Dan the Man in "The Woman in Black"

Rating: 7/10 (29 February 2012)

So finally the wait is over. The question that has been eating every Harry Potter movie franchise fan,hollow, is finally laid to rest. The question in question is "What happens to our boy wizard post Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry". It's a natural question because, over the years people have literally grown up with the trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione. So, more than the excitement about the celluloid adaptation of the horror novel "The Woman in Black" ,it was this childish curiosity which drew me to catch Dan Radcliffe's next outing on the big screen.
Set in the Edwardian era (my 2nd favorite era after the Victorian one) the movie opens into foggy and murky environs of the city of London. Radcliffe portrays the role of Arthur Kipps, a widower and the father of an angelic 4 yr. old boy. It's as if the foggy weather outside is the depiction of the turmoil and murkiness in his life;Kipps an emerging lawyer is sent to a seemingly harmless assignment to handle the estate of one Alice Drablow, owner of an English manor known as the Eel Marsh House. The manor is located on a desolate island in the marshes as opposed to verdant locales of the English countryside, which just enhances the clouds of eeriness that shroud the movie throughout. As fate would have it, this harmless assignment turns out be a perilous one and one which tests Kipps to the hilt. As if a village run over by superstitions and small kids committing hara-kiri weren't enough, he has to lock horns with the curse of a mysterious lady in black and in the process muster all the courage deep down in labyrinth of his mind as a part of a plot which finally becomes a fight to save his child. What provides him solace throughout the movie are the visions of his wife every now and then in her wedding gown, his lady in white,if you will.
The director James Watkins maintains a solid hold on the movie and the final product, if not edge of the seat stuff, is gripping enough to grab the attention of the viewer. The whole movie has the look of a good old fashion horror flick. Be it the macabre environs of the haunted and dilapidated mansion, or the scares conjured in good measure by the mysterious lady in black who sneaks up on you every now and then for some seat popping moments .Add to the above, creepy toys, toddlers walking away in deep trance, the rocking chair and above all the indispensable black crow and you have one hell of a chills inducing department.
Now coming to the performances of the cast. First up is our protagonist. As stated earlier, Radcliffe carries a sombre and pensive demeanour throughout the flick. He shows just the right amount of understatement and restrain demanded by the role and boy does,Dan emerge with flying colors in the end. He fits into the shoes of a difficult role with ease just like an experienced campaigner (well with 8 HP films behind him,I shouldn't call him that). It's very easy to over do your part in such a role and appear wooden when it comes to showing a glimpse of those hidden emotions, but with his grimness and pensiveness in culmination with scattered outbursts of emotions one can't help but take away an image of Arthur Kipps and not harry potter when you finally exit the movie hall. As for the rest of cast, nobody else has enough screen time to make an impact except for the woman in black(Liz White) who sans any dialog manages to make an impression, a shuddering one at that. You wish the Dailys(Ciarán Hinds as Sam Daily and Janet McTeer as Elizabeth Daily) had more screen time; otherwise they carry out their parts with panache and in sync with the demands of the film.
So, in the end what you have is a satisfying enough horror mystery which I must say is good adaption of the novel. Adapting a novel to screen is a precarious task and difficult to pull off and the final product as conjured up by Watkins looks good. Credit to the able screenplay and direction, Watkins and his team concoct a "just about there" flick and upliftingly enough for potter fans Radcliffe packs quite a punch with his commendable performance, but still looks too young to play a father.
In my case I couldn't help but wipe a tear a or two off my eyes as I left the theatre brimming with emotions and sighing "our lil wizard has finally grown up"