Harry Potter

[mayoraasei]

The action was excellent, and the humour when there was some was endearing, but the rest? There was no "the rest".

Book 4 lies exactly in the middle of the Harry Potter saga and so by all rights is the bridge between the child and the adult. This should have been a journey of the boy's growth, not just a mere sequence of glorious adventures.

Harry says before he undertakes the first task "I don't want eternal glory", and it was probably the biggest irony of the movie. It was as though the entire movie was created with the mindset of one Rita Skeeter, bent on exaggerating the achievements of whomever she happened to favour at the moment (in this case, Harry Potter). The movie skimmed impatiently over the character interactions before rushing onto The Next Big CG Effect.

There was no plot. There were no characters apart from Harry, and even there it was little to work with. The graveyard scene shouldn't have been just a Cool CG Sparkle Between The Villain And The Hero. It was meant to be that moment when Harry realised that he might be able to speak with his parents, and the moment when he does for the first time speak with the parents he has been pining for.

Harry helping Cedric during the tournament wasn't just "Harry is a nice guy thus hero", but that he chose to stick with his conscience even though he had every reason to dislike Cedric - Cedric, whose father keeps taunting Harry; who had almost all of the support of Hogwarts after the Goblet spat out Harry's name, and was indirectly the cause of most of Harry's misery before the first task; and who went to the ball with Cho. It was a matter of fact that despite Cedric's (unintentionally) flaunted superiority, Harry refused to submit to jealousy, and acknowledged Cedric as ally. It marked the clear difference between Harry and Ron. It was also the most tragic irony of the entire book that Cedric was killed because of Harry's fairness and kindness.

There was no sense of time progression. It was just a confusing mishmash of one action sequence after the next, even though in reality (well, the fantasy sort of reality) the tasks took place at least 3 months after each other. The rules of the tournament was never explained (they ran by a point system and not a "oh, let's make Harry Potter second" and suddenly 10 minutes later "Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory are tied first").

I won't complain too much about the development of the other characters, which was difficult given the bulk of the book and the fact that the movie was already 157 minutes even without all that. The new Dumbledore (who took over since 3) continues to irritate me. In book 4, Dumbledore still had the reliable invincibility of a wise, fair headmaster, not the irritable uncertainty of a worrisome old man. He was the final and greatest pillar of support for all students (and teachers, I'd believe) at Hogwarts, the figure of security that calmed Harry and the other students down even after one of their member has been cruelly murdered.

Of course there are a huge number of other subplots they've left out, obviously due to time constraint reasons. We are not shown Hermione's intelligence in capturing Rita Skeeter, as well as helping Harry with the first task. As a Sirius fan, I would also complain about the fact that Sirius only appeared for approximately 3 minutes (and also the fact that Harry addresses the letters to Sirius when it is dangerous to do so!) but I shall be considerate about time constraints *sigh* Of course, we didn't get the conclusion of the book, which opens the way for the following books.

And finally (yes, I'll endeavour to make this final), they've eliminated the need to properly explain Crouch Junior (and thus the reduction of a 60 minute talk at the end of the movie) by making him insane and defiant of his father right from the beginning. They dispensed with his backstory - that he felt betrayed by his father, who did not even give him a fair trial before sending him to Azkaban; it was the reason why he could cold-bloodedly manipulate and finally murder his own father. There are nuances in the book suggesting that Crouch (jr) wasn't such a fanatic until after he escaped from the horrors of Azkaban. He wasn't just mad, but he was also dangerously cunning despite his fanatic attachment to Voldemort.

On the more positive side, the acting has decidedly improved, particularly from Daniel Radcliffe. Harry's stoic courage in standing up to Voldemort in such a hopeless situation justified his place in Gryffindor. And the moment when Dumbledore admonishes that the dead cannot be reawakened, the bitter disappointment on Harry's face made up for all the emotional poverty of the movie.


Final verdict: go see it for the action and the laughs (which, though few, were sweet), read the book for what really happened =P


PS: Snape is the best <3!

Comments

[luna-rainbow.livejournal.com]

Wow, Nobuta XD That's kind of surprising...(did you find anything worthwhile? Lol...)

I think I enjoyed the movie more because I read the book. I spoke to someone who didn't read the book and he said the lack of coherent plot really bothered him.

Anyhow, thanks for commenting on my journal ^^v