Recently I have begun to look over the Harry Potter films. What I have found is both goods and bads. The first film is a little to much of a world builder not allowing anything to get intense or for that matter interesting. The second is a wild improvement but, has the problem of a running time that is a little to long. It really is jam packed and that's not bad. It's really just that once the film reaches it's big reveal everything seems a little to silly. The big snake was pretty cool though. The third film was a vast improvement, but once all the reveals were made the whole thing seemed jumbled. However the style of director Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) really made the film work as it displayed a wonderful feast for the eyes. In my opinion (and surely people will diagree with me) so far I think that The Goblet of Fire is the best one. Do keep in mind I have not watched the other 4 films. Okay. I will within the next few days. The reason for this film succeeding more than it's predessesors at least to me is the fact that I did not think of it as a Harry Potter film. I mean sure it is one but to me on the basis of what it was it seemed not to. See to my generation Harry Potter has become something incredibly meaningful. Sure I was once caught up in this trance at one point and I'm sure many of us were. The first three films were all decent films the third being miles better, but they were all given the classic brand because of the brand exactly. I'm not saying they were bad. I like all of them. Just not as much as most people and that's probably because I don't actually like Harry Potter as a fandom just more of a existing entity in pop culture. What I'm getting at is Goblet did not feel like a Harry Potter film but something more. The premise is very exciting. A tournament between three wizard schools composed of dangerous tasks. I love it. The fact that around this there is an incredible amount of character. Daniel Radcliffe actually does some very good work here adding a little it of more depth to Harry that I did not find in the earlier films. Ron gets a character arch of being stubborn and kind of angry toward Harry which is more than he got to do in the last few films. Emma Watson as Hermione is still pretty good, but her role I don't actually know in the scheme of things so her character remains to be the person that the somewhat alienated smart people like myself can connect to. Dumbledore is given more here which is great seeing how Michael Gambon is a really good actor and deserves more of a role in these films. I suspect he will get one in the final chapters of this film series. The supporting players are all good, but there is one that stands out. The best actor in the entire film is one of the best British actors of all time. I am atually anticipating his performances in the later films. This would be Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort. Okay I'm not even going to give a spoiler warning for this one because everybody knows the end of this film. From the moment that he appears he is a commanding presence. The moments that he is on screen the entire film rises to an entire new level. The whole thing buckles down and becomes even better than it was. But it was still very good even before that. The unfolding mystery here is much more interesting featuring some great twists and turns especially at the end of the film. Though what really makes the film are the tournament challenges. Each are not that special but there are quite a few thrills to be had with them. Flying high in the air trying to escape a dragon. Swimming to the depths of an ocean. It's all simple but fun and it all looks good. The effects team really did a great job on this film and everything looks real enough to suck you into the entire thing. My watching of the Harry Potter films had been very hit and miss so far but this was really a hit. A full blooded fantasy film that is a lot of fun. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire gets a 9 out of 10.
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |