Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix


At two hours and 18 minutes, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, left me wanting more. I wanted more scenes of Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), more Tonks and Lupin (Natalie Tena and David Thewlis), more Order of the Phoenix, more scenes of the Dursley's that closely hews to the book, more Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) and more Kreacher. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the 5th film of JK Rowling's title hero, quite the opposite. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was pretty faithful to the book and made the rights cuts. The casting was perfect as usual. Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was absolutely fabulous. She captured Rowling's vision of Umbridge to a tee. Lynch was equally well cast as Luna Loony Lovegood. Her Irish lilt gave her character that extra spaciness that it needed and was very endearing. And Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix, very evil in her short screen time. Looking forward to more of her in movie six.


What really impressed me about this adaptation was the climactic battle scene at the department of mysteries. It was a wonderful amazement of wand duelling that made me think of the classic lightsaber fights of all the Star Wars movies. I also enjoyed all the DA scenes. It was great seeing Harry become the teacher and I think screenwriter Michael Goldenberg captured those scenes perfectly. And Goldenberg has to be commended for taking an almost 800 page novel and condensing it to an almost two and half hour movie. Again, the right cuts were made but one. As mentioned, I wish they expanded the Dursley scenes especially the bit about Aunt Petunia (Fiona Shaw) knowing more about the Wizarding World than she lets on.


I am glad that they gave Gary Oldman more to do in this movie than he did in Prisoner of Azkaban (my favourite amongst all the film adaptations and my favourite Harry Potter book). Oldman was excellent in this movie as Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather, and his fate equally heartbreaking as it was in the novel.


The kiss between Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Cho Chang (Katie Leung) was whatever but a little more hot and heavy than I thought it would be. If no one noticed, I liked the bit just before the kiss as people were leaving the DA lesson of Ginny looking behind at Harry looking at Cho -clearly indicating that she still fancies Harry. There were sprinkles of the hints of the Ron and Hermione romance (Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) in there too as there has been in every movie since Chamber of Secrets. I thought they might foreshadow a certain romance that takes place in book 6th in this movie but alas they didn't.


This movie was well directed by David Yates, it was quite political in tone. Something that Yates is known for having directed such politically themed dramas like State of Play and The Girl in the Cafe.


Since I am a movie score aficionado, I enjoyed Nicholas Hooper's score. He had some nice memorable and moving score that I probably will get the soundtrack.


Overall, I enjoyed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and I look forward to the DVD to see the deleted scenes. And I look forward to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince next year. Here's hoping more Bonnie Wright -for those that have read book 6 you will know what I mean!


And only 10 more days until we find out what happens to Harry!

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