The fourth outing for the young wizard sees Harry being pitted against dragons, mer people, mazes and the Dark Lord Voldemort. Without giving much away; Harry is entered into the "Tri Wizard" tournament between the 3 wizarding schools and must therefore undertake three tasks to determine the winner. The plot is much darker than the rest, a progression from the dark third film, but all the humor and entertainment is packed in.
The film is long; the book was quite a tome and so the film does go on but if you get heavily into it the time flies! The story stays close to the original, bringing equal measures of action, thrills and plot development. However in some places the plot changes quickly without explanation, which can be a tad confusing. Diehard fans of the book will not be disappointed as the characters are played out very well with the usuals giving some excellent performances. Newcomer Brendan Gleeson plays an excellent role as Mad Eye Moody and Ralph Fiennes makes a good Voldemort, if only for a short appearance.
The screenplay has been well edited; cutting out some large portions of the book which could have been done with out with in the first place; namely Hermione's house elf crusade. Four Weddings director Mark Newell takes the helm and steers this film through a good course avoiding proverbial rocks which could have ruined this film. But as it happens this is the best film of the four, the most entertaining and enjoyable. Still, those who haven't read the books or those who just plain don't like them probably won't like it.
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