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| "Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." |
Summary:
Harry and the gang return to Hogwarts for their second year. But a terror has been awakened in the bowels of the school, and an ancient evil stalks the hallways. As panic hits a fever pitch, and students are found petrified in the halls, Harry and his friends leap into action. What is the Chamber of Secrets? What's inside it? And who opened it, in the first place?Pros:
Hitting a Stride: I already mentioned how much this film stepped up its quality, but I wanted to talk about that at length. Gone is the soft focus, gone is the golden sheen permeating every frame. Gone is the light-hearted tone of the first film. We are headed to darker territory, now, and the filmmaking reflects this. It seems like Chris Columbus was let off the leash, here, and he starts exploring more inventive camera angles, edits and effects. Columbus starts to flourish his style with more cinematic wizardry than was on screen in the first film. Because of that, the film feels more like a prestige movie than its predecessor. The Wizarding World is getting darker: kids are in very real danger of being killed at school, and Columbus has fun shedding the constraints that I imagine were studio-mandated in the first film: make it look good, but not flashy. This time around, he develops a bit of welcome flash. The first movie was a huge financial success, but the second film would mark the series' march towards artful cinematic legitimacy.The Talent Grows: In just a year, our leads, Harry, Hermione and Ron, grow as actors and start settling into their roles with a remarkable amount of comfort. Daniel Radcliffe's charm and charisma are building, and his role as a natural leader begins to develop in earnest; Emma Watson's Hermione is clearly the smartest person in the room, and she shows real shrewdness and establishes herself as a necessary element in the trio; Rupert Grint was a funny kid, and his turn as Ron injects the film with some much needed humor: from his silly faces, to his hilarious whines, and every time his wand backfires gloriously, Ron is a welcome comedic force in this increasingly dark movie. These kids didn't just luck into the roles of a lifetime: they earned them, and, by the series' end, they will have proven how necessary to the success of the franchise that they really were. It is cool to see them growing, by leaps and bounds.
Not a "Kids Film," Bit Kid Appropriate: The most brilliant thing about J.K. Rowling's books are that they grow with their audience. She layers in more and more complex characters and conflicts as the series progresses, and never insults her readers. The films do the same, and that journey starts with Chamber of Secrets. This is a film with dire stakes and a legitimately thrilling mystery, but it never goes so far as to be inappropriate for a child to see. You won't find blood and guts and easily defined villains, here: the films wisely follow Rowling's footsteps and begin to introduce nuance to an otherwise child-appropriate fantasy franchise.
A Fun Mystery: This film, free from set-up and heavy-lifting, is able to spin a fun mystery. On second viewing, all of the clues are there, like any great mystery, daring you to spot them. It also plants some seeds for the larger mysteries at the heart of the franchise, too. We are watching with a friend who has not seen these movies, and he has so many questions, and we (my wife and I) know all of the answers, but cannot tell him. Thinking back, it must have been maddening to have one question answered, only to lead to a handful of other questions. Questions that would take the better part of six subsequent films to answer. There's a reason this franchise captured the imagination of the world: there was a story, with complicated lore, and the filmmakers (and Rowling, herself) doled out the answers to the many questions over the course of the series.
Fuck Hamlet: Kenneth Branagh was born to play Gilderoy Lockhart. He is one of my favorite "villains" of the series, and Branagh brings his A-game. He is the puffed up celebrity wizard, adorned with fanciful capes and frilly lace, who constantly finds new ways to insert himself into every situation. The script doesn't give as much time to him as the book does, but Branagh makes every second count. By the time he duels with Professor Snape, as a demonstration for the children, you are practically rooting for Snape to destroy him. That's a funny bit of storytelling, that: Snape has, until this moment, been billed as a snobbish villain, out to get Harry, and casting him as the person who will "set Lockhart straight," is great fun. When we finally discover the reason for Lockhart's success, he proves an interesting, insidious wizard, and proves that you don't necessarily have to be a big bag Evil Lord of Evil to do great harm in the world. Sometimes, all you have to be is an egotistical blow-hard with a penchant for memory charms.
Set Design: This film features some of my favorite Wizarding World locations: we get to see The Burrow for the first time, and the eponymous Chamber of Secrets. The Burrow is the home of the Weasley family, and it is delightfully insane: it leans, drunkenly, to the side, a house built of bits and bobs stacked precariously on-top of one another. The inside is crowded with knick knacks and charmed cleaning utensils. It is beautiful in all its madcap glory. The Chamber of Secrets, on the other hand, is nothing short of arch villainous beauty. James Bond's rogue's gallery would swoon at the sight of it. The rows of rising cobra heads, and the large bust of Salazar Slytherin's face, replete with windswept tendrils of hair the slither into the stone background, make the space feel epic and dripping with evil. The sets will continue to be one of the franchise's strengths, and they do not disappoint, here.
Better CG: Dobby the House Elf is a great cinematic creation. The CG is clearly not up to 2018's standards, but it is still a marvel for its time (2002). Dobby looks, acts, and sounds like a living, breathing character, and part of that is due to Toby Jones masterful voice acting work, but a large part is due to the love and care that the artistic team took to animating him. We also get to see a lot more magic this go around, and the spells are beautiful. We get to see wizards dueling for the first time, and, while the later films will do it better, Secrets gives a fun glimpse into what it looks like when Wizards step outside to settle their differences, mano-a-mano.
Cons:
WTF, Dumbledore?: You would be forgiven for thinking that Dumbledore is the most careless headmaster in Hogwarts history. You might even side with Lucius Malfoy's scheme to get him fired. Put aside the fact that he's clearly billed as a hero, and let's look at the facts: he keeps hiring either out-right villains (Quirell) or dangerous incompetents (Lockhart) to teach, arguably, one of the most important courses at the school: Defense Against the Dark Arts; he routinely puts children into dangerous positions; and there seems to be little to no security forces, even as kids are being petrified in the hallways. Now, the books provide some much needed clarification on all of these counts, but, as a film watcher, you might well wonder how the hell all of this shit keeps happening under the watchful eye of Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore (yes, that is his full name), Order of Merlin, First Class, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards (real titles, all). Dumbledore is an endless source of debate amongst fans: he is legitimately careless with the lives of children, and routinely places them in dangerous situations. This kind of attitude and edge will come to define Michael Gambon's take on the role when he assumes Dumbledore's robes for the remainder of the series, and his performance will prove divisive to fans itself.Long Movie is Long: We made the mistake of starting this film at 9:00 PM. And we chose the Extended Cut, rather than the Theatrical Version. We sent our friend packing at midnight. The enormity of this undertaking is starting to set in.
Hermione Gets a Raw Deal: Hermione kind of gets short shrift in this film: she gets petrified, and leaves Harry and Ron, practical wizarding idiots, to save the day. They do, but barely, and entirely prove Ms. Granger's value to the team in the offing. She solves the whole thing, off screen, but gets left out of the grand mission at the end. She even goofs her Polyjuice Potion, and has to sit that adventure out, as well. It just kind of sucks to see her sidelined for a majority of the film. But she is similarly sidelined in the book, so there's that.
In Conclusion:
The first film wasn't bad, not at all. But this movie makes it look like child's play. It looks sleeker, better-filmed, and more artfully composed than its predecessor. And the series, if I remember correctly, will only get better from here on out. Chamber of Secrets gives us more magic, more stakes, and more mystery to chew on, and it stands as a testament to what you can achieve when you spend your Big Studio Blockbuster Money the right way, and treat your franchises with love and respect.Should You Watch It?
Oh yeah. Let's just assume that you should watch all of these movies, because, even when they make mistakes, they are better films than most other movies can dream of being. And they are fun, to boot.Miscellany:
- This movie cost $25 million LESS than its predecessor.
- Fourteen Ford Anglias were destroyed to film the scene where Harry and Ron crash the Weasley's car into the Whomping Willow. The Ford Anglia was the car author, J.K. Rowling drove in college.
- The actress who plays Moaning Myrtle, Shirley Henderson, was 37 years old when they filmed this movie.
- This movie is based on the shortest book in the series, but is the longest film, at 161 minutes.
- Rupert Grint has extreme arachnophobia, and has still not seen the scene at Aragog's lair in its entirety.
- Filming began THREE DAYS after the release of Sorcerer's Stone and marks the quickest time between film installments, rivaled only by the release of the two Deathly Hallows films (at six months between releases), but those were filmed as one production and cut into separate films.
- Hugh Grant was originally cast as Gilderoy Lockhart, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Jude Law was deemed to young to play the part, but he would go on the play young Dumbledore in the second Fantastic Beasts film, due later this year. That's a decent trade, I think.
- Richard Harris was ill with Hodgkins lymphoma, but demanded the roll NOT be recast. He finished filming, but passed away before production began on the third film.
- There is some discussion that Scooby-Doo (2002)'s box office was inflated due to Potter fans going, in droves, to screenings specifically to see the trailer for this movie.
- One of only two Potter films to NOT be nominated for an Academy Award.
- The Flourish and Blotts set is a redress of the same set used for Olivander's Wand Shop from the first film.
- The actress who plays Moaning Myrtle, Shirley Henderson, was 37 years old when they filmed this movie.
- This movie is based on the shortest book in the series, but is the longest film, at 161 minutes.
- Rupert Grint has extreme arachnophobia, and has still not seen the scene at Aragog's lair in its entirety.
- Filming began THREE DAYS after the release of Sorcerer's Stone and marks the quickest time between film installments, rivaled only by the release of the two Deathly Hallows films (at six months between releases), but those were filmed as one production and cut into separate films.
- Hugh Grant was originally cast as Gilderoy Lockhart, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Jude Law was deemed to young to play the part, but he would go on the play young Dumbledore in the second Fantastic Beasts film, due later this year. That's a decent trade, I think.
- Richard Harris was ill with Hodgkins lymphoma, but demanded the roll NOT be recast. He finished filming, but passed away before production began on the third film.
- There is some discussion that Scooby-Doo (2002)'s box office was inflated due to Potter fans going, in droves, to screenings specifically to see the trailer for this movie.
- One of only two Potter films to NOT be nominated for an Academy Award.
- The Flourish and Blotts set is a redress of the same set used for Olivander's Wand Shop from the first film.
It's really amazing HOW MUCH BETTER this one is over the first. The level of improvement is a feat unto itself.
ReplyDeleteAnd the first movie is STILL a good movie. But this one just, like, JUMPS off the screen. Crazy.
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