Worse even than Fracture

Rating: 1/10 (11 July 2007)

The scriptwriter for this movie should be made to cut a switch for himself to be whipped with. The dramatic scenes were terribly done, and the transitions from sad scenes to happy and back were completely disjointed. Had it been but a half-hour shorter the movie would have turned into a series of unconnected sketches. Every scene was cut far shorter than it needed to be to convey all its information, and there was little transitional material. The action scenes were shot in a manner that reminded me of concert cameramen from the 60s, with almost every shot zoomed in so they could make the "special effects" large flashes of color, instead of something requiring effort.
One thing requires special attention. In a good-vs.-evil type of plot, evil can either be a perpetual enemy, with people born good or evil and the two sides fighting standard battles to the death, or a seductive temptress which must be resisted by good people to avoid becoming evil. Harry Potter, of course, takes the former course - except this movie, which for no apparent reason added two or three scenes of Harry being tempted by evil, including one with Voldemort actually encouraging Harry like a devil-on-your-shoulder from a fairy tale.
Don't see this movie. It's plenty long enough to waste an obscene amount of your time, but still half the length it would need to hold itself together.