currently: @832 (10:58am) on thursday 3.11.10 | 504 hours since last post
What does this red button do?
So, saw Goblet of Fire at the midnight premiere this morning. All around, I give it an A- in the context of the other movies so far; against the whole history of film it'd be a B- or C+ at best. During the film, I really enjoyed it a lot. It's exciting, moves quickly, and has all the charming touches we've come to expect. Driving home afterwards, however, Sierra and I kept finding things not to like about it. Most notably, it seems like it was originally a much longer movie and was then cut up substantially. It feels like there's stuff missing from the final cut, as opposed to stuff that was never filmed in the first place. There's some inexplicable cuts in the second half of the movie, where a character or storyline is introduced (or re-introduced, whatever) in the 1st act, but then never mentioned again. I hope if that's due to time-warranted editing-room cuts, that we eventually get to see Mike Newell's original vision... I think it's probably a much better movie. At times this one seems like lace, there's so much missing that we were led to believe would be there.
There's one very major exclusion or cut in the first act that the entire theatre groaned about when it happened. Sad.
On the good side, the effects are awesome, Harry, Ron, & Hermione are their engaging selves, the story arc follows the book quite well, and Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort is unbelievably good. The three Triwizard champions all look great, especially Cedric Diggory, who almost exactly duplicates what I pictured while reading the book. The Tournament scenes are great, especially the dragons.
Anyway, recommended. I'll be seeing it again when I have more awake in me.
post a comment | trackback
