Hairy Plotter

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is, in the fashion of all Harry Potter movies, a mere continuation of the previous film. David Yate's exceptional eye for the beautification of the simple pulls the audience into another two and a half hour story that may never lose it's power, yet somehow never gains any.
Starting right off where the 5th movie left us, this latest installment can best be described as "a filler." The movie starts out with large explosions and plenty of frightened people, and ends just the same. There is little escalation of excitement from the beginning to the end. In this way, this film is becomes merely a bridge to get from the 5th movie to the 6th.
Because most of the people with whom I shared the auditorium midnight on opening day had already read the books, we were able to laugh at the smallest of hints relating to the book. That is, when we saw the armchair in the torn up house of Professor Slughorn, we all knew what would happen next. Surprisingly, Kloves' latest adaptation stays very true to the book, even if the book does exceed 600 pages. While many of the larger more important events were scaled down to fit the 2.5 hour limit, nearly each enticing moment of the book can be found within the movie.
As for the cinematic aesthetics of the film, Yate's does what he did for the 5th film to a greater level in this 6th film. The beautiful, half-desaturated, crisp image that fills the large screen of the theater is pure eye candy. Each sweeping tracking camera move is beautifully achieved (if with a little help from a computer). The score, by Nicholas Hooper, is simple at times, but elegant. Bringing back the quidditch game required the reuse of John Williams theme, a theme we've not heard since the third movie. It was a delightful return to a beautiful score, with a passionate embrace of the new themes from the 5th film.
If all else in this film is truly as delightful as I have described, then I must ruin it with a critique of the acting. While Michael Gambon and Jim Broadbent pull off their characters wonderfully, I can't help but feel Daniel Radcliff's un-enigmatic approach to his main character puts a damper on most of the story. Emma Watson does well, but the true uplift was Rupert Grint, whose portrayal of Ron Weasley was quite perfect.
On the whole, the film was a visually stunning one, and possibly the best addition to the Harry Potter series despite the unnecessary extension of the love quarrel between Hermione and Ron.