Film Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

And so the fourth Potter film is upon us; time has passed since the last movie. All the characters are a little older, as are the audience, permitting a darker theme. The movie is less kidlike (reflected in the 12A rating), is more fun, and there are more adult themes explored. The central trio are now teenagers, both confused and vulnerable; when Hogwarts holds its annual Yuletide ball, the full gamut of hormonal uncertainy is exhibited. First, they survey the opposite sex with some 'nudge nuge wink wink'-style knowing looks. Then they get to worry about who they will take as a date, whether they can handle the rejection, or even dance when they get there. On top of which, there is of course a little misplaced jealousy, and the obligatory tears after the party.

Mike Newell has recognised the mood shift in the series, and the cutesy constraints of the previous movies no longer apply. In acting terms, they have all developed, and Daniel Radcliffe is starting to look like he can actually do the job at last. There are still some of the usual gripes. Ron still pulls the most ridiculous gurning facial expressions, but his voice has broken now, and he's no longer just a comic foil to Harry; in fact they have a fairly normal teenage relationship. Hermione is still annoying; she exhibits some more teenage characteristics, such as scrubbing up nicely for the Ball, and that helps, but she's extremely irritating. "Oh Ron, you've ruined everything" she exclaims at one opint, in the same way that Kiera Knightly would; that overpronounced, melodramatic, fake up-yerself poshness. Nobody actually talks like that.

Some of the newcomers put in great performances. Ralph Fiennes is an excellent Voldemort, convincingly evil, and sporting a pair of lizard-like nostrils which add a really sinister look. Brendan Gleason plays mad-eye Moody, the imbalanced professor on the Dark Arts, and he must have relished the opportunity to portray such an eccentric over-the-top character.

The central event of the movie is the "Triwizard" contest, for which Harry is unwittingly entered. The individual challenges are fantastically portrayed, scary and realistic; historically people have actually died performing these tasks, and you really sense the danger, These passages give the special effects teams the chance to shine. The dragon sequence, and the underwater challenge are incredible, they both look and feel realistic, and really involve the viewer in the tension. This can very often be a shortcoming of FX-driven sequences, we know they're not real and we therefore don't care - this isn't the case here.

I found the ending disappointing, Without describing events, there is a intense low moment, followed by everybody suddenly leaving. Huh? No happy ending? It's hard to understand how the morons on the tube reading this book would have been satisfied without the standard triumph of good over evil. Apart from the fact that, as remedials, still reading junior school primers well into their 30s, they are obviously easily pleased generally.

Despite the darker feel of the movie, there's still plenty of the usual cute stuff to please the younger sections of the audience. The touches of magic are still enchanting, such as the self tidying library, and the the ever-present living paintings. There's plenty of humour too, such as when Harry encounters Myrtle in the prefects bathroom, and the cheeky scene that follows. The movie series improves with every release. Harry is less like an invincible being, and much better portrayed as a "mortal with potential of a superman" as Bowie once put it. He genuinely comes over as a young man who is really up against it, under intense threat, and you sense that worse is to come later in the series. It still has some shortcomings, but it sufficiently whets the appetite for the next offering. 7.5/10.