Reviews

Imagine Star Wars remade in the style of the X-Men, and you just about have it: a tense fantasy thriller with just the right balance of humour and action. For a night out at the cinema, it's a pleasant diversion. For a Harry Potter film, it's a miracle.

There are two advantages when the cast (and the audience) are more mature: you can show grittier and more complex subject matter, and you can have more nuanced direction. There are no pauses between gags or superfluous exposition - in fact, the well-observed jokes feel more like nervous humour and are nearly always the punctuation point between the next crisis or explosion.

The little orphan boy has matured well into an angry young man, and while the youngest - Emma Watson - still has a little way to go in terms of performance, the rest of the cast cope admirably with their increasingly demanding roles. Better yet, the screen time between the teens and adults is well-balanced, in the way that the aforementioned X-Men managed so well. The subtle winks and nods from Gary Oldman pack a punch as great as Daniel Radcliffe screaming "Look at me!" in another scene. On the subject of of punches, this is a movie in which a single hand-slap is more shocking than the explosive set-pieces and special effects.

It's been pointed out in reviews that Grawp is a misstep, but thankfully his screen time is kept brief and - like Kreacher - he is no Dobby. Every excess subplot (and even a few popular scenes) have been excised, leaving a lean and straightforward foil to the previous movies' labyrinthine stories.

If the first was cute, the second dreadful, the third good and the fourth a mere illustration, this fifth Potter is the first to hit all the right notes in all the right places. Now that they've finally got things right, I have high hopes for six and seven.

On paper, it simply doesn't work at all. Get largely unproven former child actor to put on an American accent, pad out the cast with British TV stars and unknown American actors, and rip the story off from Fahrenheit 451 and various other post-apocalyptic nightmare stories. Add some martial arts and Robert's your avuncular relative. It sounds, frankly, terrible. Before you can say Big Brother, the cliches are in - burning works of art and classical music, damsels in bureaucratic distress, and poor lost puppies in a world where pets are outlawed.

However.

Christian Bale's quiet, understated performance matches perfectly the vulnerable, heart-wrenching evocativeness of a by-now trademark piece from Emily Watson. Taye Diggs' overly-emotional turn adds - as the production notes point out - a valued dynamic core to the proceedings as Sean Bean puts in his woefully short timesheet. Angus MacFayden is, to put it bluntly, unforgettable, though this is pretty much due to this movie's Unique Selling Point. The action sequences. Like The Matrix, Kurt Wimmer knew the simple equation that Interesting Film + Great Action = Buy It Now. As derivative and obvious as The Matrix - even with a nod or two in the Keanu-starrer's direction - Equilibrium is as classic as The Matrix for exactly the same reasons - it's a simple, oft-repeated story, well-told, well-acted and with the kind of action set pieces that make you thank God the camera was invented. Gun-Kata may just be a future Hollywood staple. Here's hoping.

The ever-dependable Steven Mackintosh and Natascha McElhone turned in solid performances to back up Jodhi May's powerful portrayal of the Tudor monarch. Jared Harris' Henry VIII managed to be sympathetic, seductive and tyrannical in turn. The unusual talking-to-camera, reality TV-style direction was a feature that really ought not to have worked but somehow did. As a depiction of the ruthless politics and intrigue of the medieval court, the movie succeeded very well. One word said out of place and heads, quite literally, would roll. A historical film could be said to be good if it increases interest in its subject matter. This fascinating and complex story is sufficient to have the laziest viewer reaching for the history books by the time the closing credits appear.

If you like cheese, you'll like this. If you like John Waters movies, you'll LOVE this! Sly, witty and with its tongue placed firmly in its cheek, the likeable Paul Rudd is the standout performance in a warm and excruciatingly funny film.

The studios must have agonised over how to translate JK Rowling's 'instant classic' to the big screen. Perhaps this was its problem. From the first, each story is so tightly-plotted and intricately woven that it is nigh on impossible to have every important detail crammed into two and a half hours. Yet, this is exactly what Chris Columbus and his stellar cast attempted to do.

As Lord of the Rings prepares to enter the box office race, it is difficult not to draw comparisons, but LotR has an instant advantage in that many of its cast members used to be celebrated child actors: In Elijah Wood, we see a promising pint-sized thespian full-grown into an outright star, and Sean 'Goonies' Astin may have struggled to maintain his profile since the 1980s, but still has the Hollywood seal of someone who has grown up in the limelight. The main problem with the pre-teen Potter stars is quite simply that they are children, and it is hard to expect eleven year-olds to carry a multi-million-dollar project.

Still, there are delightful performances from the young cast, especially the dazzling Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy. Rupert Grint is an exceptionally accurate Ron Weasley, and Daniel Radcliffe lives and breathes the role of Potter. Yes, at their young age, there are many moments where their performances are stilted and stage-school-like. On the other hand, they have a refreshingly innocent quality that is often missing from big-name child stars like the original Potter choice, Haley Joel Osment. At the crucial moments, like the affecting encounter with the Mirror of Erised, Radcliffe expertly conveys the sense of loss and longing the role requires. As for the adults, Alan Rickman is a simply perfect Snape, and Ian Hart an unrecognisable Quirrel.

For an adult watching the movie, it is all too easy to criticise the film's attempts to capture all the events at the expense of the chapters where the characters are developed - it didn't escape many notices that most of Potter's scenes of actually performing magic are edited out. Still, we can only hope that the following films will redress this balance, and bring out the full essence of these coming-of-age dramas. This first Harry Potter movie will delight fans of the books, but is unlikely to recruit new readers. However, anyone under the age of twelve will be absolutely spellbound.