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Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
review by KJ Doughton, 22 November 2002
Hollywood Product
Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets has thrown a dark, velvety vampire’s cape over the
draggy, expository blandness of its predecessor.
Remember how Indiana Jones and
the Temple of Doom pushed the boundaries of a PG rating, with
its sinister child slavery ring and flaming hearts being pulled from
chests? Or how The Empire Strikes Back snatched away
Episode IV’s cozy ending and replaced it with the unsettling
image of Han Solo being sealed into carbon freeze? The second
"Harry Potter" installment shares the more malevolent spirit of such
sequels, trading the whimsical light of the first film for streaks
of sinister malice.
The pitter-patter of creeping
spiders’ feet and the crimson graffiti staining Hogwarts’ hallowed
walls juice up this sophomore outing, and inject Harry Potter and
the Chamber of Secrets with a more dynamic spirit than last
year’s Sorcerer’s Stone.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets meets its hero (a deeper-voiced, almost-pubescent Daniel
Radcliffe trading in his scarecrow cuteness for a slightly more
swashbuckling attitude) as he once again endures a miserable,
repressed existence under the roof of his stifling aunt and uncle’s
sterile abode.
Soon, however, he’s cast into the
academic melting pot of Hogwarts to continue his study of wizardly
ways. The same motley crew of magic-makers is there to whip Harry
and his colleagues into top-notch wand-wielders, including
headmaster Dumbledore (the late Richard Harris, looking pallid and
winded), Professor McGonagal (Maggie Smith), and Snape (Alan
Rickman, again resembling an usher for the Satanic Church of San
Francisco). Hairy, lovable Hagrid the Giant (a portly Robbie
Coltrane) is also around to complete this coven of old reliables.
Still with me? The introductions
have only just begun.
We’ve not yet touched on Hogwart’s
bastion of young wizards, including Harry’s carrot-topped buddy Ron
Weasley (Rupert Grint), brainy gal pal Hermione (Emma Watson), and
tow-headed mischief-maker Draco (Tom Felton), all previously
introduced in the first film.
But wait – what about the new
necromancers in town? Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh) joins the
Hogwarts staff as the school’s pompous Professor of Defense Against
the Dark Arts. Meanwhile, the charismatic Jason Isaacs (whose
villainous redcoat breathed malicious life into The Patriot)
plays leering, sneering Lucius Malfoy, father of Draco.
To Chamber of Secrets’
credit, these key players are thrown onto the carpet with brisk,
minimal strokes so that Harry & Co. can get on with the business of
resolving a series of nasty on-campus shenanigans. Why are cats
being strung up in the corridors of Hogwarts, while messages
scribbled in blood paint the walls? Like a schizophrenic haunted by
auditory taunts, Harry is soon fighting off macabre voices
instructing him to commit evil acts, while other students become
frozen, like stiff pillars of salt.
Who is behind such wickedness, and
how can Harry end this chain of evil events? Do such sinister
forces come from the long-sealed Chamber of Secrets, and if so, who
dared to open its forbidden door? Was it Draco Malfoy and his
intimidating father, both of whom share the fascist belief that
mud-bloods (children with human parents) should not attend
Hogwarts? Their beliefs, Harry comes to understand, were shared by
Salazar Slytherin, one of Hogwarts’ first house teachers. Is there a
connection?
Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets culminates in a series of impressive, well-staged set
pieces. Just like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom threw
viewers onto the rails of an underground coal car and had them
clutching theater armrests with iron grips, this second Potter
picture has Harry and Ron braving a forestful of spiders as
cringe-worthy as the mechanical arachnids from Minority Report.
Meanwhile, in a genealogical twist borrowed from The Empire
Strikes Back, Harry is forced to confront his heritage by
entering the Chamber, sword in hand, like Luke Skywalker wielding a
light saber.
As much of an improvement as
Chamber of Secrets is over the first Potter plodder, it’s still
dragged down several notches from the classic playing field of
Indiana Jones and Star Wars by overlength and paint-by-numbers
pacing. Reined in by its unswaying allegiance to J.K. Rowling’s
source material and the need to stuff in each and every detail from
her 1999 book, there’s something strangely impersonal about the
film. One never forgets that they’re watching a slick, glossy
Hollywood "product."
Even so, director Chris Columbus
flicks a few fresh surprises into the tried ‘n true mix. As a vain
author of the autobiography "Magical Me," Kenneth Branaugh joins the
distinguished list of British thespians populating Harry Potter’s
U.K.-spirited world. Meanwhile, Radcliffe looks more confident and
seasoned wearing Harry’s demanding shoes. There’s a restless glint
in his eyes that makes Harry appear hungrier and less indifferent
than he did in the first film.
However, the entire Potter cast is
completely upstaged by Isaacs, an underrated character actor often
miscast in military roles (Black Hawk Down), but just as
often mesmerizing when allowed the chance to shine (The Patriot).
Possessing an air of snobby, self-righteous arrogance, Isaacs’
senior Malfoy appears capable of doing nearly anything to justify
and satiate his own needs and beliefs, however twisted and
self-serving.
Harry Potter is back with a
vengeance, but for how long? Pretty soon, Radcliffe’s elementary
school charm will fall victim to the unsparing rites of puberty.
Can audiences accept an older, wiser adolescent Harry? Rowling
should gamble that they will, and rough out her next series saga –
Harry Potter and the Clearasil Curse.
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