Radcliffes Distancing From Pottermania

"The Woman in Black" (95 min, Rated PG-13 for thematic material, violence and disturbing images). Rating: 6

I'm a little late writing this review, but it seems there's been more emphasis placed on Daniel Radcliffe's - ex-Harry Potter - performance than reviewing the assets of the film. I can see that, though, because his iconic persona as Potter is soooo identified with him...the real life actor is faced with a uphill climb to separate himself from Harry.

But I give Daniel Radcliffe a "B" for effort in trying to establish himself as a working actor - on stage as well. As much as we've seen Emma Watson (Hermione) recently featured in "My Week With Marilyn" - and she's good in it - one has to wonder if any of the Potter threesome will ever shed that iconic stigma. It speaks volumes that Radcliffe (and Watson) has released a film so soon after the last Potter film - and in "The Woman in Black", Radcliffe is "this close" to making us forget his former self. I'm sure he has every intention on making films a career...and "The Woman in Black" is a good start.

Dripping with dread and macabre atmosphere in an old mansion located along a mist and fog shrouded coastline in England where a lonely road is the only entry, this film aims to "creepify" you...instill you with eerie feelings about things going "bump" in the night. Radcliffe plays a young widowed attorney who is assigned to take care of some legal matters at a stately, gothic mansion right out of an Edgar Allan Poe short story - only to become entangled in a local legend about a deceased woman who has been seen by townspeople as an apparition who has come to take their children to her side of the spectrum. Unraveling this mystery as it relates to the passing of his own wife, whom he lost in childbirth four years back, has everything to do with his plunge into the dark side of the netherworld.

The story is muddled at times, clogged with murky backstories as the legend slowly becomes clearer as those shadowy figures in the dar! k corner s are revealed. What matters is that the characters and story are placed in front of the "ghostly effects"...a big plus in my book...it's not what you see, but what you think you see. But even at 95 minutes, there are stretches of non-dialogue that solely rely atmosphere to convey the presence of evil spirits at work. It's almost too much to ask for, but Radcliffe does a serviceable job - and is ably supported by a veteran cast that includes Ciaran Hinds and Janet McTeer.