I just randomly remembered something about the Harry Potter movies that enrages me.
Okay we all know the Goblet of Fire movie was one gigantic mess. We all know about the ‘calmly’. We all know about the ‘calmly’.
Oh god the ‘calmly’.
But there’s something even worse…so much worse…
It’s even worse than them omitting Hagrid’s bloodline or the scene where Cornelius Fudge intentionally gets a dementor to suck out Barty Crouch Jr.’s soul so that he couldn’t testify or Rita Skeeter’s secret or god this film was such a horrible injustice to the books!
But none of that, none of that is even remotely comparable to this scene:
THIS MOTHERF—ING SCENE
WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE THAT HARRY JAMES POTTER WOULD HESITATE NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE, WHEN IT COMES TO SAVING A FELLOW HOGWARTS STUDENT’S LIFE IN A TOURNAMENT HE NEVER WANTED TO BE IN IN THE FIRST PLACE!
It is such a disgrace to Harry’s character, to everything he’s gone through, to the sheer amount of compassion he built up over the years of abuse by the Dursleys. Harry would never, in a million years, hesitate to save Cedric and he definitely wouldn’t have his head flying back and forth between a shiny prize and a dying teenager screaming his name are you kidding me movie!?
(Cedric screams it four times by the way, in case any of you were wondering, I counted as I grabbed these screenshots.)
And to make it worse, to make it even worse, you have Cedric gave Harry a weak smile and say, “For a second there, I thought you were going to let it get me.”
Only for Harry to stare right back and say, “For a second there, so did I.”
WHAT?
In case anyone’s forgotten, here’s how the scene plays out in the book:
Notice how HARRY MF JAMES POTTER DIDN’T EVEN HESITATE WHEN CEDRIC WAS IN DANGER, HE IMMEDIATELY ACTED BECAUSE THAT’S HIS THING, THAT’S HIS WHOLE CHARACTER, HIS “SAVING PEOPLE THING” IS WHAT MAKES HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER! THE FACT THAT HE AUTOMATICALLY TRIES TO SAVE EVERYONE REGARDLESS OF WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO HIM IS BOTH HIS GREATEST STRENGTH AND HIS GREATEST FLAW AND IT’S BROUGHT UP AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN IN THE BOOKS BUT THIS MOVIE THINKS IT CAN JUST THROW ALL OF THAT OUT TO GIVE YOU A SUSPENSEFUL SCENE IMPLYING THAT HARRY HAS TO STRUGGLE TO…YOU KNOW…NOT MURDER SOMEONE!?
AND DON’T WORRY, MOVIE, I’M NOT SCREAMING AT YOU! BY YOUR DEFINITION, I’M TALKING TO YOU CALMLY!
Hey, look at that, I brought it back.
I really didn’t like how the final task was portrayed in the movie. In the book it was almost positive. Harry felt prepared, even if he didn’t win, it would be over. There’s no creepy mist, no edgy “people change in the maze” just a task that Harry gets through. He succeeds in the maze! He answers the sphinx riddle, fights off some creatures, generally does a pretty good job.
In terms of pacing, it’s a more light hearted, positive challenge, and then the graveyard hits you from nowhere. You think, isn’t this great, they both win, and then bam, Cedric is dead, and Voldemort returns.
Making the maze creepy and mysterious kind of ruined that pacing and I felt s disappointed watching it.
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