Mugglenet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died - Emerson Spartz [76]
And the worst problem of all is the death of Sirius Black. The duel at the Ministry is swashbuckling, and Gary Oldman’s Sirius has a great time fighting off Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs). But why does Sirius have to call Harry “James” at the very last minute? That’s not in the book, and if they had to make that point, it should have come much earlier in the movie. And why does the Veil of Death look like an old set from Star Trek? We didn’t expect a shower curtain, but it’s supposed to be a “Veil of Death” and not smoky clouds. Then after Sirius dies, Harry’s heart-to-heart talk with Dumbledore is cut down to a few lines, and there’s no emotional tantrum or discussion of the prophecy, which is the real climax in the book. Thus there is no payoff for viewers to see how much Harry is suffering before he goes off to have pudding with Luna. It’s a lame ending to a watered-down movie that should have been less about politics and more about people.
Goblet of Fire
While there are some truly memorable performances in GoF, including David Tennant as Barty Crouch, Jr. and Brendan Gleason as Mad-Eye Moody, the movie flounders around and doesn’t do justice to the book. It’s not exactly bad, but there are so many subplots that the movie can’t capture them all. For instance, we see both Barty Crouch Senior and Junior in the Pensieve and in the present, but there is no way to explain in the movie that Barty’s father is a hypocrite who sprung him from jail. A few words from Winky the house-elf would have helped, but she was written out, as was Hermione’s interest in house-elf rights and S.P.E.W. It’s too bad that the theme of overcoming prejudice was written out.
The Quidditch World Cup is a big deal, but much too short. Then later, far too much time is spent on the Yule Ball, which is just a showcase for the teen actors. The fight with the dragon goes much longer than in the book. The maze in the Third Task is missing so many great elements that it is a big disappointment. Fans wanted to see the Sphinx, the giant spider, and the Blast-Ended Skrewt come to life. As it is, the champions are just jumping around in the shrubbery.
Character development isn’t that strong in this movie, and key scenes with Severus Snape and Sirius Black are left out. There’s no confrontation at the end with Snape showing Cornelius Fudge his Dark Mark, for instance, and no meeting with Padfoot at the local cave to discuss the Death Eaters. Yet a silly scene with Rita Skeeter is included, and while Miranda Richard-son plays the character to the hilt, her character goes nowhere. The subplot about Rita being an Animagus beetle who eavesdrops on people was deleted. And so much time and money is spent on the weird bathtub scene with Moaning Myrtle—come on! Who cares about that egg anyway?
Ralph Fiennes is creepy and cool as the returning Voldemort, and Michael Gambon does a pretty good job with Cedric Diggory’s eulogy. But Emma Watson’s line about “Everything’s going to change now, isn’t it?” is a really lame ending.
Verdict
The directors of Goblet of Fire chose to run with special effects and focus on certain characters while leaving out some that were dear to the fans. Order of the Phoenix has a similar problem with too much importance given to Professor Umbridge, and not enough to Snape’s memories. Which is the worst? While there are problems with GoF, Warner Bros. gutted the heart out of OotP when Snape’s memories were tossed. Verdict: Order of the Phoenix is the