FILM: Harry Potter and the Goblet Of FIre (2005)

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire

Directed by Mike Newell, this film goes to 11.

Suddenly everything is very big and loud. The crowd scenes have more and bigger crowds. The special effects are bigger, better and louder. The sound effects at times are deafening, all the boy's hair is suddenly longer....every last one of them have longer hair. Because it's more and bigger. Even the acting is more loud and pronounced. Dumbledore, who only raises his voice once in the previous 3 films screams a lot in this one. The new teacher Alastor Moody is called "Mad-eye" so he not only has a fake eyes that wobbles around madly, but spends the whole film making odd grunting noises, walking funny, drinking madly from a flask. Just so you know he's mad as a brush. Easter European Wizards give dark stares and behave like they do in a parody of a parody of a James Bond film. Berty Crouch Senior is a broken man, so throughout the film he walk around like he's been crushed by life.

There is nothing subtle about any of this, which is why Patrick Doyle's score makes so much sense.

The Bad.

There's this competition called the Tri-Wizard tournament. It involves large delegations from 2 other Wizard schools coming to Hogwarts, staying an entire year because 1 student from each of those, and 2 from Hogwarts compete in a series of ....three sporting challenges.

Lot let me analyse that. J.K. Rowling is asking me to accept the conceit that 2 Wizard school will send a teacher, probably their head master and a large group of students to stay and live at another school for the duration of a full year? all these students are possible candidates for the tournament, meaning there perspective schools have been robbed of their best and brightest for a year?

Hmmm...a whole year... for 3 contests? I watched a bit of the Olympics. They manage to squire out about a dozen or so different sporting event every day. There is just no way that I am able to believe, even in the Wizard world that 3 games take a full year to play. Sorry J.K. the flying car I was willing to go along with, the giant spiders also, but not this.

The other main event that occupies much of the film is the Yule ball. Dancing lessons. What to wear to the ball, who to ask? Who not to ask?

This film famously is the one were Voldemort is resurrected. If you unfortunately miss the last 25 minutes or so, you would not be able to guess that. Oh yes there a creepy scene right at the start with him. And Harry had a bad dream or two with Voldy in it. but basically it's all teenage dating rituals and sporting events until the very...very last part of the film.

The thing is. The acting of the three young leads is the best so far. Puberty has hit with a vengeance. Ron, who was Harry's faithful friends now becomes all moody and angry. Hermione occasionally behaves sobby and irrational. Harry...is mostly Harry. But is in a foul mood some of the time. Sounds ghastly but the interaction of the trio, and how they interact with their classmates feels very natural. Emma Watson has a small but delightful moments when gives a little giggle when beefcake Viktom Krum takes her to the Yule ball. Rupert Grint is spot on when McGonnagal picks him to demonstrate in front of the class how to dance. Longbottom has an ecstatic moment after the ball, simply amazed that he had a date. Another great scene is with Alan rickman, trying to get Harry and Ron to focus on their schoolwork.

Newell gets outstanding performances from all his young cast. Just little looks, moments, pauses. Amazing in a film that is otherwise very bombastic.

I don't remember a lot from OOTP, but I saw the last 3 films, and Harry seems to be more and more detached from the rest. No longer in a school with kids his age. instead lurking in dark, gothic halls searching for clues about who's trying to kill him.

Very late in the film there is a scene in a maze, were the Bulgarian contestant has glazed over eyes for reasons the films has not told us, and savages the lovely French contestant for reasons that are not completely clear. Shortly after that Harry and the guy that would be even more of a sex-symbol for under-age girls a few years later get beamed to a graveyard and Voldemort is reborn.

The scene is better then I remembered. Fiennes is more bombastic in this film then his others. But also seems more of an immediate threat. Loathsome, reptilian his brief scenes promised more to come in subsequent films. But I don't think the promise was ever really fulfilled.

The look of the film is largely an extension of Cuaron's previous film. Lot's of impressive shots. lot's of really good looking special effects. But for some reason it lacks both the giddy joy of the Columbus films or the "panache" of Cuaron's. Technically very good, but a bot...cold.

The music. I always had a soft spot for the score. Now I think it's the last really good Harry Potter score

The 2 Nicholas Hooper score are functional and simplistic. The 2 Desplat scores are functional and complex. but they don't linger on the mind for me.

Doyle has a few nice waltzes, some very loud and brassy "spectacle" music of an at times Olympian scale. The brass section of the LSO been given a work out, crashing cymbals, dramatic strings, loud percussion. His darker moments are very gothic in feel. And there are actually a few times when there is recognizable thematic material other then anything re-used from John Williams. (really I can't recall a single recurring theme from the last 4 films that's not from JW. Yes I know there are themes, but there might as well not have been)

Doyle uses Hedwig's Theme a few times in the score. Some people hate that he changed the harmonization. I don't. Because I don't know what that is. But his Hedwig's theme on icy strings is very effective. Also like the elegy near the end of the film that no-one here seems to like. "Cedric is dead and Doyle plays an elegy, how predictable, John Williams must be turning in his grave"

In many ways this is an incredibly flawed film. Flawed at the screenplay level, flawed at the logic level. Structurally nothing important to thr 8 film saga happens untill the last half hour or so. It's probably the most deeply flawed of all the potter films.

And yet it's very watchable. It's not boring despite it's enormous length. The cast is great, even if some overdue it. (apart from David Tennent who is shamefull!)

The story is bad, but it's a bad story told well.

*** out of ****

[Jay 37,373]

I agree with a lot of your points. Especially that the graveyard scene is the best part. I personally think this is the worst of the HP films... it feels so different from the rest, like they were just trying to be different and it didn't work (POA was also very different from its predecessors, but in a way that worked). But beyond comparing to other films, as standalone film it just... doesn't work for me, somehow. Everything feels so detached, like its a series of scenes and not a film. However, the entire resurrection/graveyard scene, I can't complain about (other than the annoying fact that they don't spend the 10 seconds it would take to explain why Voldemort's and Harry's wands did that and why his parents came out)

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

You're pretty spot on, Stefan. This movie really is turned up to eleven and it's not praticularly better off for it.

The performances are great, especially from the young cast. Their interactions are probably the best in any of the Potter films. Unfortunately, all of the scenes where they get to shine are ones that have absolutely nothing to do with the larger plot of the series or even the movie itself. I always get the feeling they decided to focus on the character interactions on this one and then subsequently forgot they had to move the series' plot along as well. The fourth book is a huge turning point for the series. The movies is just another big budget spectacle.

And you're right, most of it doesn't make much sense. It doesn't in the book either. Heck, Rowling violates her own Portkey rules just to get Harry and Cedric to the graveyard at the end. For some reason this even bothered me more than the whole logic of the overall story (convoluted plans, tournament that lasts a year, Harry competing because "well, his name came out of a magic cup, so I guess he'll have to be put in mortal danger now, because else... well, magic!").

[Jay 37,373]

How do the portkey rules get violated?

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

At the start of the book, we're told a portkey is an object that is enchanted so that it will transport anyone who is touching it at a given time to a given place. This means it is possible to actually "miss" a portkey or to already have it in your hand before you're transported.

The Triwizard cup instantly transports both Harry and Cedric the moment they touch it. The only reason they both go is because they decide to grab it together at the same time.

[Jay 37,373]

It's been a while since I read the book, but maybe its established that a portkey can be made either way; Activating upon touch or activating upon a timer

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

It is not.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Well it's a children's book. the little buggers don't notice these things.

[Jay 37,373]

The first two books you could call children's books, but by the fourth they are way too intense for children

[Taikomochi 1,136]

While I agree that the Tri-Wizard cup made little sense, I won't fault the movie. Things in better movies have made less sense. The time turner, from PoA which is rarely criticized, opens up a whole bag of plot holes. I don't expect my Harry Potter to make sense.

However, I would complain about the mermaid challenge. If you watch it close, nothing really happens. I thought the challenge was finding their friends while fighting off the mermaids. Fleur was dragged down by mermaids in the process, so this would make sense. However, Harry went to grab his friend, and the mermaids did nothing, they just told him to only take one. So... Was the challenge just to get their friend? But then what were the mermaids doing? Why did the grab Fleur? This is kinda shitty directing to make such a strange, contradictory scene.

Also, I think Fiennes is terrible as Voldemort. I could accept him in DH Pt.2 because I think the direction around his character was very strong, but otherwise, he is just too silly to take seriously. Could you imagine if the emperor acted that way? Screaming and being all campy? He did act that way in Episode III, and it helped in making parts of the movie that should have been serious laughable. David Tennent is also awful.

The score is alright. It tries to be grand, to varying levels of success. I don't find the themes or music strong at all, but I enjoy different parts like his variation on Hedwig's Theme, before he reused it multiple times.

And what makes no sense to me in any of the last films is Mad Eye Moody. He becomes friends with Harry in GoF, helping him do the events or whatever, and from then on, in the films, they are friends. But how could they be the same kind of friends after GoF if that was never really him. And yet, they treat each other like old friends, despite not really knowing each other.

[Jay 37,373]

The challenge was figuring out a way to breath underwater... as well as saving your freind within an hour.

As for Mad Eye, he appears more often in the post-GOF books than the movies, and Harry and co do befriend the real Mad Eye. And it is somewhat starting from scratch.

[Taikomochi 1,136]

The challenge was figuring out a way to breath underwater... as well as saving your freind within an hour.

I guess so, but that makes the tense atmosphere of that scene seem very unnecessary. And it still doesn't explain why the mermaids attacked Fleur but ignored Harry.

As for Mad Eye, he appears more often in the post-GOF books than the movies, and Harry and co do befriend the real Mad Eye. And it is somewhat starting from scratch.

I don't know, as I haven't read the books. My brother, who has reread them, said this was for the most part not the case. I guess I don't really know. In any case, the movies still botched this aspect, no fault of GoF since it is the later films that have the real Mad Eye.

[Jay 37,373]

Well they are never really close or anything. He's just a good member of the OOTP who protects Harry alot. He isn't really around much when Harry's at school. I wouldn't say the movies portray they as great friends either

[indy4 155]

Hmmm...a whole year... for 3 contests? I watched a bit of the Olympics. They manage to squire out about a dozen or so different sporting event every day. There is just no way that I am able to believe, even in the Wizard world that 3 games take a full year to play. Sorry J.K. the flying car I was willing to go along with, the giant spiders also, but not this.

The goal of the tournament is not to get the three competitions done and over with as quickly and efficiently as possible. It's to integrate the three schools, and encourage friendship amongst them. The competitions themselves are just one of the ways that this goal is accomplished.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

That is fraternizing with the enemy!

When I was in high school we did not socialize with other schools, we egged them!

[Elmo Lewis 6]

This film gave me the impression I was watching a 2-hour trailer. Everything feels sped up, as if they didn't have time to develop anything. For example, the revelation of Moody being in fact Barty Crouch Jr., which last for at least 50 pages in the book, reduced to "Are you Barty Crouch Jr ?" "Yes" WOUHOU ! It was a turning point in the book, because this revelation explained pretty much everything that happened during the school year. But no, Kloves though it was best to left it all out of the film. Good call, I say !

The worst offender probably is the graveyard scene (but I'm alone, here, apparently). Everything feel SO rushed ! I absolutely loved hte scene in the book, but here you don't have time to feel anything, because things unfold so rapidly. Voldemort is back, OH NO ! "Get your wand, Harry, let's fight !" BOUM ! "Acico Cup" (or "Accio whatever"). End of the game.

And don't get me started on the Quidditch World Cup. In the book, it is described as something amazing, and this is one of the thing I really wanted to see on screen. Well, in the film, they just give you a big "Fuck You".

Hm. I believe all these things work in the movie, as a stand-alone narrative.

All your complains seem to focus on the fact that this two-and-half-hour movie that just isn't as detailed enough as an 800-page book.

I don't know, the logic behind the movie and its respect towards Rowling's world may not be flawless. But the film very successfully carries the viewer through all the emotional beats of the story and immerses him in the Hogwarts experience more than any other of the mythology-heavy books. So it doesn't matter what happens in the movie -- that's a novelist's problem -- as Stefan said, it's told well.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Elmo Lewis 6]

It's not that this film is not detailed enough. It's that it decides to focus on things that are not important to the plot, and ditch what is. I can live with the film not having the Quidditch game in it. It makes sense leaving it out of the film: it would be a waste of screen time, because it has absolutely on repercussion on the story (even though it would have been cool to see it on screen).

But when you've got something as important as the revelation of who Moody really is, and the scene only last two seconds, whereas on the other hand you've got a neverending ball scene, with Do The Hippogriff as a bonus, I say there's something wrong.

Stefan once compared GoF to a hypothetical BBC miniseries about life in a British boarding school. I thought it was a very accurate description, and I thought it was a wise move the filmmakers made: since they couldn't stuff all the plot into a film, why not guide the audience through its emotional beats. The plot will be poorly executed, yes, but it matters less because the audience is hopefully satisfied with what they got instead.

They used the inherently illogical TriWizard tournament (did they really plan to let the students drown at the bottom of the lake? For a sporting event?) as an excuse to fill the movie with eye candy and then used the quieter, (main) character-driven moments to compensate for that. Crouch Jr's revelation will have less impact, and may even be confused, but it's not what the movie was about.

As a matter of fact, the film's big moment (Voldemort's return) feels like it belongs to a different movie. It's so different, in style and execution, that it almost feels like a scene from the latter movies, when they became all about the plot and having Harry in danger in dimly lit, Gothic-looking environments.

Here, I disagree. Like I previously said, all is happening so fast you don't have time to feel anything (well, at least I didn't. But maybe I'm a bit slow, though). I didn't feel immersed at all. All I kept thinking was that I was watching some abridged version of the film.

I don't think it has anything to do with being slow. It's just that you had a grander, more detailed blueprint of the story in your head and were given something else entirely. That can make the movie fail in your eyes. But I think it works outside the book. (Bear in mind, GOF is the only book I Potter book I haven't read. I only skimmed through it because the series had lost me at that point - then I accidentally found a copy of OoP which turned out to be my favorite entry in the saga and was hooked again.)

[Jeff 10]

The challenge was figuring out a way to breath underwater... as well as saving your freind within an hour.

I guess so, but that makes the tense atmosphere of that scene seem very unnecessary. And it still doesn't explain why the mermaids attacked Fleur but ignored Harry.

Fleur was stopped by the grindylows, not the mermaids. Hermione says, "She didn't make it past ze grindylows," (or something like that) when Harry gets out of the lake.

[Taikomochi 1,136]

Well, whatever they are called. Names are irrelevant to my point. It still makes no sense as nobody else has to deal with these creatures. Harry is even confronted with one, and it just tells him not to take two people.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Elmo Lewis 6]

That's why I took it out of the equation

In all seriousness, my apologies if you thought I had assumed you were.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[paleo 63]

Well, whatever they are called. Names are irrelevant to my point. It still makes no sense as nobody else has to deal with these creatures. Harry is even confronted with one, and it just tells him not to take two people.

No, the names ARE relevant to your point; they are really not the same creatures. The merpeople (who watch over Ron & Co. and speak with Harry) look like sort of humans with fish tails, the grindylows (who attack Fleur and later Harry) look like squid from hell... You will have to find something else to hate; maybe that the design of the creatures is vaguely similar and managed to fool you? ;-)

[Taikomochi 1,136]

Well, whatever they are called. Names are irrelevant to my point. It still makes no sense as nobody else has to deal with these creatures. Harry is even confronted with one, and it just tells him not to take two people.

No, the names ARE relevant to your point; they are really not the same creatures. The merpeople (who watch over Ron & Co. and speak with Harry) look like sort of humans with fish tails, the grindylows (who attack Fleur and later Harry) look like squid from hell... You will have to find something else to hate; maybe that the design of the creatures is vaguely similar and managed to fool you? ;-)

Ok, I get it, because I didn't understand is why the Gryndelows attacked Fleur and didn't even pay Harry any attention. That makes sense. The Gryndelows only attack Harry when he breaks the rules, as opposed to Fleur who was attacked off the bat. Logic?

[Matt C 455]

Also like the elegy near the end of the film that no-one here seems to like. "Cedric is dead and Doyle plays an elegy, how predictable, John Williams must be turning in his grave"

That was one of the better moments in the film. The way they edited, staged, and spotted it was very emotionally effective. Newell and Doyle nailed that scene to a T -- I was actually holding back tears when I saw the film.

But I loathed how everyone's hair is longer in that film. Thank God Yates gave them haircuts for the last four movies.