Dark and difficult times lie ahead...

Rating: Null/10 (4 December 2005)

It's no easy task, adapting a 700+ page novel into a film that can be viewed in a single sitting. When producing Goblet of Fire, the studio originally intended to split the book up into two films and release them a few months apart, a la Kill Bill. Director Mike Newell talked them out of this idea, and condensed the book into a single film, which moves at breakneck speed, cuts out at least half of the sub-plots, and still manages to run over two and a half hours.
You have to hand it to Newell. He seems to have gone out of his way to ensure that all the essential elements of the book were included in the movie. All the new characters the fans are eager to see portrayed, like Madame Maxine, the half-giantess, and Rita Skeeter, the prying reporter with the poison pen, come dazzlingly to life on the screen. All the new novel bits of magic, like the calling of the Dark Mark of Voldemort, and the head of Sirius Black appearing in the fire at Hogwarts, are executed with breathtaking visual effects.
But the problem is this: in his effort to present all the What's and the How's of the book in this condensed film, Mr. Newell seems to have forgotten to include the Why's.
Rita Skeeter, for instance, appears in one or two scenes, wreaks merry havoc in the lives of Harry and his friends by writing embarrassing articles about them in the newspaper, and then promptly disappears, never to be seen again. Her plot line is never resolved. Her story is never brought to light. Her reason for being in the film is reduced to nothing more than the simple fact that the fans expect her to be. And an amusing cameo by Miranda Richardson.
Likewise the scene between Harry and Sirius Black. In addition to being disappointed that Gary Oldman did not have more screen time, I could not help but feel more than a bit dissatisfied with the scene as a whole. The head of Sirius Black, godfather to Harry and wanted fugitive all over the wizarding world, appears in the fireplace at Hogwarts, molded out of burning cinders. He tells Harry he must be careful, and that he is in great danger. After four years at Hogwarts, it seems Harry should know by now that he is ALWAYS in great danger.
But that is not the problem with the scene. The problem is this: It is Sirius Black's only scene in the film, and it is all business. There is nothing to establish the connection that Harry and Sirius have. How much each cares for the other, and how they are each willing to put themselves at risk to protect the other. By neglecting to use Gary Oldman's actual face, the film negates even the possibility of any real interaction between the two. But the relationship between Harry and Sirius is one of the most important elements in the books.
There are plenty of other missing Why's in the film, too. Why was Voldemort's Dark Mark called forth to be witnessed by all those people? Why are Harry and Cedric so willing to help one another, even despite their rivalry over the beautiful Cho Chang? But perhaps the film does not need to answer these questions. Like a scholarly adaptation of a work of Shakespeare, Goblet of Fire seems to be designed for people who know the source material, and are in the theater not to be told a story, but to admire an interpretation.
In other words, this movie is for Harry Potter fans who are just there to see the magic come to life.
And in that respect, Goblet of Fire succeeds in spades. It is one of the most beautifully shot films I have ever seen. The cinematography will take your breath away. It brings dragons and mermaids to life, turns one boy into a fish and another into a shark, and creates a labyrinth of such eerie complexity and foreboding that it will have viewers on the edge of their seat.
So see this movie, by all means. You are missing something spectacular if you do not. But read the book first. Otherwise, you won't get the full story as it was meant to be told. And then you'll be missing something even more spectacular.