Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Review by Clint Morris
Seems the water tower full of youth serum is running low
at Warner... While most of their hot properties have gone
to the tykes by their third or fourth sequel - Batman
is a good example, Superman too, even Lethal Weapon
to an extent - the one franchise you'd think would definitely
be licking the surface of the container for that last drop
is avoiding it all together.
Has the Harry Potter series matured faster than it's
titular - and that's saying something - star?
With the last instalment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban, and now this latest chapter, Harry Potter
and the Goblet of Fire, the emphasis seems to have shifted
from the magical, mystical and eye-popping, to the deranged,
dark and nightmare inducing (at least, for those 11-year-olds).
In Mike 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' Newell's Goblet
of Fire movie, our titular bespectacled hero (Daniel Radcliffe,
ageing by the minute), has been chosen by some numinous unknown
force to be the only underage contestant in the Triwizard
Tournament, a game in which a batch of young trainee wizards
compete in trios, challenging each other in deadly tasks.
Will Harry make it through each task? Who did nominate him
for this game anyway? Who's the guy he's having nightmares
of (any reader of the books knows that this is the one where
Lord Voldemort makes his screen debut), and are we right in
assuming Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Radcliffe)
are crushing on each other??
While Azkaban was a breath of fresh air, and a genuinely
captivating instalment for a series that suddenly decided
adults were a viable audience too - Goblet is the opposite.
It's simply more of the same, too dark for it's own good
(the wonderment of it all seems to have disappeared from the
franchise entirely), and most notably, it runs longer than
a top-of-the-range VCR.
And with so many dull bits - anything to do with the Triwizard
Tournament, basically - even little Johnny's going to get
a little fidgety in his seat.
Writer Steve Kloves did have a task on his hand in having
to condense such a brick-of-a-book into a couple of hours,
but did he even try? Or did he just blindly open pages randomly
and select a batch of unconnected scenes to string together?
There just doesn't seem to be much logic or better still,
much emotion, on show anywhere.
Granted, there is still a lot to like about this latest Potter.
The performances are good - they actually seem to be getting
better - and the effects, despite looking a little too video
game-ish, are quite good, and the other production values
are sweeter than homemade iced tea.
Just don't expect to go strutting out of the film with as
much faith in cinema as you did with the previous three films
- the force just isn't as strong with this one.
3 out of 5
Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire
Australian release: Thursday the 1st of December, 2005.
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie
Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes.
Director: Mike Newell.
Website: Click
here.
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