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Our heroes face an increasingly dark future in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire |
Director: Mike Newell
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron
Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Robbie Coltrane (Rubeus Hagrid),
Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort), Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore), Brendan
Gleeson (“Mad-Eye” Moody), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), Gary Oldman (Sirius
Black), Miranda Richardson (Rita Skeeter), Alan Rickman (Severus Snape), Maggie
Smith (Minerva McGonagall), Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew), Frances de la Tour
(Madame Maxime), Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley), Robert Pattinson (Cedric
Diggory), David Tennant (Barty Crouch Jnr), Jeff Rawle (Amos Diggory), Tom
Felton (Draco Malfoy), Robert Hardy (Cornelius Fudge), Roger Lloyd Pack (Barty
Crouch), David Bradley (Argus Filch), Clémence Poésy (Fleur Delacour)
After Alfonso Cuarón announced he would only direct one Harry Potter film, the producers faced a
stiff challenge. The third Harry Potter film had been the best so far, and
elevated both the acting and design into a far more filmic, epic position than before.
Could Mike Newell match this in Goblet of
Fire? Sure he could.
If nothing else, Goblet
of Fire is a triumph of adaptation. Used to the page-to-screen translations
of the earlier films, it was expected that the film would be split into two
parts. Instead Newell and screen-writer Steven Kloves turned Rowling’s huge
fourth book into a tightly structured and focused film that places Harry’s
emotional journey firmly at its centre, and includes only the things that
support the building of that story.
Goblet of Fire is
a film of fascinating contrasts. In fact, it’s probably the lightest, most ‘teenage’
of the films, while also containing a dark final chapter and more death than
we’ve had so far in the series. But this film is actually rather funny and
allows its characters to focus on the challenges and stresses of growing up,
with only a few flashes of danger and darkness – before they get wrapped up in
the battle against Voldemort that will dominate the next few films.
So this is the film where we get crushes, where Harry and
Ron struggle to get dates for the ball, where we get a sense of Hermione not
only growing up – but growing in confidence. Harry develops a hopeless crush on
Cho Chang – his “Willyougotoballwithme” hurried date proposal is all too
familiar to most men, as is his “oh no never mind not a problem” when she (reluctantly)
says no. Meanwhile, Ron struggles to understand his own hormonal feelings
towards Hermione. It’s all well done and very funny. The ball itself is a
highlight of teenage awkwardness, as well as genuinely feeling like a teenage
party (including a sort of wizarding mosh pit).
This teenage awkwardness carries across into Harry’s
involvement in the Tri-wizard Tournament, a series of stirring set-pieces
against dragons, mer-people and a wicked ever-shifting maze. The tournament offers
a range of puzzles Harry needs to solve – more than enough opportunity to allow
other characters to get involved. Neville Longbottom particularly moves to the
fore for the first time – not only embracing dancing (hilariously nearly every
boy is as embarrassed by it as you might expect) and landing a date, but also
using his knowledge of plants to help Harry, and we get increased insight into
his own tragic backstory. It’s great to see Matthew Lewis being able to stretch
himself – and show the roots of the good young actor he’s become.
The film spends a lot of time on family roots, both tragic
and happy, in particular fathers and sons. We have no fewer than four father/son
match-ups in these films, and each gives us a slightly different perspective on
family relationships. Mark Williams’ matey but loving Arthur Weasley gets more
screen time than ever before, and Williams develops him into a protective but warm
patriarch. Contrast that with the troubled coldness the Crouches show each other
– and the swift speed with which Barty Crouch denounces his own son. We get a
glimpse of the sort of father Harry could have had with a brief ghost
appearance of Harry’s parents. The strongest father-and-son relationship we get
to see is that between the Diggorys, an immeasurably proud father and a perfect
son.
Mentioning Amos Diggory means we have to bring up one of the
most extraordinary acting cameos in the entire series: Jeff Rawle’s work here
is brilliant. Is there a more moving moment in the franchise than his
uncontrollable grief when Cedric is killed? His anguished crying of “That’s my
boy” will haunt many a viewer for years to come. It’s a measure of the
brilliance Mike Newell had with actors, and the shrewdness of the casting
throughout. Would anyone else have thought of George Dent from Drop the Dead Donkey for this King Lear-like cameo? Would anyone else
have thought of Trigger as strict disciplinarian, Barty Crouch (Roger
Lloyd-Pack is terrific). The film also shrewdly cast David Tennant about five
minutes before he became one of the most popular actors in the country, for an
excellent malevolent cameo of pride and bitterness.
The acting throughout is terrific – Mike Newell has the reputation
of an actor’s director, and he really shows it here. The three leads are no
longer children but teenagers, and they feel like it. Radcliffe plays Harry
with increasing maturity and emotional depth, balancing with nuance and quiet
confidence the light comedy of Harry’s hormonal yearnings, his fear during the
tournament, and his terror and resolve during the confrontation with Voldemort.
It’s quite a range he has to go through here, and this features his best
performance so far.
Similarly, Grint increases his comedic range with a sullen,
teenage I-don’t-want-to-admit-I’m-interested-in-girls series of exchanges.
Watson demonstrates her obvious chemistry with both her co-stars, and also does
a great job of showing Hermione’s growing emotional maturity and confidence.
Many of the other regulars continue to do great work, with Gambon really
settling into this role of Dumbledore (although his fury when Harry’s name
emerges from the Tri-wizard cup seems strangely out of character).
The new cast members as always offer plenty. Miranda
Richardson delivers a lot of comic flourishes, and snappy media pot-stirring,
as gossip columnist Rita Skeeter. Brendan Gleeson carries all the charisma you
would expect as a maverick, perhaps even unbalanced Mad-Eyed Moody. In a further
testament to the excellent casting directors here, Robert Pattinson (five
minutes before his fame exploded) is very good as a suave, handsome, slightly
cocky but charming Cedric Diggory.
The film though is building towards its surprising
gear-change late in the story – and the introduction of Voldemort, murder and
death into a film that until now has been an engaging and amusing action film
and teenage comedy. Perfect casting for Voldemort was secured with Ralph
Fiennes. Of course Fiennes could play Voldemort standing on his head, but his
softly-spoken suaveness and patrician charm is absolutely perfect for the role.
You really get a sense of ice running through his blood, and his cold cruelty
and arrogance. Fiennes is pretty much iconic in this role.
The final sequence itself is brilliantly done, a thrilling
and terrifying sequence, which really hammers home the extent of Harry’s
powerlessness and vulnerability – while the brutal, instant dispatching of
Cedric immediately changes the ball game for the rest of the series. The scene
is brilliantly shot with a series of blacks and greens for mood and offers a
sensational conclusion, as well as an expertly shot duel between Harry and
Voldemort that established the filmic language for all subsequent duels that
were to come.
Goblet of Fire is
another example after Prisoner of Azkaban
of a great piece of franchise film-making. It’s not quite as stand-alone, or as
perfectly dramatically formed, as the previous film – but that’s because this
one ends, like none of the other films before, on a cliffhanger. For the first
time, this series wasn’t offering an opponent and obstacle that could be
overcome and left behind at the end of the film. Here the baddies win – and the
feeling going forward is that, with the help of friends and family, we can
battle the evil, but it will still be there. It’s an engaging, funny and very
well-structured film, packed with decent twists, and ends with a humdinger of a
scene in a film that has already had plenty of excellent moments. Harry Potter
is surely one of the best franchises there is.
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