 | Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire Director: Mike Newell Now screening  Teenage wizard Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is settling into his fourth term at Hogwarts Academy. Along with his friends, Hermione (Emma Watson), and Ron (Rupert Grint), Harry goes to the Quidditch World Cup. While there, they are attacked by soldiers of the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), who wants to return to wreck havoc on the world. Harry is contemplating this turn of events when he is suddenly chosen by the magical Goblet of Fire to participate in a tournament against three other rival teams. Harry is unsure of how to compete in a game he knows nothing about, and he also has to put up with the arrival of a new teacher of the Dark Arts, Mad Eye Moody (Brendon Gleeson), who seems to have his own sinister agenda against Harry. Evil Lords, fire breathing dragons and teenage angst promises to make Harry's new term at Hogwarts an eventful one.Daniel Radcliffe once again manages to give a good performance, proving what an asset he is to this franchise. As he gets older, Radcliffe is able to add more layers to the character, whilst maintaining that charm which made him stand out in the first film. It's proving to be an interesting exercise watching the actors/characters grow into their roles with each successive film, and hopefully they'll be around for the seventh and final one. Emma Watson makes her role as Hermione tougher - one who knows what she wants and how to get it. Watson has a great chemistry with Radcliffe and Rupert Gint is as amusing as always as Ron. Brendon Gleeson as Mad Eye Moody appears to enjoy himself in a semi-villain type role, and doesn't over-act as much as he could have done. Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith & Alan Rickman are great actors who although their roles are smaller this time around, are always good value and make their scenes stand out. This is the fourth in the series, and this time around is directed by Mike Newell. Newell tries to inject more drama and suspense into proceedings, and tones down the humour somewhat. While the actors and special effects are the best they have been for this series, the story isn't so involving. The scenes with Lord Voldemort are very well staged and exciting, but the pacing of the film seems to drag at times, and it feels like a series of spectacular set pieces rather than being a cohesive storyline. There are times when it seems whole sub-plots and characters have been removed from the story of the 'Goblet Of Fire', which does make things easier to understand. Admittedly, the book from which this film is based on is the largest in the series, but a more 'easy flowing' narrative could have been made had more care had been taken with the script. 'Goblet Of Fire' also has the dubious honour of being one of the most expensive films ever made with a $300+ million budget, and every penny of that is evident on screen. Generally, this is better than the first two films, but not as good as 'Prisoner Of Azkaban'. While there are parts of the story which are quite involving, the overall script isn't as well constructed. The special effects are excellent however, as is the mature acting of the young and older cast members. Hopefully more time will be spent on the script for the next film in order to do justice to the book it's based on. Nevertheless, this is quite an enjoyable escapist fantasy, which should at least please the audience at which it is aimed.  | |
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