Welcome to the fourth day of my eight-day long Harry Potter marathon. This is purely because I have not seen any of the Harry Potter's and I promised a whole lot of people that I'd watch 'em all when the last DVD came out. That was just about a month ago, so I have to do it now. I will be blogging about my journey through Hogwarts...and such.
To be perfectly honest, I have already seen Goblet of Fire before. Now this was back in the day when Twilight was cool-ish (note the ish). My friend got it out because, you know, she had a huge crush on Robert Pattinson and we decided to watch it. But I didn't remember that much of it. Which says marvellous things about my memory, since this was only two and a half years ago. Anyway, from an outsiders perspective (but this time, the outsider has seen it before):
-The opening scene (the dream scene) was very breathy. Did the actors go for a ten mile run before they filmed it?
-Let's talk about Robert Pattinson. I reckon Twilight ruined him. And now he just doesn't try hard enough. While his character wasn't exactly the kind that could make a star out of him, he was bearable in this movie. No, that's not because he's not in it every five seconds. But he just looked so young and fresh, and he acted so young and fresh. Now he just reminds me of a dirty old hobo. Which is such a shame, because he really had potential. Cheers, Twilight and all of your little teenage fans.
-I'm pretty sure there was some actual magic going on behind the scenes. The kids seem to grow a lot between films! Maybe it's just because I'm watching each of the films a day apart and I find it hard to process how they're growing so much. It really makes me wonder how fast I grew up...
-That Quidditch World Cup was pretty cool. Looks like my kind of place.
-The tent was awesome, too. I thought our three room tent that we had for our after-ball party was like the mansion version of a tent, but then I saw this one. Well, sorry!
-Minerva McGonagall said inception! She said inception! Which reminds me, I need to catch up with that movie again...
-The ball was pretty cool. Like, all the snow and stuff. Hermione looked really pretty, too. I remember when all of the tween magazines went crazy over how she looked at the ball. So, it took the surprise away.
-Ron looked pretty spiffy, too. I imagine that is quite a good Halloween costume.
-But I felt sorry for Ron and Harry's dates. It would suck to be them.
-Clémence Poésy is very pretty. Just saying.
-The film itself is quite entertaining. But it's not enough. The actors and stuff loosen up, but considering what happens at the end they shouldn't be loosened up so much. It is very light and fluffy for the most part, which makes the overall tone very uneven and odd to watch. I think the series has a very big problem: inconsistency. Hopefully things will get better.
-However, everything gets very dark towards the end of the film. *SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT, but I'm sure you already know what happens anyway* When Cedric dies, it is a bit of a turning point for the series. And then we get introduced to Lord Voldermort. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time...I have had it in the back of my mind that the story actually kicks off with the arrival of Voldy, so I'm glad he's come to the party.
-Hehehehe, my main man Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes plays Voldy (sorry if it's not 'right' to make a nickname for him, but he has no nose so it's not like he'd be missing his full name). I was surprised by how much I recognised Ralph while he was playing Voldy. Like, he just doesn't have a nose. Or hair. But his eyes are still there. And his eyes are sexy. I love you Ralph. Can I marry into your family so I can have your last name? Cheers.
-But yeah, Ralph is pretty good in the little screen time he is given. Personally, I don't think that Voldy will be scarier than Amon Goeth (because that repulsive excuse for a human being actually existed - and of course, Ralph's portrayal of him is my favourite performance of all time), but Ralph always knows how to be villainous. I can't wait to see what he does with the character in the rest of the films.
-Yes, probably all I'm going to talk about for the next few films is Ralph Fiennes.
-Anyway, one thing that this film did not do well was include all of the characters. The others brought them in and out seamlessly, but this one left the large majority out and gave them some screen time every now and again so we could remember that they existed. Malfoy and Snape are barely in it.
-As I said earlier, there is a lot of inconsistency in this film. I didn't like the end at all. Cedric died, and it was sad, but the end made it seem like no-one cared. It was weird. Hopefully the toning issues even out soon.
-Mind you, this film isn't masquerading as a family film like the others. But it is masquerading as an action film. Which I don't like.
Goblet of Fire was okay, but I expected a lot more. As I said, with the arrival of Voldy, things should get more interesting. Well, I hope they do. Back when I 'watched' this movie, I rated it 6/10 on IMDb. Things haven't changed.
What I got:
This is among the "funner" films for the people who don't read the books, because of the tournament. Odd you didn't talk about that because I really love the first and second tasks.
ReplyDeleteCasting Ralph Fiennes as Voldie has to be one of the smartest moves that the producers did. He is brilliant by the end.
I hate the film when compared to the book, but as such, I think it has its own charm in the "Uh-oh, puberty just struck!" way.
I haven't read the fourth book for a long time, but I did enjoy the film - there was a massive influx of characters from what I remember of the book, so I think the film did pretty well plot-wise.
ReplyDeleteFiennes is probably the best casting choice made this franchise - excepting Rickman!!
I think Pattinson is far from being ruined - he is chosing very interesting projects lately and he delivers good performances, etc. Remember me, Water for Elephants.
ReplyDeleteI love Fiennes's performance in SL too and it's my #2 of best performances ever, right after Ledger in Brokeback Mountain.
Yeah, what you had a problem with, Stevee, was that you picked up on the fact it was adapted poorly from the book. It tried to include too much, and too much of the wrong things. And on top of that, it chose the wrong genre. The GoF book is a thriller/mystery, not an action film. Yes, it does have light-hearted moments, but it's also strung with loads of darkness and intrigue. There is, in particular, some stuff about Snape, Karkaroff, Bellatrix (who you will meet in the next film), and Neville's parents that was either cut or was given out as off-hand comments (Neville also gets the shaft in the next movie, too... at least in comparison to the book. Though you won't be able to tell just from watching).
ReplyDeleteThere is a crap-ton of stuff cut out of this movie. Rita Skeeter has a HUGE sub-plot that builds in to the next book which was removed. Fred and George have bigger roles, which builds into the next book. Harry's overall win of the tournament also ties into Fred and George's subplot and their inevitable choices in the next book. The entire Quidditch World Cup was removed (all you saw was the setup and the attack. The World Cup doesn't actually end until roughly 200 pages into the book. Yeah... it's the first 15 minutes of the movie. That should tell you how much was cut). There were 4 characters removed. I mentioned Bellatrix, who is supposed to be in the pensieve scene. Then there's Dobby, who is supposed to return in this one and is there for the rest of the series. Winky, another house elf, makes her appearance in the book, which sparks a subplot for Hermione about House-Elf Liberation that spans almost the rest of the series. Ludo Bagman is a red herring character that has ties to Fred/George's subplot.
The actual dance is only 1 chapter in the book, yet it's probably about a third of the movie. The movie made Hermione WAY too pretty starting in Prisoner of Azkaban, making her big reveal at the dance to be... less than exciting since she just looks normal but in a dress. This was supposed to be her big "pretty" reveal.
The other contestants, save for maybe Cedric, are all but removed from the movie. Fleur and Krum are both decently sized characters, and Fleur especially gains a larger role later on.
Probably the movie's biggest offense, though (besides the bastardization of Dumbledore)? Sirius. This is the book where Harry and Sirius become much closer and you start really feeling for Sirius and his situation. Yates tries to make up for it in the next film, but this was totally wasted. He was given one scene in a very poorly done CGI fire (which looks nothing as described in the books... it's done better with Yates).
Barty Crouch Jr.'s tongue thing was also really weird and unnecessary. Overall, it just wasn't a strong adaptation of the book. It's like it saw the action scenes and the love stuff and focused on that (though it took out more suspense from the third task, as it removed large chunks from it and kinda changed what the task's danger was). If they did anything right, it was the graveyard scene, which is actually rather brilliant. Of course, the "Remember Cedric" moment is cut to pieces and made as almost nothing in the film, and then Dumbledore doesn't explain Priori Incantatem whatsoever, allowing the rest of the films to bizarrely have any wizard battle do a Priori Incantatem wand-lock.
Finally... "Voldy" is nothing new :P . Hardcore HP fans have been calling him that for YEARS!
This film was kind of a letdown after POA though Voldermort's resurrection made the film worth watching.
ReplyDeleteMy issues with the film over the years wasn't just some of the direction of Mike Newell which wasn't adventurous enough. It was the fact that they didn't really do more to set up the next film as they cut out an entire section from the book that was crucial to the story which involved a falling out between Dumbledore and Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge over Voldermort's return and what Harry saw.
The characters coming and going is a constant problem in the series. I highly recommend that you read the books at some point because the movies really don't touch on a good 30% of the subplots in the books which help understand the overall context of the entire story better.
ReplyDeleteNikhat - The tournament was pretty awesome. But I personally got really freaked out by that water one. Especially when Harry turned into a fish. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteCasting Ralph Fiennes in anything is the best thing ever. Unless it's Clash of the Titans. He was too good for that film.
Ruth - Yes, Fiennes is the best casting choice! But you can't beat Rickman.
Sati - Twilight ruined him in the way that it might be the only thing people remember him for. But he can break out of it. I thought he was great pre-Twilight and also in Water for Elephants. I had major problems with Remember Me, though.
That's a good choice for your top performance!
Nick - Well, it sounds like this would have been better off it stuck to the book. A thriller/mystery is exactly what I'd like to have seen.
I miss Dobby!
Sirius is so absent from most of the films, which is a shame. He looked like a character who had potential.
Haha, I just thought that hard-core HP fans would want me to call him "he who shall not be named".
Steven - Voldemort's resurrection was awesome!
I really need to read these books!
Castor - I will definitely read the books over the holidays!
"Minerva McGonagall said inception! She said inception!" LOL. My reaction is always odd when I hear or see this word.
ReplyDelete