The beginning scene was...chilling. It was played out great, and I loved how Wormtail flashs Frank an evil little grin before the chair turned and he gets Avada'd. The Parseltongue sounded genuinely creepy as well. Yeah Crouch Jr. is in the scene, but his presence fits in pretty nicely IMO.
Well my only real gripe with the movie as a whole was the World Cup. There was absolutely -no- Quidditch match. Just the opening show and Fudge blasting some light onto the field and BOOM! The camp attack begins. The attack itself looked great. Harry being knocked out by the fleeing stampede of people was a nice touch. Also, yes unlike the book, Crouch actually appears in the ruined campsite and Harry gets a brief glimpse of his silhouette. It was really well executed so I really haven't got a problem with it though. There however, was no Bagman subplot, which although was dissappointing, was really just about cutting away unnecessary material. The Bagman subplot sort of went off into a tangent, not really having that much to do with the main plot, but anyway, the movie was still great without Bagman.
The trio are even better in this movie. The Harry-Ron fall out is well played out, and Ron actually looks incensed
when Harry's name comes out of the Goblet. Dumbledore...well...hes a bit mad in that scene haha. That's where
Gambon really overdid it. His character wasn't -completely- botched up though. the Harry-Hermione arc...haha "Young Love...so....stirring"
. Rita Skeeter is just so darn annoying. I particularly love this particular line:Rita: Harry Potter, 12 --
Harry: I'm 14
Anyway, I loved how most of the characters were played, although I would have loved to see the scene with Krum trying to pronounce Hermione's name
.And so we come to the first task. It was pretty tense, and it was good. The dragon came out of no where with its tail. That made me jump haha. It was pretty tense when Harry is hiding behind that burning rock and the Firebolt comes at the last second.
The Second task....haha
Neville: Oh my God..I've killed Harry Potter!!!
The merpeople looked menacing as hell with those gigantic tridents. Ron, Hermione, Gabrielle, and Cho looked eerie standing upright in the water. The bubblehead charm looked...interesting
. The third task...well the maze was great, but no Skrewts or Sphinx. The maze closing up and having vines flail around tripping people was a nice touch. The Krum-Cedric scene was good, and Cedric looked like he was actually going to kill Krum, had Harry not held him back. Krum looked eerie with the glassed over eyes.
The court scene in the Pensive. Yeah they were different, and I'll put a description for anyone who wants to see it.
Movie: Harry falls into the courtroom. Dumbledore, Moody, Rita Skeeter, and Crouch Sr. are all there as expected. Karkaroff rises in a cage with...a lot of spikes in it. Anyway, Karkaroff looks grimy and very Sirius-esque. Crouch looks menacing, and slightly crazed. Moody is played pretty well, and boy, Gleeson gets the paranoid part down. Anyway, Karkaroff gives off names. Evan Rosier, Augustus Rookwood, Severus Snape. Like in the book, Dumbledore vouches for Snape. Then Karkaroff gives off another name: Barty Crouch...Junior. As it so happens, Crouch Jr. is walking out of the courtroom the moment his name is uttered. The Ministry wizards pin down Crouch Jr. and arrest him.
In the book there were two courts scenes but anyway, Newell does a good job at integrating the changes into the movie again. Harry recounts his dream when he realizes that Crouch is one of the men in the dream. Like a lot of the movie...eerie. Tennant really plays his part well, especially the insane grins.
And now we come to Voldemort. Fiennes plays him spectacularly, not being too cliched or over the top, but being just plain evil. His persona in GoF is realky chilling. He seems accomadating and merciful, but then he transitions into a guy who basically kills for kicks. So yeah very well played out. I loved the look of awe in Wormtails face when he looks at the revived Voldemort for the first time. And yes, Voldy is bald. The duel was great, and Dumbledores eulogy in the aftermath was a tear jerker (although I didn't particularly cry
).Anyway, great film. 9.5/10. Leaving Quidditch out was a mistake, but Newell compensates with the eerie feeling that the novel so masterfully conveyed. Newell would be an excellent choice to direct Book 6 or 7 (some other guy is doing Book 5).
