Review of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) by Sean W — 09 Jun 2014

What's more frightening? Tackling a fire-breathing dragon or asking someone out on a date? Yet another improvement on its predecessors, Goblet of Fire is the funniest, most exciting, most emotional and most frightening Potter instalment yet. Radcliffe, Watson and Grint deliver their best performances thus far, showing a firm grip of the much darker and more emotionally challenging material here. Newell and Kloves ensure that the powerful material contained within its complex storyline is never lost; but they also manage to perfectly capture the angst and insecurity suffered by our adolescent heroes with a wicked sense of humour.

The ever-expanding ensemble are at the top of their game here, with top-notch performances from Tennant, Pack, Gleeson and Pattinson (I know, right?). But stealing the show has to be the Dark Lord himself, as Fiennes - with a little help from the CGI team - delivers a turn as Voldemort that marks a definitive transformation to the series. It's gonna be a rough ride from here on out.

Compressing a 600-page book into a film less than three hours long is never going to be easy, so the most faithful readers may not be totally satisfied with the absence of some material. For the rest, Goblet of Fire is simply awesome.