Fortunately, there's more to "Half-Blood Prince" than youthful heartache. Evildoers like Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) and young Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) scheme dark schemes, and though Voldemort doesn't appear as an adult, the film has a pair of memory flashbacks in which we see him as Tom Riddle, the evilest boy who ever was.
As for Harry, he has serious tasks of his own to attend to. He has to help recruit faculty member Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), deal with an old textbook powerfully annotated by the mysterious Half-Blood Prince, and rise to the occasion when Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) ups the ante and says to him, "Once again I must ask too much of you."
The addition of the excellent Broadbent to a cast that includes, besides Gambon and Bonham Carter, such fine British performers as Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane and David Thewlis, underlines the Potter films' ongoing status as a comprehensive guide to contemporary U.K. acting. First among equals in "Half-Blood Prince" is Alan Rickman as the monumentally unpleasant Professor Severus Snape, dripping disdain when he eviscerates Harry with lines like, "How grand it must be to be the chosen one."
Also helping keep things professional are screenwriter Steve Kloves, returning after taking the last film off, and director Yates. A veteran of British TV responsible for such highly respected fare as the original miniseries version of "State of Play," Yates in his second Potter film seems more comfortable with the franchise. He's turned out to be what the series has always felt it needed, a good steward of the material who is respectful of the novels but not overly reverential.
As they head toward the closing episodes -- Part 1 of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will come out in 2010, Part 2 in 2011 -- it becomes clearer and clearer that these films are a law unto themselves: cozy tales told around a cinematic campfire that have managed to reach out to the world.
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kenneth.turan@latimes.com
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'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'
MPAA rating: PG for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality
Running time: 2 hours, 33 minutes
Playing: In general release
