GoF movie.
Nov. 13th, 2005 02:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pauraque_bkYesterday morning ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
noblerot was nice enough to take me to an advance screening of the GoF movie. I'd only had four hours of sleep, so I was somewhat fuzzybrained, but I had a good time anyway. Mostly press people and children who were actually into it and so didn't cry or talk or anything. I've rarely been in such a well-behaved audience!
Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing it again next week, but here are my first thoughts.
- Very good flick. Much more like Cuarón's vision than Columbus's, though Newell's version is darker and more realistic. Cuarón used a lot of fairy-tale symbolism to get his idea across, which I liked, but also created some distance that isn't present in GoF.
- I'm not a big Steve Kloves fan, but I think this is probably the best screenplay that could be made from this book. They get through about 150 book pages in the first ten minutes, and that's a good thing. As much as I like the actors who play the Dursleys, there is really no reason for them to be in this movie.
- I like that they pared the story down to the main plot (the tournament conspiracy) and one characterization subplot (the Yule Ball). The house-elves, Ludo Bagman's gambling, whatever the hell else was going on in GoF that made the book so long -- none of it was needed. They also made the main plot make some sense, which impressed me. They simplified it, getting rid of Bagman, Bertha Jorkins, Crouch Sr being under Imperius, and most of Sirius's misdirection (though not all -- sorry, but I don't think he needed to be in this movie), and made it seem actually possible that events would unfold the way they did. They also added a lot of hints about what was really going on -- Snape and Myrtle both tell Harry that someone has been making Polyjuice -- which made it seem more fair to Harry (and the audience).
- Steve Kloves still ships Harry/Hermione, but that's very okay with me, since I find the canon ships tiresome. I wonder if he's read HBP yet? Anyway, among other things, Harry and Hermione get to stand on the covered bridge of Remus/Harry ambiguity from PoA. ^_^
- Acting was average all around, I'd say. None of the kids have improved significantly, and although Miranda Richardson and Ralph Fiennes were wonderful, no one stole the movie in the same way David Thewlis did in PoA -- they didn't have time to. The script is pretty demanding of Dan Radcliffe -- he has to do a lot of screaming and crying -- and mostly he's up to it. He had a good moment when he makes it back from the graveyard with Cedric's corpse; he seems believably hysterical and traumatized. I think he does better the higher he has to crank it up, subtle moments aren't as good for him. (Remember the fake crying in PoA? Yeah, that was not good.)
- Neville! Aw, Neville. You get to do things and be useful in this movie! You are also adorable. ♥
- I don't think anything Snape did was particularly like anything he actually does/says in the book, but they're close enough to the same area that it works. You've also got Snape beckoning Harry into a dark storage closet, which is always nice to see. :D
- What's the name of the actor who plays Moody? He did a good job. The Unforgivable Curses scene was great. It preserves what was great about that scene in the book, and makes it even better by having him make the point more subtly -- "What should I make her do next? Throw herself out the window? Drown herself?" This Moody doesn't storm around yelling CONSTANT VIGILANCE! and that works quite well.
- Ralphemort! My Ralphemort! Oh you guys, he was great. You're going to love him, I just know it. (Just don't expect the lengthy Bond-villain exposition about his Evil Plan, because it's not in this movie.)
- Peter dumps fetus!Voldie into that cauldron in an unceremonious and grossed-out way that totally made up for most of his Chapter 1 dialogue not being in the movie.
- The maze/graveyard sequence in general was fantastic; I was savagely impressed. They didn't really pull punches, except maybe a little bit with Peter's hand -- it wasn't immediately obvious that he had cut it off. But Cedric, man? I don't know what I was expecting, but that kid looked dead. The whole thing was scary and realistic and fast -- which was a lot more believable and effective than the leisurely way it all unfolds in the book.
- Michael Gambon has taken Dumbledore in a totally different direction from canon and the previous movies. He seems far more human and emotional, and if you can get over the fact that it's Not Like That in the books, it works for this movie, because it emphasizes that there is no one in control, pulling the strings. Harry is on his own.
- So, did anything about this movie suck? Well, there were a couple of awkwardly timed dialogue moments (unfortunately, Ron's potentially wonderful "Piss off" was one of them) that didn't work, but not too many. There were also a couple of WTF moments, like the inexplicable character of Nigel, who is briefly introduced because he wants Harry's autograph. Were Colin and Dennis unavailable? No comprende. Other than that, this is a good one. More enjoyable than the corresponding book, in my opinion.
Plus millions of other things, but I'll save it for later.
noblerot was nice enough to take me to an advance screening of the GoF movie. I'd only had four hours of sleep, so I was somewhat fuzzybrained, but I had a good time anyway. Mostly press people and children who were actually into it and so didn't cry or talk or anything. I've rarely been in such a well-behaved audience!Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing it again next week, but here are my first thoughts.
- Very good flick. Much more like Cuarón's vision than Columbus's, though Newell's version is darker and more realistic. Cuarón used a lot of fairy-tale symbolism to get his idea across, which I liked, but also created some distance that isn't present in GoF.
- I'm not a big Steve Kloves fan, but I think this is probably the best screenplay that could be made from this book. They get through about 150 book pages in the first ten minutes, and that's a good thing. As much as I like the actors who play the Dursleys, there is really no reason for them to be in this movie.
- I like that they pared the story down to the main plot (the tournament conspiracy) and one characterization subplot (the Yule Ball). The house-elves, Ludo Bagman's gambling, whatever the hell else was going on in GoF that made the book so long -- none of it was needed. They also made the main plot make some sense, which impressed me. They simplified it, getting rid of Bagman, Bertha Jorkins, Crouch Sr being under Imperius, and most of Sirius's misdirection (though not all -- sorry, but I don't think he needed to be in this movie), and made it seem actually possible that events would unfold the way they did. They also added a lot of hints about what was really going on -- Snape and Myrtle both tell Harry that someone has been making Polyjuice -- which made it seem more fair to Harry (and the audience).
- Steve Kloves still ships Harry/Hermione, but that's very okay with me, since I find the canon ships tiresome. I wonder if he's read HBP yet? Anyway, among other things, Harry and Hermione get to stand on the covered bridge of Remus/Harry ambiguity from PoA. ^_^
- Acting was average all around, I'd say. None of the kids have improved significantly, and although Miranda Richardson and Ralph Fiennes were wonderful, no one stole the movie in the same way David Thewlis did in PoA -- they didn't have time to. The script is pretty demanding of Dan Radcliffe -- he has to do a lot of screaming and crying -- and mostly he's up to it. He had a good moment when he makes it back from the graveyard with Cedric's corpse; he seems believably hysterical and traumatized. I think he does better the higher he has to crank it up, subtle moments aren't as good for him. (Remember the fake crying in PoA? Yeah, that was not good.)
- Neville! Aw, Neville. You get to do things and be useful in this movie! You are also adorable. ♥
- I don't think anything Snape did was particularly like anything he actually does/says in the book, but they're close enough to the same area that it works. You've also got Snape beckoning Harry into a dark storage closet, which is always nice to see. :D
- What's the name of the actor who plays Moody? He did a good job. The Unforgivable Curses scene was great. It preserves what was great about that scene in the book, and makes it even better by having him make the point more subtly -- "What should I make her do next? Throw herself out the window? Drown herself?" This Moody doesn't storm around yelling CONSTANT VIGILANCE! and that works quite well.
- Ralphemort! My Ralphemort! Oh you guys, he was great. You're going to love him, I just know it. (Just don't expect the lengthy Bond-villain exposition about his Evil Plan, because it's not in this movie.)
- Peter dumps fetus!Voldie into that cauldron in an unceremonious and grossed-out way that totally made up for most of his Chapter 1 dialogue not being in the movie.
- The maze/graveyard sequence in general was fantastic; I was savagely impressed. They didn't really pull punches, except maybe a little bit with Peter's hand -- it wasn't immediately obvious that he had cut it off. But Cedric, man? I don't know what I was expecting, but that kid looked dead. The whole thing was scary and realistic and fast -- which was a lot more believable and effective than the leisurely way it all unfolds in the book.
- Michael Gambon has taken Dumbledore in a totally different direction from canon and the previous movies. He seems far more human and emotional, and if you can get over the fact that it's Not Like That in the books, it works for this movie, because it emphasizes that there is no one in control, pulling the strings. Harry is on his own.
- So, did anything about this movie suck? Well, there were a couple of awkwardly timed dialogue moments (unfortunately, Ron's potentially wonderful "Piss off" was one of them) that didn't work, but not too many. There were also a couple of WTF moments, like the inexplicable character of Nigel, who is briefly introduced because he wants Harry's autograph. Were Colin and Dennis unavailable? No comprende. Other than that, this is a good one. More enjoyable than the corresponding book, in my opinion.
Plus millions of other things, but I'll save it for later.
