Harry Potter: First reviews

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 6/28/07 at 11:43pm

World Prem in Toyko last night.

Yesterday, with a lacklustre al fresco cavalcade of special effects and just a single beaming starlet, you could see that some effort was being made. For their part, a relatively sparse throng of Japan’s die-hard muggles pretended to take the tinseltown bait. The film itself is a solid, occasionally spectacular set-piece that struggles unsuccessfully to give us thrills and fun we have not already had in previous instalments.

It is far crueller than its predecessors and begins to introduce properly the idea that we are no longer in an amusing magical playground, but are en route to an epic confrontation with real victims.


The acting skills of Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (Hermione) have improved, but not enough to truly flesh out the characters and provide the narrative depth that this transitional, plot-advancing film needs. They have got “angry” and “determined” down pat at this point, but struggle somewhat on the more nuanced grimaces. Harry’s bellowing cod-psychoanalysis of Voldemort is jarringly awful.


The fifth – and longest – book on which the film is based plays a crucial but faintly turgid role in the saga. Much is explained, much is left hanging and there is nothing like the pace of action that readers had grown accustomed to in earlier episodes (especially The Goblet of Fire). The book pulled this off because it was tantalising in what it didn’t tell us.

The film, meanwhile, a necessary digest of the 800-page book, leaves us faintly annoyed that the true denouement of the cycle is now two movies distant.

The chief problem, though, is not really a fault of the film but the near universal Potter-literacy of its prospective audience. Most Potter fans are now laser-focused on the release of the climactic seventh book in three weeks’ time and its promise to bring together the countless loose ends.

As the waiting for the final book grows unbearable, there are moments when this otherwise enjoyable film, though nicely made and through no fault of its own, feels like a chore to be got through before the main course.


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21988346-16947,00.html

Updated On: 6/28/07 at 11:43 PM