So! I saw Goblet of Fire today.



First of all: this is my favourite of the HP films, even trumping PoA.

Secondly: Mike Newell can do dark.

Thirdly: my notes are largely incomprehensible from being written in the dark while I stared at the screen with a rictus grin of sheer glee. My face hurts now. I may also have picked totally random things to mention here, but this is the review you’re getting.

Fourthly: the members of cast I saw (bearing in mind 3,500 people were invited, ie all cast, all crew, all extras, and all their friends) were Igor Karkaroff, Seamus Finnegan, Cedric Diggory (<3!), Severus Snape, Professor Sprout (who sat next to me), and Vincent Crabbe.

Here we go!

The film opens with Nagini slithering through a giant skull carving in the Riddle graveyard. It really sets the tone for the whole film, as well as foreshadowing the Dark Mark - sinister, lots of greys and blues, and there’s a lovely snake-cam following action as we go up the hill towards the Riddle house.

The Riddle house is awesome and ramshackle, with the caretaker’s cottage a bit bigger than I imagined it. The interior of the house is very bare-wood and cobwebby, which makes me think good things about how Grimmauld Place will eventually look. Frank Bryce has a nice old-fashioned stove kettle, and the delivery - “Bloody kids” - is spot-on the cantankerous care-taker. Voldemort’s voice is high and cold as promised, and Pettigrew fawns awesomely. Also, in our first deviation from canon, a third figure kneels by the chair and is given a mission regarding Harry Potter. This is Barty Crouch Jnr, and I should say right now that he is HOT. David Tennant sells this role like woah - spectactular acting all through the film.

We cut from the AK to Harry waking up at the Burrow. The Dursleys scene has been cut, which makes me happy because they’re the dullest part of every book (except, possibly, OotP), but it does miss out on the twins tormenting Dudders. Still, there’s more than enough twin-action in this film to go round. Hermione lectures Ron, and utterly sells the slightly exasperated tension from the books (Ron wears some very cool pyjama things throughout this film). We go out and off to the Portkey. The film clips along at a rate of knots, I should mention, and it came to just under 2.5 hours altogether. A lot of things are cut, but it hangs together remarkably well. I’ll do a round-up of the obvious cuts (ie the plot-affecting cuts) at the end.

Onwards! We stride through the woods with Harry et al. They meet Amos Diggory, who seems like a complete knob, and then Cedric appears from a tree. Literally, he jumps out of a tree. I have no idea why. But he is hot, and Ginny and Hermione exchange significant looks, as well you might. He exudes public-school “nice chap”-ness, which is spot-on for my idea of Cedric.

The Porkey sequence is better than anticipated, with thuds and a loopy worm-hole vortex thing (I know, I’m not selling it too well), and there’s a funny bit where the kids all fly off and thud to the ground, only to look up and see Cedric, Amos and Arthur casually strolling down through the air. Hee! The campsite is HUGE and has a wonderful festival/military encampment feel. Lots going on here. The twins are great, and speak in unison, and generally engage in loveable banter. I wasn’t a fan of the Phelps brothers before this film, but I am now.

The stadium is awesome. For real. It’s huge on a Phantom-Menace-addressing-the-Senate scale, a birth-pods-in-the-Matrix scale.

Lucius Malfoy is hotter than before, and a lot more sinister. He still has the snakeshead cane, and uses it to hook Harry’s arm. As the entire House Elves plot has been lost (and also the whole Ludo Bagman plot), Arthur et al don’t sit with them, so we don’t see Narcissa, which is a bit of a shame. But Draco fans should be very pleased with him in an all-black suit. He looks quite dapper.

The leprechaun stunt thing just looks lame, but that could be me. The Bulgarians have a cool, war-like vibe which you’ll see more of with the Durmstrang students. Krum does a stunning broomstick trick - it’s well-constructed and looks genuinely death-defying - and half the stadium turns into a giant Krum poster. He’s a little better-looking than I saw Krum, but he does sell the whole ‘Quidditch star’ vibe.

We don’t see the World Cup action, and cut instead to the tent, where the twins are doing some sort of crazy Riverdance thing, there is much horseplay and shenanigans, songs are performed mocking Ron’s love for Krum, and general rowdiness.

Bangs outside. Arthur goes to investigate. He comes back. “It’s not the Irish” is imbued with a sense of COMPLETE DREAD.

As well it might be. The Death Eaters are, I have to say, genuinely scary. There’s no Muggle-related horseplay - these people are setting fire to tents and trying to kill people. Screaming, running, Harry is told to flee. It’s a very frightening scene, and this film is most definitely Not For Young Children. The DEs have metamorphosed from “ha ha, having some fun with my evil friends” to “turning the camp into a warzone”, and I like it. Harry is knocked out, and wakes to find the camp gutted, very post-apocalyptic, mist and the bare bones of tents.

Then we see Barty Crouch Jnr approaching again. He’s still hot. He sees Harry and stalks after him. Harry manages to get out of sight, but Barty is busy doing the Morsmordre. The Dark Mark is awesome, and scary, and the music is particularly well-placed. Barty looks terrifying, and laughs with what I can only describe as “wild happiness” (yes, I know this is Riddle’s descriptor, but Tennant sells “mad and evil” like nothing else).

Barty disappears and the Weasleys et al arrive. There’s none of the Winky-Dark-Mark bickering, and Hermione explains that the Dark Mark is “his mark” (which rather loses Arthur and Bill’s great piece of exposition there). The camp site is devastated, the Ministry officials are grim, and Hermione is shivering. It’s very effective, and certainly does the “something really scary is starting” business.

We go to the train. There is chit-chat which I didn’t particularly note, though <3 Crookshanks, and Harry bumps into Cho at the sweet trolley. No-one has ever made “two pumpkin pasties please” sound so cute. I really love Cho’s accent (Scottish, if you haven’t seen the clips).

The Beauxbatons carriage arrives, which you’ve probably seen from the trailers. It moves amazingly well - some really slick effects here - and Hagrid guiding it in with ping-pong bats cracks me up. I’ll mention here that we see Ginny a lot more often around the Trio during this film, obviously setting her up for an OotP/HBP role - the same is true of Neville. Except Neville gets lines. Ginny just gets to be, well, there.

The Durmstrang ship is also awesome.

The students enter the Great Hall! The Beauxbatons girls do a little swooping dance up the main aisle, accompanied by magic blue butterflies, which isn’t as tacky as it sounds. I have to say, though, that I expected Madame Maxine to be large all over, and not just VERY TALL and rather thin. Fleur is gorgeous, but my viewing companion says “her face is too English”. I disagree. Hermione is unimpressed. The Durmstrang boys enter with staffs and capes, and WOW this is cool beyond belief - they do a little floor-stamping, staff-thumping entry march, keeping that whole “warlike and dynamic” thing that the Bulgarians set up at the World Cup. It’s worth mentioning that one finishes on his knees before Dumbledore, blowing fires that swirl around him EXACTLY like the HBP cover. Hmm...

Igor and Severus share an Enigmatic Look at the high table. I don’t think this dynamic was handled as well as it could have been.

Mad-Eye enters and immediately is attacked by, or attacks, the ceiling in the Great Hall. I didn’t really understand this, unless it’s to show us that a) the castle doesn’t trust Fake!Moody, or b) Mad-Eye is crazy and paranoid. He mutters “stupid ceiling”, so maybe it’s meant to be the latter. He swigs from his flask, and the students speculate about its contents - the Polyjuice thing is foregrounded all through the film, which saves a lot of exposition at the end.

More gratuitous Ginny. The Goblet is cool, and very blue-flamey. There’s a scene in which Igor sneaks into the room containing the Goblet and looks very suspicious, which I don’t really understand, unless it’s a bit of misdirection about who put Harry’s name in.

Cut to the first DADA class. Moody sells the whole “eccentric” thing, though I’m disappointed by the absence of CONSTANT VIGILANCE. Seamus is most soundly reprimanded for his inappropriate placement of chewing gum (and rightly so. I hate those little bastards who stick it under the desk. Ugh). Again, the lighting is dim, the light is grey, and everything looks like Frankenstein’s monster is just around the corner. Moody uses a weird spider-creature thing to demonstrate the Imperius, not a student, which makes it into cheap comedy until he changes the tone in a single moment. This was very well-done - from “ha ha isn’t that funny” to a realisation of the true scariness of the Unforgivables. Neville is called up to the front to see Cruciatus up-front and personal, and it’s only on reflection that the set-up (Barty Crouch forcing Neville to watch the curse that destroyed his parents) is horrific. Hermione begs him to stop, seeing Neville’s reaction. As a little reward, the spider-thing gets AKed on her desk.

Emma Watson’s acting is just incredible in scenes like that. She’s really come along since the first films. Outside the class, there’s a very cool steep spiral staircase (and some great camera-work) and they see Neville staring into the corner. This is when the Barty-parents-Cruciatus penny dropped for me, and you see a single raindrop trickle down the outside of the stained-glass window he’s staring at, looking like a single tear.

It’s raining outside. The castle looks gaunt and gargoyle-y. Newell can DO sinister and foreboding.

Cedric is pushed towards the Goblet by a crowd of Hufflepuffs, and is still very cute. Ron gives him a little wave, which confuses me, because I thought he was a Krum fan? Or was Krum just behind Cedric? Eh... whatever. Hermione and the twins have a lovely little section of dialogue about the efficacy of their Ageing Potion - they really play off each other very well. Twincest fans, you’ll be happy that they drink the potion with their arms linked around each other, and end up scuffling on the floor. There’s a very Monkees vibe about the twins, and I’m not sure it’s just the haircuts. Hermione starts reading again with a roll of her eyes. Hee. Krum comes in and there’s a Look between the two of them - it’s not obvious and twee, so I like it. More a silent, grim vibe on Krum’s part, and an unable-to-look-away on Hermione’s.

The champions are chosen! My notes here read “Cedric = so MANLY”, so I’m sure you can see what planet I’m on. But his pride and excitement here just break my heart. Fleur’s entry is folded into a little fan, which tickles me. The moment when Harry’s name comes out is handled well - Dumbledore gets angrier and angrier, the hall goes silent, Harry is pushed up to the front by Hermione, who does a wonderful job of selling the feeling of foreboding here.

The room behind the Great Hall is filled with weird silver and gold steam-driven gizmos. Are these the ones we see in Dumbledore’s office in the latter books?

Dumbledore has lost his gentleness. There’s shouting. He slams Harry up against the wall. I suppose on one level he’s recognising the seriousness, the very real risk that Harry will die, but it jarred for me because Dumbledore is always so IN CONTROL - until HBP of course. Moody and Igor have A Moment.

We have a new staff-room scene. Dumbledore is standing in front of the Pensieve, which is the stone basin we’ve heard about, with a rickety wooden framework of old and tarnished mirrors behind it. McGonagall begs him not to let Harry take part. Snape says they should see it to the end, to which McGonagall protests that Harry isn’t bait or “a piece of meat”. Dumbledore asks Snape and Moody to keep an eye on him - why not McGonagall, as she’s HIS HEAD OF HOUSE and everything? Huh.

Up to the dormitories, and Ron is pouting adorably. He really goes with the whole sullen teenager thing, and the tension between them is surprisingly moving. He mutters “Piss off” into his pillow.

Rita Skeeter! Is wonderful, with a waspy waist, a 50s femme fatale look, and great body language. The interview scene is funny and off-kilter, if a bit too seductive for someone she thinks is 12. Harry has “a psychotic death wish”, which I find humourous.

Sirius has great handwriting.

The common room is more sumptuous than I remember - lots of tapestries, flowers, knotwork, unicorns, embroideries. I know everyone and their dog has seen the “fire chat” effect (ie Sirius’s face appears actually MADE OUT OF fire), but I’m not that impressed - I preferred the “disembodied head” interpretation.

Cut to Neville and Harry chillin’ by the lake. Neville is wearing galoshes and up to his knees in water and waxing lyrical about plants. I like the way they’re foregrounding him. Ron and Hermione are accompanied by Ginny, who is wearing a truly awful “boho charity shop” kind of look. The tension between the Trio is absolutely spot-on to the fights I remember when I was a teenager, with some truly venomous looks.

The Forbidden Forest, and the dragons are awesome, awesome, awesome. Charlie was apparently present earlier, but because he and Bill are the Missing Weasleys, we’re not going to see him. Charlie even took Ron to see the dragons, and Ron hasn’t told Harry. Handbags at dawn!

The “Potter stinks” badges are a nice little piece of special effects. I love the fact that Cedric’s friends call him “Ced” - apparently two syllables are too long - and the “good old boy” vibe is laid on nice and thick as Harry tells him about the First Task. Then Harry and Ron have a catfight, which segues into the ferret scene - explaining why Harry is much with the ludicrous over-reaction there. You’ve all seen the ferret clips. I have no idea why the artistic decision was made to have Malfoy burrowing down his companions’ trousers.

Moody’s office is full of Foe-Glasses and gizmos, which is cool. I particularly like the sinister trunk, which rattles and you hear a scream - apparently “you wouldn’t believe what’s in there.” How do none of the other staff members notice that a genuine Auror is screaming his lungs out in there?

There’s a big scenery shot which is breathtaking. The Hogwarts mountains are gorgeous, and this really continues with the “rugged scenery” vibe from PoA.

The dressing-room tent has beds in, which seems unnecessary but kinky. Fleur has a blue jumpsuit which makes her look a little Kill Bill-esque, but not in an overly obvious way. I like. Hermione gives Harry some last-minute advice, and a clingy hug, and I almost die from the Harry/Hermione vibes. Seriously, this whole film is significant glances, hand-holding and hugs. Seems weird after HBP, but then Harry and Hermione together are much with the pretty. Rita jumps out and gets a shot of them both looking very embarrassed post-hug. She’s wearing a tight black leather top, partially unzipped, and Krum tells her to get lost. His accent is very sexy.

The little dragons are a great effect. They seriously ARE little versions of the scary big ones. Cedric also does this “fear and stoicism” face, which is the most heroic thing imaginable, and makes my heart sink a little because I know he only has half a film left alive. Neville, in the stands, is wearing earmuffs. The dragon Harry faces is VERY, VERY scary, and moves in a realistic reptilian way - the stands are set up around that rocky territory you’ve seen in the trailers, and Harry gets seriously whacked around before he manages to Accio the broom. As soon as he gets the broom, WHOOMPH - the action sequence is electric, the crowd is cheering, and the dragon escapes its chains and heads off for an action-filled chase around the Hogwarts towers. This wasn’t entirely necessary, but it was well-done, and rather reminiscent of the over-playing of Buckbeak in PoA. It is JOY when Harry wins, and I felt like cheering myself. The twins, also, are JOY, with their stupid knitwear and bets on Harry’s death.

Back in the common room, we have real portrait interaction - they’re all crowding around and celebrating with the Gryffs, while Harry milks the popularity for all he’s worth. The twins suddenly become relationship counsellors when Ron enters the room, and pack everyone else off to “carry on with their knitting” because “this will be painful enough without everyone watching”. This jarred - since when have the twins been Mr and Mr Sensitivity? But the reconciliation is touching.

The Great Hall. Cho sees Harry looking at him, and smiles. Harry spits out pumpkin juice. It’s more funny than it sounds.

McGonagall has a massive gramophone. You thought Lupin’s was large? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. She is going to teach them to dance, to avoid disgracing the name of Godric Gryffindor. Good luck there! Ron is mean to Eloise Midgen, who is extremely unattractive. This scene is just generally cute - the twins mock, Ron has to dance with McGonagall, and all the boys suddenly find the ceiling very interesting when it’s their turn. Cuteness. Not as cute, though, as Neville practising by himself up in the dormitory, in pyjamas and VERY SHINY formal shoes.

Speaking of shiny, the Beauxbatons girls have shiny handbags. Very nice.

There’s a little bit with Krum and his fan club down by the lake, which is adorable, and there’s the whole “meaningful glance” thing at Hermione - still not annoying.

Homework in the Great Hall - this is a bit of a film trend. The Trio whisper about Yule Ball dates, and Hermione gets indignant. Snape slaps Ron from behind, which is surprisingly funny. Fred - or is it George? - asks Angelina out, and manages to be incredibly smooth whilst also incredibly funny. There’s a suggestive hip movement that cracks me up. Snape smacks Ron and Harry (there’s some hair-pulling there too, Harry/Snape fans). They carry on whispering, Hermione marches up to Snape and hands in her homework and storms off. Snape notices Harry and Ron being annoying, rolls his eyes, and pulls his cuffs down very deliberately, striding off to deliver another slap-down. Hee. Rickman’s timing in this scene is just classic, even if I don’t really believe there’d be corporal punishment at Hogwarts, certainly not with the casual exasperated violence he does here.

You’ve probably all seen Harry asking Cho out, which is very sweet. Cho looks genuinely upset, as well, and emphasises that she really IS sorry. Harry over Cedric? Mad girl.

Ron’s shell-shocked look after asking Fleur out - bundled into the common room by Ginny et al - is classic. The kids really are developing comedy timing.

The Ball! The dress robes are beyond hideous, and Ron begs Harry to “murder me”. The Patil sisters - portrayed as inseparable, and both in the Gryff common room in the previous scene for no apparent reason, hello Ravenclaw - are wearing lovely orange and pink saris. Cho’s dress is almost Victorian in a Violet Baudelaire way, ivory and blue silk with a high neckline and an oriental influence in the fastenings. Hermione’s has lovely ragged ruffles at the bottom. Krum looks very fetching. The Great Hall is all done out in ice and Christmas trees, and Harry REALLY CAN’T DANCE. Nice Filch and Mrs Norris moment during the first dance - he’s cradling her and singing along, and she’s purring. Aww. All the couples look gorgeous and very happy. The Weird Sisters look and sound rather like the Killers - except with Jarvis as the frontman - it’s a very suave and monochrome rock look, and the music is FANTASTIC. My notes read “down and dirty rock music”. It segues into a wild and fast dance, in which Hermione and Krum are having SO MUCH FUN it should be illegal. I loved this scene, I really did. Krum kisses her hand, and there’s tears before bedtime - I like angry Hermione, but she gets a little too hysterical for my taste, screaming at the boys that “you’ve ruined everything” and throwing off her shoes, while Ron observes that “they get mental when they get older.”

The Dark Mark, I should note, looks like a treble clef of snake, and moves under the skin in a genuinely disconcerting way.

Neville staggers up to the dorm with his shoes tied around his neck - “I just got in! Me! I just got in!”. Awww.

Later on the Lupin-bridge, Hermione observes to Harry that Viktor is a “physical being, not particularly loquacious”. Then realises she sounds pervy, and giggles. There’s a lot of subtext here, but both actors really are acting their socks off. Cedric comes up and hints about the egg.

The prefect’s bathroom is awesome - literally hundreds of taps, all different colours of water, bubbles floating down from the ceiling, and a bath big enough to be a swimming pool. The scene is a little distubring, though, as Radcliffe strips to reveal a surprisingly toned torso, and then gets molested by Moaning Myrtle. It’s actually creepy - she gets in the water and keeps casting meaningful glances, ahem, south of his waistline. Harry uses bubbles to good effect. The mermaid is moving stained glass, which is a nice effect, and it looks more like a Potterverse Merperson than a pretty mermaid thing. Moaning Myrtle also throws in a reference to Polyjuice, in case we’d forgotten.

As Dobby is cut, Moody suggests Neville helps Harry put his books away, which prompts a conversation about Gillyweed. The library set is pretty cool, with floating stacks of books and glass cages.

The stands in the middle of the Lake. Fleur is wearing a swimsuit that at first glance looks like a silk nightie, which makes her look about 12. I really imagined her a lot more, ahem, ‘mature’ than this. Still, she looks gorgeous, and the underwater CGI is spectacular. The people captured underwater look like dolls, tied onto platforms, and it’s quite creepy how blank and ‘dead’ they are. Gabrielle, I thought, looked more obviously Veela underwater, as she has very very pale skin and hair - though the whole Veela aspect is cut from the film, with no mentions anywhere. Fleur sits on the bank looking absolutely petrified - top acting there. There’s a slightly dodgy bit where Harry is set upon by octopus-like creatures, and a burst of magic makes them all reel and die - someone’s watched the Matrix too many times?

On the banks again, there is more Harry/Hermione, Crouch and Moody have a Moment (though the whole Imperius plot is cut, so it’s not entirely clear what this is about), and there’s an early mention of the Department of Mysteries - apparently a summer intern went in and never came out. Sounds like my last job.

The Trio and Hagrid stride through the Forest, singing the school song, which I thought was a nice touch after it was cut from the first film. Harry finds Crouch dead - I told you the Imperius plot was axed - and we cut to Dumbledore’s office. The falling-into-the-Pensieve effect is done really well, and the courtroom looks wonderfully old-fashioned. The chair! In the cage! Has SPIKES all around the inside! It’s gothic and sinister, and Karkaroff looks properly terrified to be in it. He outs Barty Crouch, who is looking very hot and dapper in a suit, and not at all the petrified boy from the books. Barty tries to run from the court, but is grabbed, and he does that COMPLETELY MAD laugh again in his father’s face. Brilliant. I really enjoyed this scene, though I was a bit disappointed we didn’t see any more of the courtroom.

It’s pronounced Pen-SEEV, according to Dumbledore. He’s a more dynamic, less enigmatic figure, which I don’t think sits well with this book - maybe saving it for OotP would be better?

Karkaroff shows Snape his Mark in the Potions Storeroom, which is a wonderful rickety old thing full of jars and shelves and a really tall ladder. Rickman has great delivery here, and it’s Veri - TA! - SEE - rum, apparently.

The Third Task! The Beauxbatons girls do a kind of graceful Macarena as they line up for the maze, which is odd but looked good. Dumbledore takes the champions aside to warn them that “people change in the maze, you could lose yourselves along the way”, which seems odd but sets up a little ‘what the hell happened to Krum?’ as it’s never made clear he’s Imperius-ed. Although see my rant below on that. Moody gives Harry a little pointer, and Dumbledore looks suspicious. Harry enters the maze - the entrance looks so much like the entrance to the hills where the Dead live in RotK - and the walls close in behind him. It’s dark, misty, and very very creepy.

The maze shifts around, almost trapping people. Cedric looks scared, which is hot, and Fleur looks absolutely petrified in a Blair Witch kind of way. The bit where Krum attacks her has a lot of suspense, and then the leaves and branches take her body into the maze ‘walls’. This would, I imagine, give small children a life-long fear of vegetation. I’m annoyed because Krum and Harry face off briefly and KRUM’S EYES ARE MILKY WHITE TO SHOW HE’S “CURSED”, presumably to tip off any non-book fans that he’s not genuinely evil. WTF? Surely the whole point of Imperius is that it doesn’t show when you’re under it? Tch, tch, tch. Not impressed with that one. Cedric and Harry scuffle, and run, and scuffle, and run, and Harry saves Cedric from being eaten by the Scary Maze of Doom.

The Riddle graveyard! Harry sees the writing on the stone and realises they’re in deep, deep trouble. But Voldemort is carried in on Wormtail’s back, like a horrible little wizened demon thing, and Cedric is killed almost too fast to notice. The statue on the Riddle tomb, which we’ve seen several times - it’s a Grim Reaper thing - moves, and captures Harry with its scythe. Wormtail does the stuff, and it’s scary, violent and brutal - lots of blood, Voldemort’s body is truly unpleasant, and there’s a lot of pain involved. I really thought this scene topped off the whole film.

Voldemort rises like a creature from Alien, and is surrounded by shadows, which coalesce around him into a cloak of darkness. I’m speechless at how cool this effect is. Gaaaah. He has a snake-like face, and bare feet, and moves with SHEER GRACE - really good work by Fiennes - running his hands gently over the back of his head, checking he’s fully corporeal again. And then he calls the DEs, which made the hair stand up on the back of my neck - he casts the Dark Mark, and then the DEs fly through the skull as shadow, pooling on the ground into recognisable human form. Scary, scary, scary. They’re wearing half-face skull masks, which Voldemort disappears into puffs of smoke. There’s a fabby bit where Lucius is kneeling before him, whispering to him, and telling him that “the face I wear every day is my true mask”. Then he stands UP in front of him, and the look Isaacs gives - it’s arrogant, and evil, and it’s the one moment he’s really sold me on Lucius as a character.

Wormtail’s hand coalesces out of liquid silver. Voldemort delivers the “you lived because Lily loved you” expose, and the sheer contempt he gives it with was awesome; and he treads on Cedric’s face with his bare feet. Voldemort really IS a three-dimensional character here - fierce, full of energy, and very creepy. You can really see the Tom Riddle in him, if you get what I mean, and he tells Harry that he wants to watch him die - “I want to see the light leave your eyes”. They start to duel, and there’s a cool little bit where Harry flings an Expelliarmus which Voldemort effortlessly CATCHES on its way past and rips apart with his bare hands. Scary. Eek.

Prior Incantatem. Cedric, and Lily, and James just broke my heart, particularly when Cedric whispers “take my body back”.

Harry arrives back in Hogwarts with a handful of dead Cedric, and everyone starts cheering and celebrating. This was unbearably poignant, and I was more than a little misty-eyed, particularly when AMOS gets up and starts dancing for his son’s success. Then Fleur screams, and it all turns into mayhem, and you get a wonderful series of reaction shots around the crowd, showing the knowledge starting to sink in. My viewing companion thought Amos mourning over the body was too much, but it made me sob. He really is a very good actor.

Moody’s office. If you’ve got a weak stomach, be advised that Harry’s wound from the graveyard is VERY gory. Moody starts to change, having run out of potion, and the segue into Barty Crouch Jnr talking for himself is very very well done. The change is nicely done with the special effects, as well. Barty looks MAD as a hatter, as usual, and cackles to Snape that “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours”, pulling up his sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark. Unfortunately, we never get to see Snape’s. The scene cuts out on a silent stare between Snape and Crouch, with a lot of tension; Snape looks inscrutable, which sets up the HBP start nicely.

Dumbledore’s memorial speech made me cry. Waaaaah.

We then wrap the film up. Dumbledore visits Harry in his dorm and apologises for putting his life in danger - there’s no expose about wand cores, or Voldemort being able to touch him, and certainly no ‘glint in the eye’, which perplexed me because I thought that stuff was meant to be important? Apparently Dumbles set the horrible Gryff curtains on fire in his fourth year, which I applaud because they ARE horrible. Outside, Krum gives Hermione his address, and she beams. Fleur and Gabrielle give Ron kisses on the cheek. Hermione says breathlessly “everything’s going to change!” and they all agree. It’s an abruptly up-beat note to get to after the graveyard scene, but the Trio really do sell it. The ending is genuinely poignant.

And then I clapped my hands off.

So! What’s been cut? Here’s my non-exhaustive list of “important plot cuts” (ie not “there wasn’t that dialogue word for word”):
- Winky, Dobby, SPEW and all House Elves
- Ludo Bagman
- the Dursleys
- Veela
- wand-weighing and wand cores
- the glint in the eye
- the break-out from Azkaban
- Sirius
- regathering the Order
- Molly and Bill
- the World Cup action
- the Marauder’s Map
- any Moody-Snape tension
- Harry’s Imperius training (he couldn’t resist it in this film)
- catching Skeeter
- sunshine (hah!)
- Bellatrix, or any other trial sequences
- training for the Third Task
- all tasks in maze except defeating the bastard Plants of Doom
- Voldemort’s speech about “one has left me”, etc
- Harry/Cho was largely backgrounded.

Phew! That’s taken me five hours to write! Hope I haven’t left anything out. If you have any questions about stuff I haven’t covered, please feel free to comment and ask.

GREAT film. I can’t wait to see it again!