 |
| Due to Richard Harris' passing, fans never saw his full portrayal of Dumbledore. |
I'm
sure this is a divisive subject, but I've always felt (increasingly so)
that Chris Columbus was the best director for the series. There is
something magical about the first two films. It's hard for me to put
into words, but the atmosphere, the heartwarming musical score and sort
of "old fashioned/ancient" style of the magic made it feel like a real
world for wizards. Voldemort was much scarier as a withered old man with
red eyes, raspy voice, and a nose! and with a hood as a dark wizard on
the rise in the flashback scene.
The
score made me feel like Harry, a young boy who has fallen in love with
this new world where he has friends and people who care about him. It
made me understand why he loved it so and called it home when the theme
plays.
 |
| Hogwarts was actually creepy in the first two movies. |
On
the other side, I've heard people say that Columbus didn't make 1 and 2
dark enough or made them too dull, but I completely disagree. The
forbidden forest was spooky, a giant spider, a giant snake, a mighty
underground chamber, a slithering phantom and even the screaming ghost
inside of a book made Hogwarts feel much spookier, richer and mysterious
than the other 6 films with plenty of ominous tones looming over the
future events (eg.
"Mark my words, Potter, one day, you'll meet the
same sticky end", "Let's hope Mr. Potter will always be around to save
the day | Don't worry; I will be", "After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named
did great things — terrible, yes, but great.")
 |
| Voldemort flirts with demonic possession in the first film. |
I
may be giving too much credit to Columbus but whoever made these
characters feel real and layered must've fallen out of favor or simply
lost their touch in the other films. I mean, 4 directors? I would go as
far as to say that Mike Newell better understood the series than David
Yates (who made 4 of the films and somehow effectively did 6), trying to
somehow find a balance between Columbus and Cauron's styles whereas
Yates just made everything so much worse consistency-wise when he made
5.
 |
| Fiennes' Voldemort is no Lord Vader. |
Personally
I hate it when people leave projects half done. I truly wonder and wish
Harry Potter had one director all the way through, or art director,
cinematographer or whoever (I'm not knowledgeable about what role every
person has on a crew) was responsible for making those first two films
so captivating and internally consistent.
I
think it would a challenge for any director to present the big world
that is to become the stage for a second wizard war, but by the end of
the actual series, everything felt so out of whack, pedestrian and
confused with thin characters popping up in every story whose deaths we
don't even get to see.
Not only was Voldemort's return mildly
impressive, but it felt so much more like real life with teenage
angst/frivolity on the stage instead. They were all the same length and
I'd rather see a consistent and otherworldly film instead of visiting a
private school for British kids in hoodies with silly "dark lords"
strutting around.
