From the department of pointless deeds: considering how many page views my last review got, literally NOBODY will be reading this one. But I'll go on pretending.

Confession time: I am one of those annoying, puzzling adults who reads Harry Potter. 56 years old, almost 57, never had children of my own, and I read everyone of the Harry Potter books. J.K. Rowling may not be the most dazzling fantasy writer of all time... she's not even really the most dazzling writer of fantasy specifically aimed at younger readers... but she does have a far-reaching imagination, a gift for creating likable, sympathetic characters, and a writing style that has actually grown and gotten stronger with each successive book, as the story and characters have gotten darker. The movie series has sometimes been hit and miss, largely, I think, because of the wide-ranging abilities of the various directors. But strangely enough, the director with probably the least amount of celebrity (at least in the U.S.), David Yates, has wound up crafting what I think is by far the most impressive movie in the series to date.

"Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince" was the darkest novel in the series, and the film definitely follows the same path. The evil Voldemort, thought he doesn't actually make a physical appearance, dominates the story: the very clouds (dark ones, of course) take the shape of his face, Hogwarts staff and students are being possessed (literally) and attacked by his minions, and staff is mysterious disappearing. In the midst of all of this is the mystery of the Half-Blood Prince: Harry's old used textbook for his potions class once was the property of this mysterious figure, and when Harry begins making use of the formulas and spells written in the margin, all manner of havoc is let loose.

This is legendary as the Harry Potter story in which probably the most beloved character of the series meets a violent, untimely end, and yes, that somber moment IS reflected in the story as a whole. And the movie is often flat-out terrifying: there are scenes that ought to make the makers of films like "The Ring" and "The Grudge" WISH they were able to construct moments as frightening. The wonder of all of this, to me, is that after several films in a row that were rated PG-13, "Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince" is back to the milder PG rating. I'm not saying the ratings board is completely out of their minds (like they were when they gave a PG-13 to the blatantly R film "Taken"), but audiences should be forwarned. Of course, I've always believed that the best so-called "children's" film and literature has always trafficked in a considerable amount of darkness... just think of the novels of Roal Dahl, or "The Wizard Of Oz", or the original Brothers Grimm. That's definitely not a bad thing. On the contrary, especially when it's done as expertly as it is here.

One of the surprising things about the film, though, is how it manages to blend all of that darkness with a considerable collection of lighter, very funny moments into a coherent whole that doesn't make the film seem schizophrenic. In fact, many of the most effective scenes add up to a very amusing romantic comedy, as the relationtionships of Hermione and Ron, as well as Harry and ron's sister Ginny, get deeper and more involved. Danief Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermione) and Rupert Gint (Ron) have been fine actors since the beginning of the series, but as the series has gone on they've continued to show more and more depth to their talents, and it's amazing to watch them play the comedic and serious sides of the same characters in the same film with equal effectiveness. Most adult stars have difficulties with this sort of thing. For that matter, the makers of the totally unfunny, unromatic sludge that passes itself off as most "adult" romantic comedies could learn a thing or two from this picture.

Not to take anything away from the adult stars, either. As a major fan of the late Richard Harris, it took me a while to warm up to Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. But while his approach is quite different, he really has succeeded in making the character his own. And the usual assortment of classy British actors abounds: Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, Alan Rickman (absolutely marvelous as Snape), and severl newcomers, including Helena Bonham Carter as a chillingly creepy henchman (hencperson?) of Voldemort. When you've got a movie that takes you into such a completely different world, it helps to have performances that ground you in reality, and this picture has them in spades.

But I think that ultimately the real unsung hero of "Harry Potter & The Half-Bloof Prince" has got to be director David Yates. The movie has scene after scene that is lifted directly from the book, with the same events and dialogue and the same mood... and time after time, the nearly impossible is done, as the scene is more effective than the original book. The scary stuff is scarier in the film, the dark stuff is darker, the comedy is funnier. I know the actors deserve some of the credit, but good as they are, the incredibly creepy opening scenes of supernatural disaster striking England, for instance, owe their effectiveness to expert film making, and so do a good many other scenes. As a whole, the directors of the Potter series haven't gotten the credit they deserve (although in the case of Chris Columbus, he didn't really deserve much), but I hope David Yates will wind up being the exception.

I don't expect that people who didn't care for any of the previous films (or the books) will be won over by this one, either. But fans ought to be impressed by not only how well the novel itself was transferred to film, but how well it works just as a movie. And not just as a "kids" movie, either. Everything that made the best of the earlier movies work well is here even more effectively, plus a great deal more. If there are are still any Harry Potter fans out there who haven't seen this one, they should NOT wait for the DVD. Get to a second run theatre and see it the way it should be seen, on the biggest screen possible. You'll be glad you did.