THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The older you get, the more obstacles will come your way. Writer JK Rowling couldn't have made it any more obvious with her fourth entry of the Wizarding World franchise, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
PLOT
The film follows the titular teenage wizard trying to enjoy his life without making a scene. Things aren't exactly going his way when he has a nightmare of a muggle caretaker being murdered by Lord Voldemort who was conversing with Peter Pettigrew aka Wormtail (Timothy Spall). As his summer is close to concluding, he joins Hermione Granger and the Weasleys to the Quidditch World Cup. The joy would turn into a night of terror when radical wizards, known as Death Eaters, attack the tournament's campsite and cast a dark mark into the sky. They would be led by the same man Harry saw in his dream until they choose to leave. Shortly after this incident, the children return to Hogwarts to discover the school will host the annual Triwizard Tournament, a magical contest held between the three largest wizarding schools. Each champion per school is chosen through the Goblet of Fire that randomly decides who competes. The champions must compete in three tasks throughout the school semester that are based on intelligence and courage, as well as tests their magical ability. Winners will have the honor of receiving the Triwizard Cup on behalf of the school until the next tournament. Apart from Hogwarts, the other two schools involved are Drumstrang and Beauxbatons; Their respected headmasters are Igor Karkaroff (Predrag Bjelac) and Olympe Maxime (Frances de la Tour). The only catch this semester according to Barty Crouch Sr. (Roger Lloyd-Pack), head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, that students under the age of seventeen are ineligible. During the announcement, the new Dark Arts Defense teacher, Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody arrives. Within the teacher's first day, he teaches Harry's class the unforgivable curses that are deemed illegal in the wizarding world: The Imperius curse 'Imperio' that controls the action of the victim, the Cruciatus curse 'Crucio' that causes unbearable pain, and the Killing Curse 'Avada Kedavra' that causes instant death; Surprisingly, Harry is the only one to have survived it on record. Days later, the champions for the tournament are decided. Fleur Delacour would represent Beauxbatons and Victor Krum, who Harry saw compete at the Quidditch World Cup, will represent Drumstrang. The Hogwarts champion would end up becoming Cedric Diggory of Hubblepuff House, who Harry also went to the World Cup with. Surprisingly, Potter's name would be picked as well when he is still fourteen years old, didn't put his name in goblet and not tell anyone older than him to do it for him. Despite the confusion, Crouch Sr. declares he must compete as part of a magical binding contract. As much as Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall do not wish for him to compete, the headmaster does take the consideration of potions teacher Severus Snape that letting the young wizard compete could narrow down who is responsible for the controversy. At the same time, he assigns Moody to watch over him throughout the rest of the semester. With no clear answer on how this happened, everyone believes Potter cheated and the teen ends up being shunned by his friend Ron Weasley who also believes it. The day after this, he would reach out to his godfather Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), who would believe him that he didn't put his name in the goblet, but also shares with him everything that's been happening isn't a coincidence because Karkaroff was a former Death Eater who was in Azkaban for some time; On top of that, Crouch actually sent his own son Barty Jr. to Azkaban for being a Death Eater as well. While he can't confirm who exactly put his name in the goblet, he assures him it is someone who wants him dead because many have died in past tournaments. When visiting his friend, gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) at night, he discovers that the first task will involve stealing a golden egg from a dragon. The next day, Potter would give a heads up to Cedric, while also tipped by Moody he is allowed to use his wand to access his broomstick during the event. With that advice alone, he completes the task with his life. It is after this where he is able to make amends with Ron, with the latter realizing he would never intentionally put himself in danger like that. When the holidays is near, Hogwarts would also host Yule Ball, a formal dance where only four year students and above are allowed to attend. Harry would try to ask another girl named Cho Chang (Katie Leung) of House Ravenclaw, but she would already say yes to going out with Cedric. Ron had tried to ask out Fleur, but she would end up going with Ravenclaw Quidditch captain Roger Davies (Henry Lloyd Hughes). With minimum options, the boys would go with Parvati & Padma Patil (Shefali Chowdhury & Afshad Azad) respectively, but the dance ends on a bad note due to Ron being jealous of Hermione going out with Krum. After the dance, Harry would then relive the dream of the caretaker's murder. The next day, Cedric would return the favor by telling him to take a bath in the Prefect's Bathroom to deduce the golden egg's clue. He does so with the unwanted company of Moaning Myrtle (Shirley Henderson) and discovers underwater a siren's song playing as the egg is open. This would confirm the next task to take place at the Black Lake where he must find something taken from him. On the day of the second task, Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) gives Gillyweed to help him breathe underwater. He then must rescue someone within an hour until losing the power. Surprisingly, each hostage held by mer-people are people close to the champions: Ron, Hermione, Cho and Fleur's sister Gabrielle (Angelica Mandy). Fleur would be unable to save the sister in time due to being attacked by grindylows. Krum would end up rescuing Hermione while Cedric rescues Cho, which grants him first place. With Harry saving both Ron and Gabrielle, he is awarded second place and has tied points with Diggory. After the task, he converses with Crouch Sr. who congratulates him for his success, but their conversation is interrupted when Moody believes to recruit him into the Ministry of Magic. When Potter later gets caught up wandering the woods with Hagrid, he would shockingly find Crouch dead. When he goes to alert Dumbledore of his discovery, he overhears the headmaster argue with Minister Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) on whether or not to cancel the tournament which the latter refuses. While waiting for the headmaster as he walks the Minister out, he discovers a pensieve in the office, one that can store and review memories. When looking into it, he sees one in which Dumbledore & Moody were at court and Karkaroff was on trial for his past as a Death Eater and became pardoned for revealing Barty Jr. to be part of Voldemort's followers, hence the latter being sentenced to Azkaban. Dumbledore would then return to his office explaining to Harry he's been looking over this memory in hopes to find out who put his name in the goblet. Potter would then share the dream he's been reliving, and admit Barty Jr. is the third man he's been seeing (having not known his name until now). Despite being important information to share, the headmaster would insist not linger over it. On the way out of the office, Snape would accuse him of stealing ingredients needed for Polyjuice potion and would threaten to use Veritaserum on him to get the truth out of him should anything else go missing. The following day would be the third task and final task where the champions must retrieve the Triwizard Cup in an enchanted maze placed by Moody. During the task, Krum appears to be imperiused as he stuns Fleur and tries to do the same to the other boys until Cedric stuns him first. He and Potter would then reach the Cup, but would instead act as a Portkey, taking them to the graveyard Harry's dream takes place in. It is there where Wormtail appears with a weakened Lord Voldemort at his hand, summoning a cauldron in which he places his master in, intending to revive him at full strength. Before he does so, he kills Cedric with the killing curse. He then continues by throwing in the bone of his father, Tom Riddle Sr., cutting off his own hand and drawing blood from Harry pinned to a statue. With each needed ingredient needed for the regeneration potion, Voldemort's revival is a success and he returns with full strength. Now at his strongest, he awards Wormtail with a new hand and summons his Death Eaters to bask in his return. The followers include: Crabbe, Goyle, Macnair and even Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs), father to Harry's school rival Draco. After calling them out for lacking effort to find him again, he resumes his focus on Harry and challenges him to a duel, knowing he can harm him with his blood in his veins. When they duel, the ghosts of Potter’s parents and many victims of the Dark Lord distract the enemy long enough for the young wizard to return to Hogwarts with the cup and Cedric’s body. Everyone would be in shock of finding Cedric dead and hearing Harry’s discovery. Grief stricken, Moody takes him to his office to talk to him of what he witnessed. This would only be a pavement for the teacher to confess he planted Potter’s name in the goblet all along, guiding him to win just to ensure the Dark Lord’s return. He almost takes the credit of killing him personally until he is stopped by Dumbledore, Snape & McGonagall. Snape uses the Veritaserum on him to confirm Moody has been Barty Jr. in disguise all along using Polyjuice Potion to remain in disguise while infiltrating the school; The real Moody was trapped in a magical trunk all semester. At the end of term feast, Dumbledore chooses to address Cedric’s death to the school, whereas the Ministry chooses to deny Voldemort’s involvement. As the school year reaches a conclusion and the opposing schools bid farewell, the film would end with Potter declaring with his friends things will never be the same at this point.
THOUGHTS
It's definitely hard for a franchise to go past a trilogy because you have to maintain the passion and give logical sense to why the story continues. It puts me in relief to see how this one keeps the ball rolling. Director Mike Newell steps in to create stakes higher than before to keep us on edge for how intense the setting is. Patrick Doyle's score was able to clarify when to feel the majority of joy and intensity that occurs throughout. The visual effects are an instant hit due to seeing another batch of fascinating creatures expected. The dragon Harry fought to get the egg was indeed an intimidating to behold, but I was easily creeped out of the mer-people who were not as friendly as we wish to imagine them. And the horde of grindylows gave me so much anxiety I was relieved I don''t live near an ocean/beach. In fact, the view of the Black Lake arguably had the best production design because it showed exactly how unpredictable this fictional world can be filled with the damnedest of things. Hogwarts will always be incredible to digest with our eyes, but I also enjoyed how the Yule Ball looked because it reminded me how neat an average school dance can be. This entry is another standout because Newell is able to tell us a bold interpretation on how we must still be capable to make our own choices the older we get and after you've made it, you must be brave enough to accept the responsibilities that come from them. This was crystal clear when following our iconic lead who has quite the ringer of an adventure at this point. Daniel Radcliffe boosts more maturity for Harry at this point which is logical since he is growing up with the character. What Potter does differently attitude wise is that he wanted to avoid the spotlight for once, due to realizing the pressure it takes to be a great wizard, apart from being one who famously survived a fatal spell. Sadly, things didn't go his way again when his name gets put in the goblet and doesn't find out whodunnit until the tournament is over. While he wishes he can get out of it, he brushes off the negativity from doubters, puts good use of his advantages to overcome every odd that came his way. You don't even want to think what would be done differently if he didn't have any advantage at all because you just want to be grateful he gets to live another day. Apart from confronting his great enemy once again, his best moments come from when he gets to be an average teen by reaching out to Sirius about his problems and talks to his first crush Cho. He doesn't have all the answers in life, and seeing him figure it out made us relate to him once again. Since the journey is not over, it is great to see he still has friends that'll be by his side to finish it. Rupert Grint did a great job showing Ron to have a chip in his shoulder, but he actually had good reason here. It bothered him to hear Harry's name come out of the goblet because due to being famous since birth, he felt that he did it for attention's sake. But when seeing how dangerous the tournament it is firsthand, he understood there's no way he would ever dare to do so. And from there, he would return to being a loyal friend. The drama didn't stop there since this would be the first time his feelings for Hermione were hinted due to the jealousy he had over her going with Krum to the ball. It was clear he wanted to ask her out, but knew it would've been hard to break from the awkwardness. There's no doubt Hermione tried to be helpful to Harry as she always has, but Emma Watson reflects she's still someone with her own life to deal with. Her brief relationship with Krum showed she was more than a bookworm. She appreciated his company because he was the first to see her for something else, whereas everyone else that isn't Harry was annoyed of her intelligence. It did bother her on how Ron approached the situation because she's always been straight up with everything they talk about and she felt he should've done the same. Nevertheless, this doesn't define their relationship in the least because there were bigger things to worry about. Besides friends, it's still great to see how protective the teachers are towards Harry because they know his life is so much to cope with as it is. Michael Gambon continues to keep it up in improving what has made Dumbledore a special character. His wisdom is tested here because he has to put Harry at risk to figure out who wants him dead. It was the biggest gamble for him to take at this point, but it still worked out because he was able to protect him when he knew he could, hence instantly confronting Moody's impostor. Snape will always be the teacher that is tough as nails when it comes to teaching, but Alan Rickman reminds us he has his own compassion for the students the way Maggie Smith's McGonagall reflects at every chance. There was nothing but fear in his eyes when he heard Harry's name be picked out of the goblet because he knows he's been through enough as it is and shouldn't be in the tournament at all. It was bold of him to even suggest letting him go through it anyway when there could've been a way out of the contract. But he knew this was the best case to lure out the enemy which ended up working very well. In all honesty, I don't think he was guessing Harry would be stealing from him but he had to point fingers at everybody because he doesn't favor anyone. The whole point of this action is to teach students to not tamper with things beyond their understanding, which I'm sure Harry will respect it more than he likes it. The best part of this story being set in a tournament was getting to see other schools who have their perspectives of this fictional world because it was quite obvious Hogwarts wasn't the only school out there. Having said that, it was quite the delight getting to know fellow Hogwarts student Cedric. Before having a deep connection with bats thanks to later roles in Twilight and The Batman, Robert Pattinson stood out for being a naturally kind figure who was granted an arguably special opportunity to represent his school. He got along with Harry so well solely off of thinking alike where kindness is all it takes to befriend you. He didn't put much thought of the source of Harry's fame and because of that, getting stuck in the graveyard was the last place he'd find himself in. His death stings to this day for it being the most unnecessary to have happened, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The statement couldn't be anymore proven when Voldemort calls him a spare like he's a tire. When Harry weeps like his father Amos (Jeff Rawle) would, it's because he knows his existence is the reason it had happened anyway and wishes it didn't. When you look back and see Potter continue to defy the odds by overcoming evil at every turn as the franchise progresses, I don't think his death was in vain. Going into other characters, Clémence Poésy made such a positive mark as Fleur because even though the odds were against her, she pushed through in independent fashion. She may have not won the tournament, but at least she still gets to live her life a little longer. I still find it ironic how she still became part of the Weasley family by the Deathly Hallows, just not with Ron like some would hope. Stanislav Yanevski spiced things up as Krum because he's the most reserved of people competing in the tournament because he doesn't relish on the attention like Harry did at first. But when not competing, he's friendly to those he opens up to and luckily, Hermione was one of them. It was a shame to be imperiused by Barty Jr. because harming people is the least of things for him to think of. On the bright side, no one outside the maze was able to see him at his most vulnerable and he was able to not let this moment define him either. It's one thing to hate Draco for having a cruel attitude towards Harry, which Tom Felton owns so well at this point, but reporter Rita Skeeter was on my nerves the most compared to him here. Miranda Richardson was able to make her such a hateful figure because she had no respect towards Harry or anyone for that matter because her only concern was selling a good story the Daily Prophet newspaper. I know there are going to be people who act like this in the publishing world, but boy was it annoying to be reminded of it through a cold character. On the other hand, she wasn't the main problem to worry about as there things worse than a newspaper tabloid. It is a surprise to notice many actors have gotten to play the role of the franchise's central villain Lord Voldemort. Overall, no one has done it better than Ralph Fiennes. Thanks to the combined use of makeup and motion capture, He is able to embody the character better than anyone else ever could and masters the presence of a power hungry psychopath. He proves it when he chooses to toy with Harry rather than finish him off quickly like Cedric. He may be the main threat, but his disciples who do the heavy lifting are ones who prove they can't be doubted. Brendan Gleeson definitely had a run for his money with a twofer of a performance, having us believe he was the paranoid Mad Eye Moody when he was in fact devoted cultist Barty Jr., which David Tennant picks up on and embraces he is one far from being saved. With the danger still lurking, there is no doubt the journey isn't over for Harry yet but whenever the said danger returns, there's no doubt he won't hesitate confronting what form it will take. Although this story is filled with darkness, I'm surprised the heart is there with it's humor. My biggest laughs looking back will always be either Hagrid crushing over Maxime or Mr. Filch firing the cannon too early to summon the task for the day. This may be another great entry to the series but even a good movie like this can’t be ignored some flaws I picked up on upon re-watching. For starters, has a Muggle ever found a port key on accident like the boot Harry used to get to Quidditch World Cup? That would’ve been funny to see because people enjoy hiking in the damnedest of places. I think of that more than how the boot doesn’t travel with Harry the way the Triwizard cup does later on. Also, who put up his tent anyway? Did Arthur Weasley go back and forth to set it up because magic or not, that had to have been a hustle. I really don’t want to overthink it when it comes to continuity errors, but I don’t think Lucius’ cane was tall enough to reach Harry’s leg no matter how intimidating it’s supposed to look. Isn’t it a little crazy for Barty Sr. to be available to attend Hogwarts and inform the new rule after the recent attack of the World Cup. If you ask me, the latter of investigation should’ve been more important for him to attend to. Also, why are the spectator stands so close to the dragon’s den? This is completely more dangerous than a game of Quidditch, so the audience should’ve been placed further for their own protection. They’re lucky no one died at that point. Of all the things that bothered me during the Yule Ball section of the movie, does it really work out for teachers like McGonagall to teach students to dance in between their classes? I know they gotta be respectful, but that honestly sounds quite difficult to multitask for any student, whether or not magic is involved. Another thing, did anyone really volunteer for the second task? Gabrielle is younger than the other students involved, so it’s crazy to think she or anyone else would have. Even if Ron & Hermione trusted Harry would save them both, they’re playing with fire trusting mer-people to guard them. I understand Amos’ presence to support Cedric for the third task sets up for the money shot when he wails over his death, but where are the parents of Fleur & Krum? It’s not like they don’t support their kids and if they really don’t, that’s just so fucked up. I know I’m not the only one who would say it’s on Barry Jr. for over drinking his handmade Polyjuice Potion. If he drank it before he went to sleep, that’s totally on him because he could have saved some for the rest of the following days and on top of that, he could’ve skipped chaperone duty for Yule Ball because it looked like enough teachers were involved as it is. Ignore this, then you’ll just as much of a good time as before. In conclusion, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is another excellent entry to the franchise for showing off the competitive aspects of being a student, and showing a better glimpse of maturity as a teen. If you’re a fan of the books that enjoyed the previous three films, it’s a no brainer you’ll enjoy this too.
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