Worst in the series so far.

Rating: 3/10 (22 November 2005)

I was a bit surprised to see the number of comments proclaiming this movie to be the best in the series. I suppose there is a little bit of that after each one comes out. I felt that this was the most poorly directed and least enjoyable out of the 4 movies. The third one was by far the best imo. Perhaps the task of fitting the contents of the book into GOF proved to be too daunting, as it felt like much was missing. What was there from the book felt both distorted and lacking of any continuity. The sequence of events, while ordered, felt very broken throughout the movie. It feels like scenes are being rushed through, and then I am thrown into a new one, with little to no transition. While the acting was on par with the previous movies in the series, the portrayals were far off for some of the characters. I am specifically referring to Michael Gambon's depiction of Dumbledore, which was absolutely horrific. Dumbledore lacked the calm and kind demeanor displayed in the book. Rather this Dumbledore seems to border on angry, mean, and frantic. Madeye Moody and Lord Voldemort also suffered in this movie, displaying personalities vastly different from the book. Come to think of it, McGonagall and Snape were also very off. Snape didn't come off as a hateful teacher, just rather strict. McGonagall on the other hand lacked the sternness she has displayed in the books and previous movies.
Mind you my complaints aren't based on the movie not being a picture perfect interpretation of the book, but rather the feeling the movie distorted main characters and the feeling that everything in the movie is rushed.