Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

After watching this, I’m worried a franchise that was building up some significant steam could be heading for a disaster of Matrix proportions. While the movie doesn’t commit an atrocity on the level of, say, the rave scene in Matrix Reloaded, it is quite dull—and this far into the series, that’s a bit disconcerting. This time out, the plot spends a lot of time on dreary romances involving Harry, Ron and Hermione (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson). Little happens to advance the story, and what does happen is handled poorly. One gets the sensation this chapter is sort of skidding into the two-part conclusion in the series. Let’s hope they get the magic back for the final films, because this is one of the worst in an otherwise reliable franchise.