Flashy Superficial Treatment with Damsels in Distress

Rating: 7/10 (26 November 2005)

At first blush the movie comes across well; but by the end you are left feeling you watched a highlight reel. Others I have spoken with mentioned getting restless in the last 45 minutes; which they hadn't done in the previous movies. The movie has great special effects, is sufficiently dark to equate to the book; but simply does not maintain a well-edited flow of a story. Granted, the movie needed to cut a good portion of the book to fit into the time constraints. Sadly, the choice of scenes and script did a mediocre choice of what to put on film.
A key element of the book was the attack at the match grounds and subsequent deaths, all part of the plan for "ethnic cleansing" and Voldemort's return. The panic this engendered was dealt with to a mild degree during the course of the movie; but never actually explained. Instead, you had a random attack by people in hoods, a death here, a death there, etc. No real rationale was given, nor a hint that they were related. Those having not read the novels are left without essential basic information to the plot.
One glaring trend throughout the book is that the director apparently has a very low opinion of the female of the species; as opposed to the portrayal in the novels. The primary purpose of females in the movie appeared to be as arm-hangers and damsels in distress tied to the track awaiting rescue. Emma Watson was primarily a love-struck water-carrier and Clémence Poésy was a simpering incompetent either getting trounced or needing rescue. Even little niggling things like showing the dragons of the three male competitors; but not the female became noticeable in the running trend. For reasons of full disclosure, I am a father with a daughter. I, like other such fathers, do notice these things.
All in all, it's worth seeing (once). Although, I can understand why Mike Newell was paid one-tenth of what Chris Columbus was paid.