Goblet of Fire: After
Nov. 19th, 2005 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bironicI cared about The Prisoner of Azkaban a lot (to state the obvious), and got angry with the movie for screwing it up. I didn't care much about The Goblet of Fire,
and find myself, after two viewings in as many days, despite a few
things that don't sit right, actually quite fond of the movie.
The opening was promising -- I expected them to skip to the Quidditch World Cup or at least to the Dursley Floo fiasco, and was pleasantly proven wrong -- especially with the skulls, snake and perfect alien-fetus-Voldemort hand. Then Barty Jr. (oddly reminiscent of Neil Gaiman, down to the leather jacket) stooped in front of the armchair, and I thought we were doomed. But it made sense by the end why they'd added the third person in the room, and I'm all in favor of plot re-arrangement if it spares us house elves, so as far as I'm concerned that's forgiven.
What I didn't like was that eliminating Dobby from the movie meant Neville had to steal the gillyweed from Snape; I can't see him overcoming his terror of the man to pull something like that, no matter how much Moody/Crouch'd been boosting his confidence. Maybe M/C nicked it for him while he nipped into the store room for more Polyjuice supplies. (P.S. Hello, Snape's supply closet! home of so many illicit fanfic encounters.)
Oh, Neville. What a treat to see Matthew Lewis do a dramatic scene instead of getting hung by his ears or cross-dressing the Snape Boggart. The poignancy of his reaction to the Cruciatus curse in the DADA lesson came as a wonderful surprise, as did his haunted look on the stairway after class. In fact the whole DADA scene was great; they really captured the shift in emotion from hilarity to horror when Moody/Crouch explained exactly what one can be made to do under the Imperius curse. Ha, and he hurled chalk at Seamus. One question: Why do teachers in the movies keep interrupting Hermione? First Lupin and now Moody/Crouch.
Okay, here's another question: Where'd all the students go? The tables in the Great Hall seemed halved at least, the stands at the tournament events seemed smaller than those at Quidditch matches in the previous movies, and it looked like there were only a few dozen kids jumping around to the Weird Sisters. They did strike a balance with the multiculturalism: no 90%-white student body nor an unexplained black kid talking about Grims and catching smoke, just a bunch of diverse students not calling attention to their diversity. (The only "look!" moment I noticed, not counting the various ethnic outfits at the Ball, was the group of Africans at the World Cup.) Nice that that should finally happen in the movie for the book where one of the themes is learning to befriend people who are different from you.
On a semi-related note, it was amusing to watch the one-upmanship continue with the design of Hogwarts castle. "Oh yeah? I'll see your spiral staircase and raise you a triple turret."
The graveyard scene didn't scare the bejeezus out of me as I'd hoped, but two others were frightening, unexpectedly: the World Cup attack and the first minute or two of the dragon task. Maybe it was the Death Eaters' incomprehensible chanting, the panic and tumult and fireballs, Harry getting kicked in the head or the hollow cry of the Dark Mark afterwards, but the whole attack had me riveted. (And while we're on the Dark Mark, I don't know why, considering it's magical, but I didn't ever imagine that it moved, either in the sky or as a tattoo, so that was cool.) The lack of Muggle torture was regrettable. I guess Mike Newell and/or Steve Kloves didn't want to spend the time explaining the DEs' prejudiced philosophy when there was a Hungarian Horntail to chase Harry around half of Scotland. That's one scene I would have trimmed (along with a few of the underwater shots) to make more time for the graveyard scene -- though I did like how the Horntail scrabbled for purchase on the roof tiles.
So. The graveyard. Overall, pretty good. It did feel rushed but I didn't think it got ruined as badly as the Shrieking Shack did in the PoA movie (but again, maybe that's a reflection of my investment in the Marauders). Ironically enough, my main complaint about this scene upon first viewing was that Cedric didn't die soon enough. He should have gone down the moment they arrived, instead of letting them take a mini-tour while genius Harry figured out where they were.
As for the rest of it, it was good that the concoction of the resurrecting potion went quickly because they're supposed to whiz by as Harry still tries to wrap his mind around the fact that Cedric's been killed, although Wormtail did chop his hand off with minimal effort, no writhing and no blood (kids' movie, blah blah). His double cry when Wormtail sliced his arm was unexpectedly believable.
Yes, I was happy to discover that Daniel Radcliffe has added a fourth emotional state to his repertoire: agony. I say that cheekily, but as opposed to his usually less than convincing performance (need I say more than "attempting to cry on the rock after fleeing the Three Broomsticks in PoA"?), he was really good at this. His spasms under Crucio aroused my inner sadist in a way not experienced since Luke shuddered under the Emperor's zaps in "Return of the Jedi," and the whole gasping/shouting/wide-eyed exchange with Voldemort as he touched Harry's scar was deliciously creepy. I'll take that over Cedric's suggestive bath comment any day.
As for Voldemort, well, yesterday I was very happy with what Ralph Fiennes did, even if there was an uncertain moment at first when I almost laughed because I remembered that New York Times comment about the Butoh dancer from Hell. His face turned out about how you would have expected based on Quirrell!mort in the first movie. Wish his eyes had been properly red though. He moved well, he had the right amount of melodrama, he properly intimidated his followers (except for Lucius, and how on Earth did he get away with standing up? especially when he's taller?). Loved his half-smile when he murmured that when Harry begged for death he would oblige. But something was off about him -- something that detracted from his power as a villain -- and I can't put my finger on what, exactly.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
synn
was a bit put off by his flippancy, but we agreed afterwards that it
could be ascribed to his enthusiasm for being properly corporeal again
after 13 years. Thoughts welcome.
While we're in the graveyard, let me add that having the Death Eaters arrive via the Dark Mark in the sky was a nice touch, even if they appeared too sparsely and too quickly. At least the first problem was fixed as the scene progressed and more caped crusaders trickled in. Was that Bellatrix for a split-second at Voldemort's left side after Harry re-emerged from behind the tomb?
And where was the bit about "One, too cowardly to return, one who I believe has left me forever, and one who remains my most faithful servant"? Too complicated?
The KKK thing wasn't as awful as anticipated and the costuming was appropriately scary when they torched the tents at the World Cup but it was a poor choice to have the masks cover only half the face (not to mention Lucius' hood/hair faux pas) when the members aren't supposed to all know one another. I mean, if they'd worn those masks back in the day, Karkaroff should've been able to rattle off at least a dozen names for the Wizengamot.
James & Lily came out in the right order and weren't too annoying, which was nice. I don't know what was up with the shaving cream when Expelliarmus met Avada Kedavra (and again with the Star Wars reference, blue and pink lightsabers evenly matched), but the powerful hum of the arcs of wand-light rang true for me.
The return from the graveyard was devastating. Devastating. As far as I can remember, only two scenes in the books consistently move me (the Shrieking Shack Marauders revelations, right about when Sirius yells, "THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!"; and the tense wait around the kitchen table at 12 Grimmauld Place to hear about Mr. Weasley's condition after the snake attack). This makes a third. Harry sobbing and clutching the body, traumatized, while the blissfully ignorant audience cheers -- then falters -- and Amos crying "My boy" in the silence, after the adorable father/son shoulder-chucking send-off they had... And for us and the Wizarding audience to realize that every single person about to be killed in this war is going to provoke the same reaction from a loved one... Oh, man. They nailed it.
Bad choice to show Cho (who is now apparently Scottish) crying, though, considering the implications for people who've read the next book; at the IMAX today you could hear people snickering.
The denouement could have been worse. Dumbledore's speech to the assembled masses about Cedric was necessarily truncated but still touching. The real Moody waving up from the bottom of the trunk was funny, though that wasn't really the time for funny. But I can't believe Dumbledore didn't explain to Harry that his and Voldemort's wands share Fawkes' feathers. Couldn't they have shucked the bed-curtains anecdote for that? That whole scene was off. The "what is right and what is easy" comment lacked its power taken out of the context of the rest of his speech to Harry; and was that supposed to be the infamous "gleam" when his eyes sort of widened and he murmured "Priori Incantatem"? Not to mention, Dumbledore wouldn't set foot in the dormitories unless something awful had happened.
A few miscellaneous complaints: Fleur wasn't cold enough, even taking into account that they dropped the whole veela premise. Snape wasn't mean enough (though I wouldn't trade his comic relief study period scene for anything -- whacking Ron and Harry with his notebook and hitching up his sleeves will always, always be funny; I guess that's GoF's answer to the tap-dancing spiders). Miranda Richardson needed to pick a direction and run with it, because Rita Skeeter didn't do it for me -- the broom cupboard comment cut, but otherwise she was only a lukewarm presence. Hermione and Krum making eyes at each other from the beginning. There was no need for Karkaroff's teeth to be that disgusting. And what was with the sudden surge in Evil Rings? And the sighing butterflies/stick-stomping acrobatic floor show of an entrance for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang? And the identical uniforms? -- I couldn't help but think of Star Trek and how the humans always get to be diverse while the alien race wear the same clothes/have the same skin tone/hair color/style etc.
Anyway. Things I didn't realize I'd like in the movie:
The opening was promising -- I expected them to skip to the Quidditch World Cup or at least to the Dursley Floo fiasco, and was pleasantly proven wrong -- especially with the skulls, snake and perfect alien-fetus-Voldemort hand. Then Barty Jr. (oddly reminiscent of Neil Gaiman, down to the leather jacket) stooped in front of the armchair, and I thought we were doomed. But it made sense by the end why they'd added the third person in the room, and I'm all in favor of plot re-arrangement if it spares us house elves, so as far as I'm concerned that's forgiven.
What I didn't like was that eliminating Dobby from the movie meant Neville had to steal the gillyweed from Snape; I can't see him overcoming his terror of the man to pull something like that, no matter how much Moody/Crouch'd been boosting his confidence. Maybe M/C nicked it for him while he nipped into the store room for more Polyjuice supplies. (P.S. Hello, Snape's supply closet! home of so many illicit fanfic encounters.)
Oh, Neville. What a treat to see Matthew Lewis do a dramatic scene instead of getting hung by his ears or cross-dressing the Snape Boggart. The poignancy of his reaction to the Cruciatus curse in the DADA lesson came as a wonderful surprise, as did his haunted look on the stairway after class. In fact the whole DADA scene was great; they really captured the shift in emotion from hilarity to horror when Moody/Crouch explained exactly what one can be made to do under the Imperius curse. Ha, and he hurled chalk at Seamus. One question: Why do teachers in the movies keep interrupting Hermione? First Lupin and now Moody/Crouch.
Okay, here's another question: Where'd all the students go? The tables in the Great Hall seemed halved at least, the stands at the tournament events seemed smaller than those at Quidditch matches in the previous movies, and it looked like there were only a few dozen kids jumping around to the Weird Sisters. They did strike a balance with the multiculturalism: no 90%-white student body nor an unexplained black kid talking about Grims and catching smoke, just a bunch of diverse students not calling attention to their diversity. (The only "look!" moment I noticed, not counting the various ethnic outfits at the Ball, was the group of Africans at the World Cup.) Nice that that should finally happen in the movie for the book where one of the themes is learning to befriend people who are different from you.
On a semi-related note, it was amusing to watch the one-upmanship continue with the design of Hogwarts castle. "Oh yeah? I'll see your spiral staircase and raise you a triple turret."
The graveyard scene didn't scare the bejeezus out of me as I'd hoped, but two others were frightening, unexpectedly: the World Cup attack and the first minute or two of the dragon task. Maybe it was the Death Eaters' incomprehensible chanting, the panic and tumult and fireballs, Harry getting kicked in the head or the hollow cry of the Dark Mark afterwards, but the whole attack had me riveted. (And while we're on the Dark Mark, I don't know why, considering it's magical, but I didn't ever imagine that it moved, either in the sky or as a tattoo, so that was cool.) The lack of Muggle torture was regrettable. I guess Mike Newell and/or Steve Kloves didn't want to spend the time explaining the DEs' prejudiced philosophy when there was a Hungarian Horntail to chase Harry around half of Scotland. That's one scene I would have trimmed (along with a few of the underwater shots) to make more time for the graveyard scene -- though I did like how the Horntail scrabbled for purchase on the roof tiles.
So. The graveyard. Overall, pretty good. It did feel rushed but I didn't think it got ruined as badly as the Shrieking Shack did in the PoA movie (but again, maybe that's a reflection of my investment in the Marauders). Ironically enough, my main complaint about this scene upon first viewing was that Cedric didn't die soon enough. He should have gone down the moment they arrived, instead of letting them take a mini-tour while genius Harry figured out where they were.
As for the rest of it, it was good that the concoction of the resurrecting potion went quickly because they're supposed to whiz by as Harry still tries to wrap his mind around the fact that Cedric's been killed, although Wormtail did chop his hand off with minimal effort, no writhing and no blood (kids' movie, blah blah). His double cry when Wormtail sliced his arm was unexpectedly believable.
Yes, I was happy to discover that Daniel Radcliffe has added a fourth emotional state to his repertoire: agony. I say that cheekily, but as opposed to his usually less than convincing performance (need I say more than "attempting to cry on the rock after fleeing the Three Broomsticks in PoA"?), he was really good at this. His spasms under Crucio aroused my inner sadist in a way not experienced since Luke shuddered under the Emperor's zaps in "Return of the Jedi," and the whole gasping/shouting/wide-eyed exchange with Voldemort as he touched Harry's scar was deliciously creepy. I'll take that over Cedric's suggestive bath comment any day.
As for Voldemort, well, yesterday I was very happy with what Ralph Fiennes did, even if there was an uncertain moment at first when I almost laughed because I remembered that New York Times comment about the Butoh dancer from Hell. His face turned out about how you would have expected based on Quirrell!mort in the first movie. Wish his eyes had been properly red though. He moved well, he had the right amount of melodrama, he properly intimidated his followers (except for Lucius, and how on Earth did he get away with standing up? especially when he's taller?). Loved his half-smile when he murmured that when Harry begged for death he would oblige. But something was off about him -- something that detracted from his power as a villain -- and I can't put my finger on what, exactly.
synn
was a bit put off by his flippancy, but we agreed afterwards that it
could be ascribed to his enthusiasm for being properly corporeal again
after 13 years. Thoughts welcome.While we're in the graveyard, let me add that having the Death Eaters arrive via the Dark Mark in the sky was a nice touch, even if they appeared too sparsely and too quickly. At least the first problem was fixed as the scene progressed and more caped crusaders trickled in. Was that Bellatrix for a split-second at Voldemort's left side after Harry re-emerged from behind the tomb?
And where was the bit about "One, too cowardly to return, one who I believe has left me forever, and one who remains my most faithful servant"? Too complicated?
The KKK thing wasn't as awful as anticipated and the costuming was appropriately scary when they torched the tents at the World Cup but it was a poor choice to have the masks cover only half the face (not to mention Lucius' hood/hair faux pas) when the members aren't supposed to all know one another. I mean, if they'd worn those masks back in the day, Karkaroff should've been able to rattle off at least a dozen names for the Wizengamot.
James & Lily came out in the right order and weren't too annoying, which was nice. I don't know what was up with the shaving cream when Expelliarmus met Avada Kedavra (and again with the Star Wars reference, blue and pink lightsabers evenly matched), but the powerful hum of the arcs of wand-light rang true for me.
The return from the graveyard was devastating. Devastating. As far as I can remember, only two scenes in the books consistently move me (the Shrieking Shack Marauders revelations, right about when Sirius yells, "THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!"; and the tense wait around the kitchen table at 12 Grimmauld Place to hear about Mr. Weasley's condition after the snake attack). This makes a third. Harry sobbing and clutching the body, traumatized, while the blissfully ignorant audience cheers -- then falters -- and Amos crying "My boy" in the silence, after the adorable father/son shoulder-chucking send-off they had... And for us and the Wizarding audience to realize that every single person about to be killed in this war is going to provoke the same reaction from a loved one... Oh, man. They nailed it.
Bad choice to show Cho (who is now apparently Scottish) crying, though, considering the implications for people who've read the next book; at the IMAX today you could hear people snickering.
The denouement could have been worse. Dumbledore's speech to the assembled masses about Cedric was necessarily truncated but still touching. The real Moody waving up from the bottom of the trunk was funny, though that wasn't really the time for funny. But I can't believe Dumbledore didn't explain to Harry that his and Voldemort's wands share Fawkes' feathers. Couldn't they have shucked the bed-curtains anecdote for that? That whole scene was off. The "what is right and what is easy" comment lacked its power taken out of the context of the rest of his speech to Harry; and was that supposed to be the infamous "gleam" when his eyes sort of widened and he murmured "Priori Incantatem"? Not to mention, Dumbledore wouldn't set foot in the dormitories unless something awful had happened.
A few miscellaneous complaints: Fleur wasn't cold enough, even taking into account that they dropped the whole veela premise. Snape wasn't mean enough (though I wouldn't trade his comic relief study period scene for anything -- whacking Ron and Harry with his notebook and hitching up his sleeves will always, always be funny; I guess that's GoF's answer to the tap-dancing spiders). Miranda Richardson needed to pick a direction and run with it, because Rita Skeeter didn't do it for me -- the broom cupboard comment cut, but otherwise she was only a lukewarm presence. Hermione and Krum making eyes at each other from the beginning. There was no need for Karkaroff's teeth to be that disgusting. And what was with the sudden surge in Evil Rings? And the sighing butterflies/stick-stomping acrobatic floor show of an entrance for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang? And the identical uniforms? -- I couldn't help but think of Star Trek and how the humans always get to be diverse while the alien race wear the same clothes/have the same skin tone/hair color/style etc.
Anyway. Things I didn't realize I'd like in the movie:
- McGonagall's
horrified reaction to ferret-Draco.
- Copious screen time for the Weasley twins (the aging
potion/wrestling match; "Try saying that five times fast";
propositioning Angelina).
- The Pensieve. I hadn't been expecting to see the effect until the fifth movie, but there it was and it was just right -- the slight effort it took to pull the thought out, the sticky/electric texture of the thought-strand when it came free, and the jellyfish-looking ring as it floated into the basin. The surface wasn't quite right and the Pensieve itself was much larger than I'd pictured it, but the important part was very satisfying.
- Okay, and Filch was really funny when he ran up to Dumbledore at the Welcoming Feast. And waltzing with Mrs. Norris? Are there any theories out there about a pre-feline Mrs. Norris being a woman Filch loved and then he couldn't fix her having turned into a cat because he's a Squib? Anyone?
- Snape blasting the rose bushes.
- Snape showing his Dark Mark to Fudge / Fudge "accidentally" letting the Dementor get Barty Jr. / Dumbledore sending Snape out on his mission.
- "Lie low at Lupin's."
- Harry hiding on the stairs under the cloak with the Map while Snape sniffs around.
- The prize money. When Fudge plonked the bag of Galleons down in front of Harry after all he'd been through, it was such an empty gesture I wanted to cry. I can only imagine what that would have added to this scene in the movie.
- Mrs. Weasley.
- "Constant Vigilance!"
- The creatures in the Hedge Maze of Doom. Even though the animals
and whatever were only in there as a sort of series of practical exams,
to have the maze just be foggy and tall while the kids wandered around
didn't pose the same kind of threat or offer the sense of
accomplishment or failure they got in the book after defeating or being
defeated by the challenges.
no subject
Date: Nov. 20th, 2005 03:28 pm (UTC)Yes, Dumbledore's warning about "losing yourselves" came across as hokey - maybe that's why I felt the substitution of groaning fog for the Sphinx etc. didn't work. But really -- what did Fleur see? what bewitched Krum? I didn't get the impression that there were really Things in the maze, just mist, wind and possibly sentient hedge/roots.
Yes, I've been trying to figure out why Voldemort wasn't scary. He looked scary. He said scary things. He did scary things. I liked the alien-fetus thing, actually more than what I'd been picturing in the book -- his long limbs and digits looked better than my pale baby. Not sure how much of a difference the camera angles would have made, whether it would have been effective or overkill to shoot up at the DEs like they did with Mme Maxime. The melodrama thing was a problem, both with the "spare" line and when he's taunting Harry; if he'd slowed down and said his lines more offhand like catilinarian said, he would have been scarier. There's something about Tom/Voldie's menace that doesn't translate here.
And you're so absolutely right about his behavior with the scar. Oh, if he'd stroked it, closed his eyes and smiled...
I think that plays into the bigger picture of needing to spend more time there and using silence rather than noise and action to convey the terror Harry was feeling, the conviction that he was facing death.
no subject
Date: Nov. 20th, 2005 06:42 pm (UTC)YES, you're both spot on about that. And I think it would fit better with the text as well - ahem. And I quote:
"Harry felt the cold tip of the long white finger touch him [mind you, this is his cheek, not his scar], and thought his head would burst with the pain. Voldemort laughed softly in his ear, then took the finger away and continued addressing the Death Eaters."
So very cold, so very lordly. That's what I felt was missing.
As for the maze, I think it would have worked either to have there be creatures in the maze (not necessarily seen, but confirmed in some way), or to go entirely in the other direction, which I thought they were for a while, and have some quality of the maze itself drive you mad and make you "lose yourself", so that the only things actually in there are you, your opponents, and your own demons. Yes, it's a little "Star Wars", but I think it would be a fitting third task to have you facing off directly against each other. However, we were left with too many questions about which way to interpret the maze scene, particularly (for me) Krum's enchantment. Did he just lose it in the maze? Was he Imperiused by Moody/Crouch (as in the book)? Should we associate the "madness" that made him turn on his opponents with the impulse that nearly made Harry abandon Cedric, and if so, why were Krum's eyes milky and Harry's normal? If you're going to make the maze full of concrete dangers, do it; if you're going to make it a symbol of some inner struggle, do that. Just let us know, is all I ask. :)
(I think we were supposed to assume that what Fleur saw was Krum, as he was standing over her after that. But I'm not sure.)
no subject
Date: Nov. 21st, 2005 12:22 am (UTC)Now you mention long fingers making painful caresses, I wonder how far the filmmakers were willing to go with Voldemort's cold, sensual treatment of Harry. I've read essays (e.g. http://elkins.theennead.com/hp/archives/000125.html & http://elkins.theennead.com/hp/archives/000135.html) detailing the graveyard scene as a thinly veiled homosexual rape narrative. On the one hand this is a movie for a general audience that includes children. On the other hand, they had a ball with Myrtle in the Prefects' bath...
If you're going to make the maze full of concrete dangers, do it; if you're going to make it a symbol of some inner struggle, do that.
Yes, that's it exactly! I wouldn't have minded that he cut the creatures if it had been clear that the champions were up against themselves or each other. ...What you said.
double standard.
Date: Nov. 21st, 2005 01:32 am (UTC)unveiled heterosexual sexual harrassment = good.
such is the way of our great nation.
Re: double standard.
Date: Nov. 21st, 2005 03:00 am (UTC)Re: double standard.
Date: Dec. 8th, 2005 10:02 pm (UTC)That said,
The bathtub scene actually did disturb me. It disturbed me more than voldemort would have. I'm not really sure why that is, but I was physically uncomfortable with just how long it went on and myrtle's actions. don't get me wrong, it was brilliantly done, but it felt like sexual harrassment.
I know what it is that bothered me. It felt like sexual harassment to me, but we were obviously meant to laugh at it, which makes it all OK. Conversely, Voldemort is evil, and anything he implied with harry would have been clearly wrong, and yet another example of how he is evil.
do you see what i'm saying?