Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mike Newell, 2005) Reivew



Hey, it's that film no one seems to like because of the involvment of a certain actor who may or may not be the lead in a rival franchise that starts with a 'T'. Other reasons may involve the fact that this is the turning point of the film series as everything changes from this film. Normally a turning point is for the better but there are those few exceptions. Is this one of the them? Let's find out.

In his fourth year at at Hogwarts, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is invited to attend the Quiddich World Cup by Arthur Weasley (Mark Williams) and Amos Diggory (Jeff Rawle). While having fun watching the event with his friends Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ginny (Bonnie Wright), one of Voldemort's death eaters (David Tennant) causes havoc and leaves behind the mark of Voldemort. Back at Hogwarts, the school is hosting the Triwizard Tournament between three schools, Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, but the contestants have to be over 17. Amos' son Cedric (Robert Pattinson) enters for Hogwarts but when the names are called out, four names rather than three appear. The fourth name is 'Harry Potter'. Despite being underage, Harry has no choice but to compete despite not even entering.

Yeah, so Robert Pattinson is in this film. So how many of you Anti-Twilight people are rallying up against this film. As someoen who hasn't watched a Twilight film (and probably never will), this doesn't affect me much. The two new characters that did leave an impression on me, however, are the new Professor, Alister 'Mad Eye' Moody (Bernard Gleeson), and Voldemort's new accomplise played by David Tennat. Moody is easily one of the best characters in the franchise and David Tennat is just too awesome to ignore (the special word of today is "bias"). This is also the first film in which Ralph Fiennes takes the role of Voldemort (not really sure if that's a spoiler...) and is a perfect choice...just a shame about the excecution (is it me or is Voldemort really camp?).

Did you notice the freeze frame at the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? Clearly it was chosen to emphasis that that was the last fun you are going to have in a Harry Potter film. Things get really dark starting from this film (The first proper death happens in this one). While the events in the tournament are enjoyable, they're pretty damn life threatening! Dragons are used for Pete's sake! This film is the turning point mainly because all the fun is thrown out the window to make room for frama. Liked the fun spells such as the ones that make things float or transform people? Too bad, they use only curses now (torture and killing, mainly). It does sour the film as it focuses to hard on the drama aspect. There are a few fun moments but they are few and far between. They didn't even film the scenes involving Dobby in the book!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire proves that a franchise should really stay to it's roots until the finale. This is way too dark for what we started with (watch this and then go watch the first one. You probably wouldn't think they were the same franchise!) and also proves that the turning point isn't nessecarily for the best. Prisoner of Azkaban is still the best in the series but we still have some left to look at. We shall continue to the finale!

Verdict:
7.5/10

A drastic change to the franchise that doesn't quite hit the height of previous films and makes me want the older Harry Potter style back. The new characters are great though and it isn't as bad as people make it out to seem.