Like the flat, uninvolving Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is directed by David Yates, but this time around, he's far more assured and inspired--Half-Blood Prince moves briskly and confidently, has moments of genuine delight and creepiness, is gorgeously shot by cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, and juggles its preposterously gargantuan cast and nuanced plot with as much grace as can be expected. There is darkness here, and regret, and the sense that for this series' once-naïve characters, the stakes are significantly higher. by Erik Henriksen