How much responsibility does a director bear on a movie? I guess that question's answer depends on whether or not you subscribe to the auteur theory. I don't know that the auteur theory can be applied to every director; for every director whose style is unmistakable, from Paul Thomas Anderson to Michael Bay--yes, both are auteurs, quality be damned--there are journeyman helmers like Martin Campbell or Joe Johnston. Arguably, Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Harry Potter movies belongs in the latter camp.
Something that is going to be very stark as I go through each Harry Potter movie is the schizophrenic nature of the directorial styles, or lack thereof. Chris Columbus did a very capable job of hiding his lack of style or flair by having skilled production designer Stuart Craig create the world of Hogwarts over the first two films, but his inability to grasp anything beyond basic directing skills is more on display in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, not 2002's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Columbus used different cinematographers for the movies; John Seale was behind the camera for the first film, but frequent Terry Gilliam collaborator Roger Pratt took the reins for Chamber of Secrets, which really shows. Even though a lot of the tricks Pratt uses to heighten suspense and menace are kind of rudimentary in style (odd camera angles, lots of panning, and so on), it's more than what's on display in the first movie.
What I remember from first seeing this movie in November of 2002 is that everything was improved. There aren't any vast changes, but what happens on screen is clearly the result of people knowing what they can and can't do with the story, though there are still moments of stilted dialogue or unnecessarily over-the-top performances. While Columbus's skill as a director didn't really improve much from the first to the second movies, the movie doesn't feel as elementary. Having said that, there are plenty of flaws on display. Something I had forgotten is this: Chamber of Secrets is 161 minutes long; the extended edition is nearly 3 hours long. For those fans of the book series who were infuriated when future cinematic adaptations didn't feature, you know, every little subplot, this movie is likely manna from heaven. I'm not sure if this is a case of the structure of J.K. Rowling's book being unwieldy, or Columbus and writer Steve Kloves not knowing how to tell the story on film correctly, but the first fourth of this film doesn't even hint at the title location. What's more, the final fourth takes place almost entirely inside said location. In between, there's a fun yet obviously wasteful Quidditch scene and a spider attack. But it really doesn't need to be 160 minutes long.
Either intentionally or otherwise, this movie is the most male-centric, I think, in the entire series. I'd forgotten that Hermione is taken out of the equation with just over an hour to go; she, like a few other supporting characters, is petrified by the monstrous basilisk that's been unleashed on the school by a hypnotized Ginny Weasley. Thus, the final hour is basically Harry and Ron fighting off various creepy-crawlies, followed by Harry facing off against a young Tom Riddle, who'd soon turn himself into Lord Voldemort. The first half of the movie is mostly dominated by Harry's rivalry with Draco Malfoy, which hits a fever pitch that none of the other movies even attempt to match. (While Harry presumes the worst of Draco in future installments, he never figures Malfoy is being tasked with killing Dumbledore.) That rivalry culminates in the Quidditch scene; for being mostly special effects, it's well-shot, but in the greater context of the film and book series, Quidditch seems like an unnecessary diversion.
Chamber of Secrets also introduces us to one new, somewhat important character (Lucius Malfoy, hammily played by Jason Isaacs) and one recurring theme, in the form of a consistently new Defense of the Dark Arts teacher. This time, it's shameless celebrity Gilderoy Lockhart, as portrayed delightfully by Kenneth Branagh. I'll admit that I'd love to know what Hugh Grant, who was apparently originally cast but couldn't do it for scheduling reasons, would have done with the character. Still, Branagh is possibly the first person in the entire series, with the exception of the reliably entertaining Alan Rickman, who is enjoying himself with goofy material. That alone is infectious enough to make this movie enjoyable. Lockhart was, with the exception of a quick cameo in Order of the Phoenix (the book, not the movie), only in this one, but the sense of self-aware fun and charm is welcome here. Branagh may not have had much substance to his character, but he's appropriately fun.
I mentioned Terry Gilliam earlier, and it's worth bringing up to wonder what might have been with other directors working on the first two films. Gilliam was one of the notable directors who was up for the job but either didn't get it or refused. The most well-known director to never officially work on the series is Steven Spielberg; it's said that he wanted Haley Joel Osment to star as Harry. Since Rowling always nixed any American actors in the films, he was out pretty quickly. But anyone who knows about 1980s movies probably knows that Chris Columbus came to prominence thanks mostly to Steven Spielberg's influence. He wrote Gremlins (though, based on his other films, you'd barely know it), which was produced by Spielberg back in 1984. Though he had nothing to do with the movie, watching Chamber of Secrets is like watching something akin to Super 8, the recent JJ Abrams movie that wore its Spielbergian influences on its sleeve.
From the scene where Lockhart introduces Cornish pixies to his Defense Against the Dark Arts class (said creatures look like a CGI version of the Gremlins) to Harry facing Tom Riddle in the Chamber to Harry and Ron being beset upon by large spiders, a lot of this movie just seems like a stew of Spielberg movies from the mid-1980s, those movies that were darker, meaner, more menacing than E.T.. Now, obviously a lot of this is because it's what J.K. Rowling wrote. But I wonder if a different director would've interpreted the plot differently, or if this movie would remind me of Steven Spielberg productions no matter who was behind the camera. Though there aren't any father-son issues on display here, a lot of the themes and action sequences are extremely reminiscent to the point of distraction.
Still, a lot has improved here. I know that what's to come will be a major shift in the series' production value, but the seeds were being planted here. Though not every one of the actors acquits themselves well enough (Rupert Grint and Tom Felton are as cartoonish here as they ever will be, and I can only blame Columbus for not reeling them in), Daniel Radcliffe clearly got better tips or just applied himself better here. I can't say that the dialogue is very naturalistic, but he and Emma Watson seem a bit less forced, a bit less actor-y here. The lead three kids would soon all seem less like actors and more like their characters, but it starts for two of them here. But there are problems here that are just as apparent in the books now that I think about them for more than a few seconds.
While Robbie Coltrane is just as rustic and charming here as Hagrid, the character's time to shine pretty much stopped after the third story. The most drama revolving the character is in this story, and aside from introducing us to Azkaban, we don't have much in terms of suspense to chew on. Hagrid gets the final burst of applause at the end of this movie, and the congratulations don't feel earned, in the same way that they would be if I actually went to Hogwarts. What's more, by the time the fourth, fifth, and sixth installments in this series come around, Hagrid and Coltrane have very little to do, aside from standing around in some shots to remind us that yes, the big guy is still here. Mostly, watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is like watching the end of a prologue to the other five--OK, six--movies in the Harry Potter series. Play time is over; it's high time that we got a little more serious, and right quick.
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