Your Turn: Where Do You Rank 'Half-Blood Prince'?

It's a big day for millions of movie fans. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is officially released today, only eight months after it was originally scheduled to hit theaters. Was it worth the wait? You can read our review here - and the reasons why we believe it was worth the extra few months of anticipation - but we want to hear your thoughts on where the series is now six films in. Remember: Deathly Hallows will be split into two films, with the first half released next November and the final installment arriving two years from this weekend. If I had to rate the movies, I'd put this behind Prisoner of Azkaban and a tic ahead of Chamber of Secrets. Now, if I watched them all again, this might ascend to the top of the heap. Tough to beat that Azkaban, however. So when you see it this weekend, stop by and give us your two cents, what you liked or what you didn't. I'm particularly interested in three things in particular: Its place in Potter history, the cinematography, and Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. Have at it. Oh yeah, I guess I should point out that some comments may contain spoilers, so it's probably best to know that going in.

Comments

[Orinn]

It's been to long since I saw Azkaban to properly compare, but Order of the Phoenix sits on top of my list. This would have to sit after the first 2, and I'm not even sure where I would place it against 3 & 4 without watching them again., but I'm betting it would be ahead of 4.

[Sean]

Well it was just BRILLIANT PURE EXCELLENCE!

It earns very high marks from me and not only that I had visions of THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRIOLOGY greatly inspiring this film.... and I just read a review somewhere mentioning that exact point....

The movie was great on so many levels.... the acting by all was superb...

Daniel Radcliffe - the emotional impact and turbulence he goes through in this film as Potter was much more complex and great than in the majority of the other films, Im glad he didnt leave the series, the kid knows how to act and will get more work

Rupert Grint - played his position and very much the "comic relief" and something teenagers which this film is aimed at can relate to with what he goes through with girls and typical adolescense stuff

Emma Watson - I love her! something about her and her acting style is really attractive, I think she possibly might get the most work out of these 3 leads after these films are completed, she has a great look, I wish I saw more of her in the film, I felt more scenes with her wouldve been better

Michael Gambon (DUMBLEDORE) - EXCELLENT just spell binding (pardon the pun) a veteran actor who will be given high praises as he should, he had humor, charisma, charm, as well as pain and complex emotional value.... possibly the standout of the film in my opinion, very much a SCENE STEALER, HE MADE THE FILM AND PROPELLED IT TO GREATNESS than just another Harry Potter film, he ELEVATED IT TO A LEVEL THAT WILL BE HARD TO REACH IN THE REMAINING FILMS IN MY OPINION

Jim Broadbent (Horace Slughorn) - amazing actor, what a face this man has, he was meant to be cast in this series! Academy Award winning actor was very convincing and his performance is getting renowned praise... WELL DONE

EXTRA characters and actors I ALSO LOVED!!!

= Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) - such a great joy to watch, everyone at my 12 AM midnight showing laughed at just the sight of her, very peculiar and the oddball, extremely quirky, she brought a great polar opposite to the other characters, STEALED EVERY SCENE SHE WAS IN ALL BE IT THEY WERENT THE MOST IMPORTANT SCENES BUT NEVERTHELESS SHE REALLY DID, I feel she will also get much more work to come! Great casting!!

= Hero Fiennes-Tiffin (child Tom Riddle) & Frank Dillane (teenage Tom Riddle) - just great villains they both were amazing and their performance went together well, you believed they both were the infamous Voldemort, they were dripping evil and what was so good about their acting was the subtlety in which how they did it...

= Tom Felton (Drayco Malfoy) - great enemy, his performance was great, he knows what he's doing, his darkness and turmoil were greatly portrayed, he had great complexity and he showed that well... Great young actor!

= Helena Bohem Carter - what more can I say than "perfect casting"

YES THE CINEMETOGRAPHY was AMAZING some of the best I have seen in recent years and ESPECIALLY FOR THIS KIND OF FILM
- the use of the grays and blacks, and dark colors perfectly contrased with the bright and very colorful scenes of Hogwarts and the dormitories...

VERY HARD TO PLACE IN POTTER HISTORY
- Azkaban was just amazing as well, even though I believe it was one of the films that made the fewest amount of money the plot and storie was great.
.. I FEEL THIS WAS EITHER TIED OR A TAD BIT BETTER ... MEANING IT WAS THE BEST FILM OUT OF THE WHOLE SERIES!!!!!

I ENJOYED THE FILM THROUGH OUT !!!! NOT JUST THE LAST 30 MIN....
- it had energy, more emotion, more sympathetic
- it was charismatic, funny, humorous
- dark, complex, visually stunning,
- DIRECTED BRILLIANTLY

I want to see more of Maggie Smith and Emma Watson in the future of the films!!!

[Vince]

I'm not going to write a diatribe on how this film relates to the others in the series and if it properly emulates the book.

I enjoyed it quite a bit- the last big blockbuster (besides Ice Age) was Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Colin, you'll attest to how badly that turned out.

This is a fine film- excellent acting by the whole cast, the art direction and special effects were superb as well, the soundtrack was great and the story was thrilling and engrossing. Unlike (my personal fav of the summer) "Star Trek", it didn't have the same sense of wonder and amazement, that "wow" factor that really blows you away after you leave the theater. But it's in my top 3 of the summer ("The Hangover" is slightly above it), it'll hold up extremely well on its own and as a part of a saga, and it's easily one of the best installments in the series.

[Orinn]

I wanted to add, that after disucssing with other people, I believe that this movie as far better enjoyed by those who did read the book. Lots of little things I was confused about the book readers knew. I never felt that way with any of the other Potter movies.

[The Aussie]

I think this is the best HP movie yet. I'm a huge fan of the books - a reason why I didn't enjoy Order of the Phoenix, due to a lot of changes from the book. This movie only had a few changes (albeit I wouldn't have liked to see any, but its always going to happen) and the overall feel of the movie didn't change. The casting of these movies is flawless! All of the characters are played exactly as written in the books. This film definitely had the best cinematography and I think the best script. The long runtime also didn't affect the story.
Before this, my favourite movie in the series was the Goblet of Fire, and I haven't seen Chamber of Secrets or Prisoner of Azkaban recently to make a comparison, but I think Half-Blood Prince is my favourite so far.