Visually stunning, but a choppy storyline...

Rating: 8/10 (24 December 2005)

The fourth book of the Harry Potter series is my favorite of all the books. The story for me was gripping, exciting, and the whole climax of the tale of Potter. The film however had somewhat of a different aspect.
First off, I'll say the film's visuals were stunning, the sets, costumes, music score, and acting was top notch, especially with Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, who was the best cast member of this entire film, even though he was only in it for ten minutes. Depsite all of this, the storyline was very weak and choppy. Technically, the director threw scene after scene into the viewers' face, making the story rather hard to make sense of and of course leaving plenty of plot holes like the last film! So, the story, cutting over sixty pages out, starts off with Harry already at the Weasleys' house. The Weasley family and Harry, with Hermione happening to be there, head out to the Quidditch cup, a major sporting event in the Wizard world. The first fifteen minutes fly by with not much of an explanation, and it cuts out the biggest action sequence in the whole darn book! Then, after the match being over with no game being shown, a gang of Voldemort's followers attack the location of the Quidditch cup.
The story continues on with rumors of the dark lord rising, with his spies within the wizard world both in the ministry and in the school of Hogwarts. As this goes on, two new schools arrive, for it was the year of the Trizward Tournament. There are supposed to be three contestants, with one from each school, but a fourth is chosen, inevitably...Harry Potter. The film thickens, and finally becomes juicy and entertaining with the game of life and death.
Little does Harry know that a close friend of his is a secret vassal of the dark lord! So, I loved everything of this film, except for the storyline, which is critical to any film or book. So, I generously and deepest in my heart give this film a **** out of ****** Truly, this is better than the other films. Not perfect, but adequate.