Reviews

For the longest time this was my least favorite film in the Harry Potter franchise, but now I realize that was just my own projected insecurity.

This film is AWKWARD. It makes you cringe. But that is why it is brilliant. The adolescent angst twists through the entire movie and lends the film both atmosphere and consistency.

The subtle nods to adolescent are too many to list fully. Note Harry's interactions with the big man on campus, Cedric. Wince as both Harry and Ron struggle (and fail!) to find the right words to express the confused turmoil of their emotions. You want to reach out to the screen and slap the both of them. They come across as rather pathetic, but in a very realistic way, and if all that discomfort makes the movie hard for you to watch, then perhaps you should recognize the richness of a film that manages to dig up your own social trauma, embarrassing moments, and all those times you had your own foot in your mouth.

McGonagall and Hagrid, and the Weasley twins, are treats in this movie. I don't usually like Hagrid but his scenes with his large love interest are hilarious.

Goblet of Fire was the first of the "larger" harry potter books, and the filmmakers had a lot of plot to cram in. The movie does feel rushed and episodic at the start. The scene with Sirius Black on the fireplace is shoe-horned in. But this is more than made up for with the pageantry and intensity of the Tri-Wizard tournament.

In the end, this is perhaps the richest Harry Potter movie, with the exception of the Half Blood Prince, and it is perhaps the most successful of the series in immersing you in the reality of a fantasy world.

Action? Adventure? Swashbuckling excitement? Well you have come to the WRONG Robin Hood for that. The choreography is non-existent. But that's okay.

There are other reasons to watch this movie, especially for aficionados and romantics. The costumes and sets are beautiful, delicately balanced between realism and romanticism. The greenery is lush, the settings are well chosen. There is a poetry in the dialogue, and the acting is heart-felt. This movie makes you think a little bit, including a moving, moral ending.

The classic trope scenes of the Robin Hood fairy tale are a let down. Little Jon on the river is painful to watch, and not in a good way. The bow staff fight is a yawn, as is the absurd "action" scene of Robin floating down a gentle river. If you seek excitement, again, this is the wrong movie.

On the other hand, you are treated to a version of the Robin Hood tale that offers an educational slant. Unlike Prince of Thieves, this Robin Hood dives into the Saxon-Norman antagonism that characterized the centuries following the successful invasion by the Normans under William the Conqueror. Set one to two hundred years after, this Robin Hood takes place in an England that is hosts to a ruling class of French/Viking descent. (There is even a clever allusion to the French Baron being a descendant of pirates).

As mentioned, the acting is quite good, as is the script. The characters, which at the start of the film seem one-dimensional, become infused with real humanity as the movie progresses. No cartoon villains here, just flawed humans from a vicious era, and a meditation on the attractiveness and seductiveness of simple decency when presented as a possibility.