Harry Potter: The Biggest Mistake Each Wizarding World Film Has Made
4. Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince: The Complete Lack Of Stakes
By several clear miles, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the worst Harry Potter film.
Voldemort and any sort of peril or villainy largely disappears from the movie and it becomes a tedious, tension-free and poorly-structured romantic comedy. OK, fine, the Ron and Lavender Brown romance is quite funny but it still takes up far too much time.
As for Harry and Ginny, the more important romance, that is entirely rushed and is another reminder of how badly the films messed up Ginny Weasley by removing any real personality and also leaving her stuck with the worst actor the franchise has ever had.
As for the rest of the film, it's badly paced, the writing is often empty and it just hops from one subplot to the next (Malfoy's mission, Slughorn's memories etc.) without ever really delivering anything emotionally impactful or remotely exciting.
The only thrilling moment here is the cave scene. This was very strong, in fairness, and Dumbledore's death is as powerful as you'd expect, but the other action scenes from the end of the book are absent and the film then ends out of nowhere.
As such, The Half-Blood Prince is by far and away the worst film in the Harry Potter section of the franchise. Of course, it's not the worst overall, but more on that shortly.