Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Do not do so lightly! If chosen, there's no turning back. As from this moment, The Triwizard Tournament has begun! Year four at Hogwarts for Harry Potter and his chums, and it's a time of change, chance and danger. The prestigious Triwizard Tournament is being hosted and the applecart is turned upside down when Harry, unqualified and underage, is selected by the Goblet of Fire to be one of Hogwarts' competitors. If the thought of competing in such a dangerous tournament wasn't scary enough, Harry also has the worry of finding a date for the Yule Ball to contend with! The Prisoner of Azkaban set the marker for a darker, more grown up Potter picture, a high standard that Goblet of Fire, and new director Mike Newell, arguably had no hope of attaining. But it's not for lack of trying, and in fairness Newell and the team have managed well enough to blend the blackness that comes with the impending arrival of Lord Voldermort (Ralph Fiennes), with the burgeoning ping of teenager hormones. There's an awful lot going on here. With the Triwizard Tournament comes two groups of exchange students to Hogwarts in the form of the glamorous girls of Beauxbatons Academy, and the hunky boys of

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is an absolute spectacle. I am a huge sucker for tournaments in films and this hit every single note for me; intensity, stakes, creativity, it is all there. Our main cast is doing some of the best acting of the series, Daniel Radcliffe really raises his performance up a notch and establishes himself as the lead of the franchise. His acting is refined and mature and he does an excellent job portraying his emotions with not only his line delivery but his facial expressions and body language. He really broke through here and it was a joy to see. Rupert Grint and Emma Watson were great, but they had a slight decrease in screentime and really were sidelined during this film. The introduction of Robert Pattinson as Cedric Diggory brings an interesting dynamic to the story, as Harry Potter has somewhat of an older brother figure to contend with. The relationship and chemistry between the two builds and brings some emotionally heavy scenes throughout. There is constant action in this film; from the opening scenes of the Quidditch World Cup to the multiple rounds of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, there is always something happening, and it helps creat

Possibly the weakest of the series, this one, for me. Our trio start by visiting the Quidditch World Cup which is invaded by the evil "Death Eaters" who reduce everything to ashes in their search for "Harry". Shortly afterwards, the "Tri-Wizard Cup" comes to Hogwarts - a good excuse to introduce some new characters amongst them Frances de la Tour as the enormous "Madame Maxime" and Roger Lloyd-Pack as "Barty Crouch" as each school chooses their champion to take part in the potentially lethal games. "Hogwarts" chooses "Cedric Diggory" (Robert Pattinson) but the goblet also chooses our "Harry" and so four go into the competition. As this description, so far, probably indicates - there is an hell of a lot going on here and not surprisingly the adaptation to the screenplay starts to leave out detail and characterisation. To do the story justice, it ought to have been two films - we spend way too long establishing and when we get to the climax, it all seems a bit too rushed. Mike Newell simply has to squeeze too many, important, interweaving themes into 2½ hours and it doesn't quite work. It is still a great fantasy adventure building well on the now well-established characters and putt