A Visual Beast With A Dark Bite

Undoubtedly, one trait that a long running film franchise upholds, is the way in which it tries to re-imagine and betters itself, whilst keeping a familiar formula that audiences can engage and relate with. Over the many years of their own filmic existence, on-going film series in the forms of James Bond and Batman for example, have each always embodied and maintained a familiar structure that over the years, has always been re-adjusted and moulded by different directors and auteurs. Batman especially, with its radical transformation from Tim Burton’s 90’s renditions to Christopher Nolan’s hyper-realistic re-telling of the caped-crusader, is a clear indication of how much a franchise or a well-known singular-fictional character can morph into something completely different. The Harry Potter filmic series is no different; with the 3rd instalment, The Prisoner of Azkaban, crafted by Alfonso Cuaron who, although opens this adaptation with the same sought of warmth and grasp that the first two Columbus films extorted, does show-off his craftsmanship through the first flicker of the screen which is seen consistently throughout this tale, which edges towards the more ‘horrific’ side  of Potter more openly in this lauded fantastical world… 

Now aged 13 years old, Harry Potter is once again spending his dissatisfying summer at Privet Drive where he is to put up with the Dursley family and Uncle Vernon’s sister, Marge, who begrudgingly insults Harry’s parents. Fleeing with detest, Harry runs away into the Wizarding world where he soon realises, that he is in grave danger. The infamous convicted mass-murderer Sirius Black, a previously devoted follower of Voldemort, has escaped from Azkaban prison, to find Harry, and kill him. With the ghoulish creatures of the Dementors now safeguarding Hogwarts and Remus Lupin taking up the role as Defence Against the Dark Art’s teaching role, Harry, along with Ron and Hermione, must unravel the mystery of Sirius Black and what the real truth is, since everything, is not what it seems…

Being that this was the first Harry Potter film that was directed by someone different in the form of Alfonso Cuaron, the first talking point to naturally discuss, would be how the Prisoner of Azkaban differentiates itself from from the first two Potter flicks, in terms of the formal and contextual techniques that are consistently seen throughout. While we are greeted to the this film in ordinary fashion like in The Chamber of Secrets, with the film opening with the familiar and well-known ‘Harry Potter’ theme, conducted by John Williams, and how the camera establishes and pans across the other suburban houses down to Harry’s bedroom at 4. Privet Drive, Cuaron’s influence is firmly known within the first couple of minutes with his implementation of moving the camera through glass; a motif that is consistently seen within the film suggesting to us the intertwining relationship between the background & foreground. Having studied and watched many of his films in retrospect, such as Children of Men and Gravity, it was no surprise to see Cuaron enable the usage of the ever-flowing and often hand-held camera movement which, as you may guess, scans the entirety of the setting. A good example of which this is seen in Azkaban, the first sequence of the Great Hall, where not a single shot is stationery. This knowingly gives the scene and the film, a feeling of forward momentum and establishes a curious camera. Even more so however, this technique that Cuaron insistently uses within all of his films, is amplified even more within the contexts of Azkaban as it lends to this sense of unease and inability to find stable footing. For a film that, throughout, is to be haunted by a feared killer in the form of Sirius Black, using a stylised format that Cuaron is known for, is fitting to say the least. Even though it can be seen as a rather minuscule sequence, judging from the fact there are so many more action-set-pieces and extracts that play out within the film, the scene in which Harry firstly meets Ron and Hermione and subsequently talks to Arthur Weasley about Sirius Black, is a good summary of Cuaron’s film-making and Azkaban’s themes of background & foreground and this idea of isolation. Only lasting a brief few minutes within this moment of the film, Cuaron’s implementation of the long-take is used in a coherent manner; with the camera following Harry’s movement across the space where he is taken away by Arthur Weasley, from his friends, into the background and in isolation (and also highlighting the poster of Sirius Black in the foreground). It is an imperative and well-done scene, not just because of Cuaron’s ability to manipulate the space that Harry’s going into creating meaning, but how the sequence serves to tonally shift, from the light-hearted moments of Harry blowing up his Uncle’s sister and riding the eccentric Knight bus (which nod back to the first two filmic entries of this franchise), to a much more harrowing and darker film with the central character of Harry becoming rooted and isolated whilst also having this horrific dark-side of Sirius Black along with Professor Lupin who morphs into a were-wolf, hallmarking back to the classic British horrors. 

Along with Cuaron’s ever-present and unique techniques and unlike the first two Columbus Potter filmic pieces, Prisoner of Azkaban is a different and edgy-dark offering which meanders from the warmth and amiability that the first two entries delivered onto the silver-screen. As highlighted in the previous paragraph, tonally, Azkaban, within the 20 minute mark, shifts its story from the norm that was established in the first films, into a story that not only has tropes of horror in the forms of the Dementors, Sirius Black and Lupins transformation into a were-wolf and how it gradually has this consistent grey grain throughout its entirety, it’s also story that roots down the central character of Harry Potter. Rather than simply watching another perilous adventure story aimed primarily at the younger demographic, Azkaban widens itself into a story that features Harry, in a much darker circumstance, in which he is isolated; isolation being a common denominator in the later films to come for sure. Even in the last scene of the film, where Harry rides off on his Firebolt broomstick, he is all alone (bit much?). It is a breath of fresh air, and one that scopes Harry’s mysterious past, rather than to simply have a one-off adventure of Harry facing an unformed Voldemort, like we witness in the previous entries. You truly get to know a bit more of Harry’s parents death and who they acquainted with in the forms of Sirius Black, who is or isn’t rightfully accused of telling Voldemort of the Potter’s 12 years ago, Lupin who has his own problems and Peter Pettigrew, who is made known near latter half of this production. In my last review of The Chamber of Secrets, I noted how the majority of these films inhabit the intricacies of the British classical horrors of the 1950’s-70’s, where they would practically nod-back to a story structure that builds up tension to a crucial and dynamic-horrific scene. Indeed, this is accumulated and displayed  in the moment in which we see Lupin turn into his were-wolf form in front of Harry, Ron and Hermione and it definitely reminded me, when I recently re-watch the film, how much it nods back to later cinematic horror works; in the way that Lupin’s crooked figure matches background of sky/moon etc. More and more, like with this theme of isolation, this idea of the Potter films embracing Horror cinematic techniques is one trope to admire, all coming thanks to Cuaron.

Being that this was an important Harry Potter film that not only saw Warner Bros. bringing in Alfonso Cuaron to the directing table but also featured new characters that would later on make an impression on towards the future stories and films, it would be criminal if I didn’t go ahead and talk about the casting for this film since it features old and new alike. Now, the obvious starting point would be Michael Gambon’s portrayal as Hogwarts Headmaster Dumbledore who did replace Richard Harris who unfortunately died shortly before the U.K cinematic release of The Chamber of Secrets. When ever I think or watch something related to Harry Potter, I do always reflect and wonder whether the future films would have been different if Richard Harris did go on to play the Dumbledore character for the remainder of the series. Obviously, this was not the case. While Richard Harris, in the two previous films, brought that mysterious and whimsical effect to the character, it does have to be said that Gambon’s performance is definitely more engage-able with the film. There were times in the first two films that did feel as though the Dumbledore character did just show up and didn’t really do much when it came to the main story. In Azkaban however, while he isn’t as involved as he should be, Gambon does do a good job of offering to us a different take of the character, rather than just to imitate and mimic what Harris originally did. As I’m sure a lot of people reading this will know, Dumbledore becomes one of the more ‘iconic’ fictional individuals in the Harry Potter story-line that gets more involved with the action. It is hard to see whether Harris would have been able to do what Gambon had done. Along with Gambon came Gary Oldman, who acted out the murderer of Sirius Black, and David Thewlis who performed the role as Remus Lupin, a delicate and rather complicated character within the contexts of this film. Like his character, Thewlis is slick in his performance as Lupin as you never really get a true grasp of his character intentions until the last acts of the film (If you had read the books, than of course you would have known already). What is still good about the performance is the continuation and core of the same actors playing the same roles which would be a feature that would be admired for the Harry Potter franchise. Alan Rickman as Snape continues to walk the finest lines of being good and bad, and Robbie Coltrane, bringing to us the ‘warmth’ that was seen in Columbus’ film as Hagrid.

While Azkaban is the near perfect fantasy film for children and young-adults to gauge themselves with, it does have to be said that after re-watching the film, I can’t help but mention a few of the flaws that I found. The odd one which, thankfully doesn’t appear in the rest of the film, is the hunch-back assistant of the minister of Magic. To put it simply, his whole character should have existed in a Harry Potter film such as this one. The other complaint, which was mentioned in my last Harry Potter film review, is the total running time. While I didn’t feel as though I was watching the exact same film which felt longer, which is what happened a couple of weeks ago when I watched The Chamber of Secrets, Cuaron’s Azkaban does still hold up a lengthy running time of 2hrs and 22 minutes. Thankfully, this didn’t weigh down my experience re-watching the film, since Azkaban was a totally different film from the previous two entries. However, you can still make an argument of just how much you should show when it comes to translating the source material on to film. For me, you don’t have to place every-single detail from the books onto the film. Some things can just be left untold for a more coherent and accessible film-watching experience. As the Harry Potter films do go however, the running time does gradually decrease which is good to see.

To summarise all that has been said, Alfonso Cuaron’s efforts in creating a different, much darker and a much more rooted story, that progresses on-wards to the later stories, in the form of The Prisoner of Azkaban, is successful to the highest degree. Despite the fact that his previous work before Azkaban came in the form of a road-film that explored sexual discovery, Cuaron’s efforts are made known in a consistent and effective manner; with the ever-flowing movement of the camera establishing both setting and camera, the long-take which outlines Harry’s isolation and this relationship of the background & foreground, and the transitions that work that keeps the film at a fairly stable pace. With all this at hand, you do have to say that these techniques, in a fantasy film such as this that deals with a much more darker context and plays off of classic horror tropes, is definitely seamless, and overall explains why this is not only one the best of the bunch, but was an important film in establishing a ‘new world’ for future Potter  films that would naturally go down the ‘dark’ route…

And on that note, it’s time for me to end. As always everyone, thank you for reading my latest film review and I hope you’ve enjoyed the read! If anyone has an opinion on the film or on the review itself, please feel free to drop a comment down below. Next week should be an interesting one, as I don’t know what to review!! haha. At the moment, it’s a toss-up between the new Netflix series ‘Stranger Things’, a retro review, or another Harry Potter film review. It’ll between those 3 things, I just can’t make up my mind as to what I want to right at this moment. Anywho, until then, I want to finally thank you once again for everyone who has read my latest review and I’ll be seeing you all next week! Have a nice day and weekend!! Adieu!! 🙂

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – Alex Rabbitte