Daniel Radcliffe and the Woman in Black.

Now tonight I took the liberty of taking my lovely fiancé to the cinema, it is after all nearly valentines and it only seemed appropriate that I at least make the effort to open my wallet one way or another. This way I get to take a part in the spending of my money, rather then just watch some flowers whither away on the mantelpiece that she clearly won't pay any attention too once they've been put in a vase anyway.

Obviously this was supposed to be a romantic occasion, but if you think that I am going to spend two hours sitting through "the vow" then you can think again! Woman as we know are fascinated by the "romantic comedy" but if you can part a woman away from a sloppy love film for one evening, they never seem to mind a bit of horror. Its quite a contradiction really, they either want to be charmed away into a romantic bliss that let's face it never seem to exist in reality or quite literally be made to jump out of their skins.

So tonight we went to see the Woman in Black and to my annoyance I still have rather large scratch marks down my arm and although I managed to come out with an empty box of large popcorn (impressive huh?) it wasn't because I ate them all! It's bad enough when they jump at the scary parts, (which obviously as a male I don't do because I can sense exactly when it's coming) but its the moments when they jump if a car door opens or a dog barks, purely because they've put themselves so on edge.

But to be fair to the film, it was comprised of several jumpy moment's that brought a fair few shock's to the audience. All in all I thought it was a decent film, maybe a little slow to get to the action but the last half hour or so really had you on the edge of your seat. The only real problem that there seemed to be with this film was it's general stereotype. It wasn't so much "oh let's go to see the woman in black tonight" it was more like "hey let's go see Harry Potter's new film!"

Poor Daniel Radcliffe will never be able to take that cloak off his shoulder's, but he did prove to me tonight that he is diverse and can play a number of different roles. He suited the part well and although looking perhaps a tad young, the make up department certainly did well getting his face to look as mature as it did. The issue was however when he opened his mouth, because although I hate to admit it whenever he did I half expected to hear "expecto patronum" or "wingardium leviosa". It was a good job really that the film had not a lot of dialogue.

There was only a small cast in the film, so interaction between characters wasn't frequent. Radcliffe spent a lot of his time in an abandoned mansion on his own and so more often then not was on camera by himself and had only strange noises and a ghostly figure of a woman to contend with. But I have to say he composed himself very well and made a good portrayal of Arthur Kipps the lawyer that he was playing. For his first lead role since Harry Potter I think he deserve's the applaud-its and he certainly has a bright future.

He had a great supporting act thought in Ciaran Hinds who played local rich man Sam Daily. He suited the part particularly well and both Hind's and Radcliffe complemented one another rather nicely. I have to be honest though I was slightly dissapointed by the ending but only slightly. But that shouldn't put you off, there is nothing wrong with it, it's just my personal opinion. I knew it was going to happen as I have seen the show (which is great by the way) and it's how the book by Susan Hill also end's. To some it will conclude nicely but to other's it may not be the ending that you would hope to expect. But that's the joy of films, they always surprise us.

For those who haven't seen it I don't want to divulge to much, so I will quit while I am ahead. This film directed by James Watkins is well worth a watch. I enjoyed it and it had some good jumpy bits which of course no good horror would be left without. I leave it up to you to sum up your own conclusions but I personally would rate it an 8 out of 10. But please do not think of Harry Potter when you go to see it, for it will only cast a shadow over it. It is a good film it it's own right and Daniel Radcliffe does the part justice.