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Dancing_P [ 6.5 ]
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Seems to me like it's a thematic and structural retread of the first one, minus the sugar sweet Colombus touch. It's got that going for it, I suppose, although it seems like I'd seen this movie before.
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babyduck [ 9.0 ]
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The best of all the Harry Potter films (i.e. the books of course are totally separate from this particular rating). I do have to note my displeasure about the lack of Asian representation at Hogwarths as we all know that given in an academic environment (be it magical or otherwise) who would excel right?
Cho Chang of course is still my point of contention here - what's with the white guy getting the Asian chick? Where is the Asian guy getting the white chick? Actually there was just a total lack of Asian in general besides Cho - but Hogwarths is getting more of a melting pot feel with each successive film so I'm not going to complain too much.
But back to the film - in the series, this is where things starting getting darker and darker with the return of the Dark Lord and this film adaptation stays quite true to the book's roots (while eliminating 90% of the plot) which it had to do to fit reasonably into a film time slot. Kudos to not making it suck! After the first three I was not pinning my hopes high on a good adaptation.
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DokBrowne [ 9.5 ]
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I toyed with giving this only a 9.0 (scandalous!) due to its manner of curtailing so much from the book (which I don't even remember very well, but was still aware of omissions in the translation) - a necessary deed, I know, and I hate it when fans of source material complain about that sort of thing - but the whole difference in presentation of the movie vs. the book is far more apparent than it was with the previous three adaptations. And it wasn't precisely a lamentation of specific exclusions so much as an occasionally uncomfortable rushing through of the story in order to maintain an audience-friendly running time. Especially in the beginning, the movie seemed in a hurry to hit all the check points rather than taking its time to ease us back into Harry's life, as the others did reasonably well. Now, I understand why - the gargantuan book simply cannot be brought to the silver screen in all its expanse. But, y'know, that's not my problem; it's the responsibility of those making the movie. To be fair, however, they probably did near as perfect a job of this as possible, so I don't really blame Steve Kloves for the end result being a bit rough around the edges. Yet that complaint remains. And on Mike Newell's part, he handles everything decently, in that he erased all concerns I had over his ability to tell such a large story (as he has primarily dealt in intimate tales throughout his career), but he doesn't bring any sort of uniquely cool touch to it, a la Alfonso Cuaron (although to be fair again, Cuaron had what was already the best book in the series to his advantage). Furthermore, I'm not sure who to blame for this, if anyone (only myself, most likely), but the way many of the scenes from the book are brought to visual life was disappointing to me. Yes, I felt inklings of this with the past two movies as well, but here more frequently. The unfair nerdiness of this may discredit me completely, but at times even so seemingly insignificant as the lighting was off, not right, at odds with my fond memories of the book. I certainly didn't imagine the Quidditch World Cup to be set in a post-modern super-stadium. I thought it was far more old-fashioned than that.
But okay, that's my private qualm. The film as a whole is of course exceptional, an elaborate, utterly delightful concoction of fantastical notions, complex storytelling (I always loved the intricacies of the saga's "mythology", which this book and movie begin to expand upon greatly), and human drama. Yes, the whole mid-section of the movie turns from the ominous and intense to the hilarious and poignant by focusing on the hormonal blossoming of our young heroes, and taken in conjunction with the wealth of Big Important Action happening in-between, it lends the movie an epic stature. There are some other minor complaints I have - such as the underwhelming silliness of Ralph Fiennes' Voldemort, wishing there were less juvenile humor and various clunky jokes (the aforementioned love/dating scenes are an exception), and wondering why Hermione and Ron have taken such a distant backseat in this installment (it wasn't like that in the book, for one, and just shouldn't be the case anyway), especially considering the concluding themes that Dumbledore repeats incessantly about how friendship is Harry's greatest power, etc. etc.) - but I was able to ignore them all enough to enjoy the hell out of the experience.
P.S. A while ago, I had my misgivings about Brendan Gleeson as Moody (just as I initially heckled David Thewlis as Lupin), but he nails it so well (his boisterous lunacy and the borderline friendliness and creepiness) that by the end I was upset thinking that he has nothing else to do in all the subsequent episodes). Daniel Radcliffe shows signs of good acting, Rupert Grint is maturing (though his character, as Harry points out, is such a git), and Emma Watson, though more adorable than ever, still suffers from overacting. Oh, and Michael Gambon is quite good as always. Everyone else just hangs around.
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jeff_v [ 7.5 ]
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They are going to run out of British actors before this thing is over, aren't they? Anyway, good show and all that. The third installment seems to have irrevocably matured the franchise, and now we're in reasonably less cloying territory. Newell doesn't have Cuaron's visual touch, but he does bring an inside-Britain perspective to the series for the first time, resulting in a more nuanced awareness of class, and more comfortability with slang. The thing I find most interesting about the series, having never read the books, is the love/hate relationship all the less-talented wizards have with Harry, how they are both in awe of him and envious of him, how they take satisfaction in his setbacks but also cheer his victories.
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| Weighted Rating | : 7.0 |
| No. Ratings | : 9 | |
| No. Reviews | : 4 | |
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