Good but not Magical

Rating: 5/10 (21 November 2005)

The fourth big screen adventure of the hapless Boy Who Lived sees our hero inexplicably wound up in the Tri-wizard tournament, a sort of one-off magical sporting contest for thrill-seekers. Unfortunately, Harry is not one of these thrill seekers, preferring a quiet year to a breathtaking CGI fuelled adventure quest. Yet to what reason Harry has been placed in the tournament remains a mystery
The Goblet of Fire is automatically noticed to be a darker movie, its opening sequence being a chilling dream about another threat to Harry's quirky life. In tone, GOF is a much darker movie than its predecessors, playing more to the book's murkier elements rather than its lighter aspects. And this is where GOF manages to do well. Four Weddings and a Funeral director Mike Newell does well to portray a sense of suspense. The film excels in is special effects. The producers have obviously spared no expense in giving the movie a visual dominance, with dragons, mermaids and yet more freckle reducing anti bodies for the leads (or so we think)
Sadly, however, there is little else to applaud about The Goblet of Fire. The film does seem to be the weakest in the series so far. In fact, one could talk until the cows come home about the problems with this movie. The directing is lazy, the cutting shoddy, and the (remaining) script atrocious. However, one must sympathise with the filmmakers. The 636 page story is such a bulky book that returning screenwriter Steve Kloves struggles to find which plot is the most prominent. The plot is about as messy as a dragon at a tea party, as there is an incredible amount of contrasting material. First, you have a nice little conversation and suddenly it's a mind blowing (but altogether uninspiring) set-piece. The real reason why the plot is untidy is that unlike in Chris Columbus' (first two) films where there were long bits of dialogue and plot development, interspersed by small (in length) set pieces, GOF has long sections of set pieces with small pieces of dialogue. This results in a messy plot which you simply don't care about. It seems that rather than caring about the magical mystery drama or the normal life of Hogwarts, the producers seem to only think of the "crowdpleasing" visuals. This leaves the film with little charm or heart to be found, a factor that made the previous movies so comforting. GOF also falls victim to the hype brigade's overhaul of the Harry's first sexual awakenings. Katie Leung's Cho Chang is featured in only a handful of scenes, and, even though it is quite a charming affair, the Christmas Yule Ball seems a wholly climatic event. Yet the film is by no means a disaster. A host of new characters do help, with Brendan Gleeson's hyperactive 'Mad-Eye' Moody, and more notably Ralph Fiennes suitably eerie Dark Lord. The acting has certainly improved (despite very little dialogue anyway) and the leads seem to carry off their lines with little problem. Fiennes seems to save the end from a dark verdict, with a truly exhilarating finale in contrast to the rest of the movie.
The Goblet of Fire is good fun, and it is easy to be enthralled for most of the 160 minutes one lies there. But the filmmakers need to change tack before they consider how to approach the Order of the Phoenix.