"Bloody hell!" What a waste of time and talent

Rating: 3/10 (19 November 2005)

The trailers for this film looked so good that I felt very let down by the finished product. It's awful. There is no getting around it. It is very much style and CGI over substance here. The new characters weren't fleshed out at all, overacting marred many of the scenes, and I feel sorry for the director of Order and the Phoenix, because they'll have some job getting the "Harry's an unstable liar" storyline in. I can't believe they didn't show what happened to Barty Crouch Jr, as it is CRUCIAL for what happens in Book 5. There were SO MANY things wrong with this film: 1. Dumbledore. Why is the cool, calm and kindly Headmaster with a sense of humour completely freaking out over Harry's selection and pinning him to a wall? This isn't the character we know and love in the books.
2. It doesn't say much for the screenwriter if the only way he can convey anger/bitterness/surprise is using swear words. I found Ron's telling Hary to p*** off unnecessary and a bit disturbing, and the constant "bloody hell" is turning poor Ron into comic relief, which is an insult to his character.
3. What is the point in casting brilliant actors like Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith and Gary Oldman if you only give them, what, 5 minutes screen time each? Rickman's Snape was CRIMINALLY underused in this film. He stole each of the scenes he took an active part in, but unfortunately, he has been relegated to standing around for a lot of the time. These actors are wasted on this film.
4. Emma Watson's Hermione grows more irritating with each film, largely due to the actress' penchant for overacting. She comes across as bossy and petty in this film. I really hated it where she was criticising the twins for taking Ageing Potion, she kept heaving dramatic sighs and acting like she was so superior, almost reverting back to the way she was before the troll incident in Philosopher's Stone. Like Dumbledore, Hermione's film incarnation is very different from the Hermione in the books.
5.The other champions had no character, no depth, and to be honest, might as well not have been there at all. They were there to look pretty. Viktor Krum had 2 LINES. You get none of Fleur's arrogant, patronising nature, and Cedric was not given the chance to be shown as a decent, fair and honourable boy. Shoddy work from Kloves again. The guy needs to be replaced, I think.
The 3 good points about this film, and I've awarded a star for each, were Snape, as I've said above, Mad-Eye Moody, who was a delight to watch, particularly in the ferret scene - the funniest bit of the movie -and the fantastically evil Ralph Fiennes. He IS Voldemort. One thing that does bug me throughout the films is that no-one seems to get the shivers at hearing Lord Voldemort's name. Oh well, yet another glaring difference from the books. I tried hard to like this film but I just couldn't. The sad thing is that it may be a load of crap, but it'll still rake in the money.