A basilisk moves through the pipes beneath Hogwarts, and nobody believes Harry when he hears it. Chris Columbus's 2002 sequel is darker and more psychologically serious than the Philosopher's Stone, a film that develops the franchise's mythology with real intelligence and narrative ambition the original did not pursue. It is a work of suspense and consequence that gives the franchise's central characters a depth and complexity the more enchanting first film could not have achieved.
At a Glance
Director: Chris Columbus
Runtime: 161 minutes
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Richard Harris, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Isaacs
Release: 2002
Critics Rating: ★★★½ (3.5/5 stars, darker and more substantial)
Audience Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 stars, compelling)
Plot
Harry returns to Hogwarts for his second year to find that students are being petrified by an unknown force connected to a legendary Chamber of Secrets. The mystery of the Chamber's identity and the nature of the monster within it gives the film a dramatic engine of considerable tension. The plot is tightly constructed as a mystery, a narrative of real complexity that uses its red herrings and misdirections with enough craft to make the eventual revelation feel both surprising and consistent with the clues that have been laid. The diary subplot is the film's most unsettling element, a story of psychological possession and identity threat that gives the franchise's central concern with the relationship between Harry and Voldemort its most direct and troubling early expression.
Characters
Harry is given demanding psychological material in this entry, a character whose fear that he might belong to Slytherin and whose connection to Voldemort give the film a thematic dimension the original did not pursue. Radcliffe plays the character's uncertainty and determination with a conviction and depth that marks a clear step forward from his debut. Kenneth Branagh's Gilderoy Lockhart is the film's standout creative achievement, a character of such complete and comic excess that he gives the picture its most purely enjoyable passages and remains one of the franchise's most cherished supporting characters. Jason Isaacs's Lucius Malfoy is a compelling villain, a man of menace and aristocratic contempt whose function in the central conspiracy gives the franchise's mythology a richness and texture the more straightforwardly threatening figures of the original could not provide.
Meaning / Themes
At its core, the film is about identity and choice, about the qualities Harry shares with Voldemort and the choices that distinguish them. Dumbledore's observation that it is our choices that show what we truly are is the franchise's most important single thematic statement, a declaration of the series' central value that gives the more serious later entries their moral foundation and real emotional stakes. The film earns this statement by dramatising it rather than simply asserting it: Harry's decision to enter the Chamber, armed with nothing but loyalty and a broken wand, is the clearest early illustration of what the series means by courage.
Direction
Columbus's direction is more controlled here than in the original, with a stronger command of the film's suspense register and a feel for the grimmer tonal territory the franchise is beginning to explore. The basilisk sequence is the film's directorial highlight: Columbus's staging gives it physical scale, using the cavernous Chamber to create a sense of spatial threat the earlier entries never attempted. Columbus pitches the film at a grimmer and more serious register than the original, a decision that suits the franchise's gradual tonal escalation and gives the picture a weight and consequence the first film did not always achieve. Chamber of Secrets has an intelligence and ambition the franchise's reputation as its weakest entry has not fully acknowledged. John Williams's score builds on the established themes with a richness and precision that suits the film's darker register. Chamber of Secrets received a positive critical and commercial reception on its release, though it was widely regarded as the weaker of the two Columbus films. Its reputation has remained relatively stable since, with most assessments acknowledging its narrative intelligence while noting its position as the series' transitional entry between the warmth of the original and the darker ambitions of the Cuarón era.
Final Verdict: A more substantial film than its reputation allows. Branagh's Lockhart is one of the franchise's most enduring supporting characters, Isaacs's Lucius Malfoy brings a menace and aristocratic weight the original's villains lacked, and Columbus handles the grimmer material with a control and seriousness that makes this a more rewarding sequel than it is usually given credit for.