[HPFGU-Movie] Dan's acting

[artsylynda at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/28/2005 8:16:38 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com writes:

<<I've always maintained that young Master Radcliffe has severe  
limitations as an actor, and that scene is a perfect  example.>>


I just can't let this go unchallenged.  Dan has done a  credible job in all 
the films, IMO.  Given the scripts and direction he's  had, he's done very well 
with the material at hand.  I DID see tears in the  PoA crying scene (they 
showed up clearly in IMAX), but I grant you, it didn't  SOUND as convincing as 
it should have.  But how many 13 year old  boys can "pretend" to cry that hard 
and sound convincing, particularly if  they're generally happy people who 
haven't suffered much in their lives (which  seems to be true of Dan), and 
probably haven't spend a lot of time crying?  
 
I give Newell full marks, as well as Dan Radcliffe himself, for the  
tremendous improvement in Dan's acting.  He's matured, he embodies the  character I've 
been reading about absolutely perfectly, and he touched my heart  many times 
in this film, at all the right spots.  His tension and shock  when everyone's 
calling him a cheat when his name comes out of the Goblet of  Fire are 
perfect.  I could feel how hurt and scared he was.  His  solemn face as he's walking 
down that corridor while the students are all saying  goodbye to each other, 
and the gradual shift in his expression from solemn to  slight smile, is 
lovely.  His "weight of the world on his shoulders"  expression when he says "yes" 
so simply to Hermione's "Everything's going to  change now, isn't it?" was spot 
on.  His fear was palpable in many scenes,  and the resolve in his face and 
body language as he stood up to face Voldemort  -- I was so impressed with his 
courage.  And I LOVED seeing the  playfulness and "cheekiness" in his 
character that I've always thought was there  (but it wasn't shown much in the films)  
during the scene when Ron had  to dance with McG.  It was nice to see him 
acting like a normal "sports  hero" teenager, too, when asking if the Gryffindors 
wanted him to open the egg  -- it may have seemed a bit OOC to some people, 
but you have to realize  that he's been the center of many a celebration after 
winning Quidditch  games and he's used to that kind of thing now.  That was a 
fun scene.   And his tension while dancing -- perfect!  One of the best things 
I've seen  in film lately, that both touched my heart, made me laugh and made 
me remember  the "not so good-old-days" of being a teenager, was Harry's 
discomfort in asking  Cho to the ball.  They could not have done that scene any 
more  convincingly.  And Cho was quite charming, as well.  For her  first-ever 
role, I was impressed with how she handled that scene in  particular.
 
I've rarely been impressed with child actors (it requires a GREAT  director 
to get a good performance out of most of them), but I've always been  impressed 
with Dan, and not just because he was a cute little boy and is a  handsome 
young man.  He fits into Harry's skin so well  and makes you  see the "magic" of 
the magical world through his eyes, as well as the horrors of  Harry's own 
life.  When Harry brought Cedric's body back, his body language  and heartbroken 
tears were perfect.  Newell did a marvelous job of  direction and of teaching 
the kids how to reach down inside themselves and pull  out those extreme 
emotions they needed to show in this one, as well as the  subtle ones.  Dan and 
Rupert were simply fabulous.  Emma was way  over the top at times, and sometimes 
her reactions were just illogical to  me.  She's been pretty good in all the 
films, but this was her worst  performance in many scenes.  Her scenes in the 
ball sequence were  wonderful, though.
 
That's enough of a rant for now.  I'm excited to see Dan in  "December Boys" 
to see how well he can portray a different character, but I  think he'll be 
fine.  Harry and Dan are very different people, with  different looks and body 
language -- Dan has potential as a great character  actor as well as a leading 
man, I think, simply because he can look so different  with only the addition 
of glasses and the proper attitude, at such an early age.   

Lynda AKA "Abraxan"

Read my Harry Potter fics here:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPRefinersFire/





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]