet and wants to have the plot remain a mystery.

One thing that really nagged at me about the end is that it doesn't really make much sense.  While the "cave scene" with Harry and Dumbledore is fairly well done, everything that happens afterward feels like the film is sprinting in order to make sure it can get the last bit of plot in before crossing the two and a half hour run time.  One of the main motifs in the film is Draco Malfoy's use of the Vanishing Cabinet and transforming it into a vehicle for evil wizards to enter Hogwarts.  In the book, this makes sense because they were coming to Hogwarts equally to provide back-up for Malfoy in his mission and to just generally attack the castle and cause chaos.  However, since having those scenes in the film would require significantly more special effects and probably tack on another 20 minutes of run time, the big battle and Harry's duel with Snape are either eliminated entirely or shortened significantly.  So we have a situation where Malfoy manages to break in some of the more powerful villains into the "good guy" stronghold that they're been trying to break into for the whole dang movie, and all they essentially do is WALK RIGHT OUT THE FREAKING FRONT DOOR.  Why were they even really there in the first place?

Second of all, and maybe it's just me, but the amount of angst in the characters was definitely pumped up for this film.  It's been awhile since I read the sixth book through, but I don't remember it being quite so bad (Rowling got a lot of that out of her system in the fifth book, if memory serves).  Again, while the filmmaker is obviously trying to demonstrate the tribulations of young love and whatnot, it certainly seems like there could have been a better way to do it.  I worry only because the teen angst may have been amped up slightly to snag a little bit of the valuable "Twilight" demographic.  My apologies to "Twilight" fans, but I simply cannot tolerate the intense melodrama that seems to be the metaphorical meat of that film and novel series.  While I realize that's now a large cross-section of society, and one that could easily make the plot jump between vampires and wizardry, it's a little disheartening to see the Harry Potter series essentially shooting for the lowest common denominator. "Twilight" fans, if you disagree with my sentiment, leave a message or comment, I'm open to any convincing arguments about why the series is worth my attention.

So, to wrap up this incredibly lengthy review, despite a few drawbacks, Half-Blood Prince is still probably the best "blockbuster" type film that I've seen this summer (I'd put it on about the same level of enjoyment as "Star Trek") and definitely worth the price of admission whether you're a Harry Potter fanatic or someone at least mildly interested.