About
Reviews (1)
17 March 2006
THINGS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME NOW!
9 of 15 found this helpful FULL-FLEDGED SPOILER WARNING.I am an intense Potterhead. This darker interpretation was far more appropriate for this tale of good vs. evil. The problem with this film, the choppiness of the screenplay. I know it's not easy condensing a 700-page novel into a 2 1/2 hour film (approx. 150 page script), The film did suffer.The journey to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasley family, was great but the filmmakers skip the match, jumping immediately to the afterglow. The Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort's followers, who look very similar to a parade of Klansmen in masks creepier than anything I imagined while reading the novel, terrorizing the Quidditch fans, but for a total of about 3 seconds. This was an important scene, and glossing over it was inappropriate. It implied they were doing so on Voldemort's behalf, when quite the opposite was true, as Voldemort supporter Barty Crouch Jr thrust Voldemort's bat signal, the Dark Mark, into the sky in protest of the Death Eaters, as opposed to in conjunction with them, as the film implied. Well before you know it, Harry,Hermione and Ron, at Hogwarts are joined by a dozen teenage witches from the school Beaubatons, accompanied by Madame Maxine, and a dozen teenage wizards from the Bulgarian school Durmstrang, accompanied by Igor Karkaroff. Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore introduces the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody and announces the participation of the three schools in the Triwizard Tournament. Everything happens very quickly, and before you know it, we're at the first task. At this point Harry Potter, was mysteriously illegally entered into the tournament. But the tasks are what this film is truly about. Amazing, exciting action sequences, demonstrating Harry's potential as an incredibly powerful wizard. Ron becomes angry with Harry, who Ron believes entered the tournament without confiding in his best friend. Emma Watson, her major plotline from the novel, the formation of a lobbyist group promoting the liberation of house elves was omitted from the film. Gleeson was given a number of juicy moments, such as Moody's first DADA class in which he performed the three Unforgivable Curses on a spider (but unfortunately not the Imperius Curse on Harry as in the novel) The first task, Harry and the other champion must remove a golden egg guarded by enormous fire-breathing dragons. This sequence alone should have merited an Oscar for Visual Effects. The whole thing was so exhilarating. Task Two, Neville is given further character development, as the character's gift for herbology. The four champions embark upon an adventure underwater to retrieve a hostage each. The grindywalds and the merpeople were right-on. Task three, the labyrinth the most important scene in the entire saga.When Voldemort shows himself, it almost seems impossible to imagine this moment to live up to the build-up. He looked perfect! The duel between Harry and Voldemort was intense. What follows is the most intense and goosebump-inducing scene in all four films.Harry arrives back to Hogwarts with Cedric's corpse.Then we have the big reveal in Moody's office. Some problems,Severus Snape(Alan Rickman)role was trivialized. There was one line in the graveyard from the book that was positively needed. It’s special to see these three young actors growing into their own, improving their talent with every new installment. We already can’t wait until the next one.
So much to say no more space :)