Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the Hogwarts gang's Empire Strikes Back.

It's a very dark film, but it's the most engrossing and enchanting of the series thus far. Director David Yates pulls the audience deeper into Hogwarts than ever before as Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Co. start really growing up.

Everyone's favorite school for witches and wizards is undergoing all kinds of changes, and metamorphosis is the name of the game this time around. Voldemort's Death Eaters are causing all kinds of trouble, and it's apparent that the dark lord is closer. So Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) employs Harry's help once more. This time, Dumbledore needs Harry to unearth a secret about Voldemort from returning Potions Professor, Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbont. However, that's only the tip of the iceberg. Harry discovers a surprisingly potent potions book that once belonged to the mysterious "Half-Blood Prince," while his closest friend Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) is engulfed in new girlfriend Lavendar Brown.

There's a lot going on this time around, but everything flows seamlessly. From Harry's first tangle on the train with nefarious Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) to an incendiary scene at the Weasley's mid-movie, Half-Blood Prince remains marked by tension and fear. Both elements push the film forward faster than the last round of a Quidditch match. The incredible visuals don't hurt either. This is the best that Hogwarts has ever looked and watching the camera sweep around the snowy campus is utterly entrancing.

The performances are the most magical element though—especially from some of the supporting players. Helena Bonham Carter's Bellatrix LeStrange is seductively sinister. Her cackle evokes the character's chaos, while those wild eyes show a complete disregard for her targets' lives. She often steals the scenes that she's in. Tom Felton also plays evil very convincingly, taking Draco Malfoy to a grown-up place of depravity and disregard for life. Then there's Jim Broadbent's bumbling and cryptic Professor Horace Slughorn. Broadbent simultaneously plays the teacher and the mystic, making the character multi-dimensional. Alan Rickman is back for another turn as Professor Severus Snape and, once again, he proves it was a part that only he could play. Rickman's got a panache that can't be matched, and Snape's become even more of a conflicted and intriguing character.

The special effects are top notch of course, but the emotion exuding from the stars is the most powerful effect. Radcliffe has really grown up with the role. His delivery of certain lines is as chilling as some of the movie's big chase scenes. Take the moment he tells Dumbledore, "I like riding around on trains. It takes my mind off things." His character is growing older and wearier, and Radcliffe displays both emotions masterfully. His subtlety is what makes Harry so sympathetic and as he nearly chokes back certain words his anxiety is tangible.

This is the most breathtaking and brilliant Potter film yet. It remains dark, but it's so magical you can't turn away—just like Empire.

—Rick Florino
07.17.09