Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Originally Reviewed

Tuesday March 11, 2008

I'm not a hardcore Harry Potter fan. I've never read the books and never had much of a desire to run out and see the films in theaters. I have nothing against the series, I actually quite enjoyed the first three films, but it's not all my cup of tea and it's definitely not a series that, in my opinion, is getting any better with age.

Harry Potter and his magical friends are back once again for another adventure, albeit one that pales in comparison to those in previous films. With the news that Lord Voldemort has returned many people are choosing to simply deny it. The Ministry of Magic tries to shut Potter up by throwing phony charges against him, but with the assistance of Dumbledore he's able to fight their accusations. But that's only the beginning of Harry's problems as the Ministry believes Dumbledore and Harry Potter are plotting to overthrow them and their claims of the return of Voldemort are only an act to divert their attention.

In their fear and distrust of those in charge at Hogwarts the Ministry places one of their own at the school, Dolores Umbridge, as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Although she's not much of a teacher as the class is limited to book work with no actual defense practice. Unbridge's reign of power grows outrageous as she begins to lock down the school with frivolous proclamations that turn the once loved school into a prison, all while ignorant of the fact that herself and the Ministry are playing right into the hand of Voldemort. This leads Harry to begin his own secret Defense Against the Dark Arts class to prepare his fellow classmates for what will surely come.

Much like The Goblet of Fire, I felt The Order of the Phoenix was a step down in the Harry Potter franchise. The action is for the most part limited to the last 20 minutes forcing you to attempt to follow the story for over two hours until Voldemort finally decides to make an appearance and make things interesting for the best 15 minutes of the entire film. That's not to say the first two hours aren't good, but compared to the first three films it's not nearly as entertaining. Maybe it's because it's all been done before so it's not as impressive, or it's the fact that the three main actors are now much older and it's not as "cute" anymore. One thing is for sure it's extremely hard to make out what any of them are saying half the time as they speed through their lines in a thick incoherent British accent.

Another complaint is once again the writers have seemly found it necessary to eliminate some of the key supporting characters in the film. Young Malfoy is reduced to a cameo appearance, Hagrid's role continues to be shortened with each passing film, and many other key characters in the series are seeing a shortened screen time. The reappearance of Sirius Black was actually pretty disappointing, and the few other new characters they tried to throw into the mix weren't nearly as interesting as the ones they have quietly pushed to the side. One new addition that did end up being the show stealer was Helena Bonham Carter.  She nails the nasty witch look and her evil laugh was awesome. Unfortunately she was limited to about 5 minutes in this film, but supposedly she'll play a larger role in the follow up.

Overall, The Order of the Phoenix was actually more disappointing to me than the prior Potter adventure. The film had excessively less action, and it took a majority of the two and a half hours to not really progress very far in the story. I found the first three film highly more enjoyable, interesting and better written than these last two installments. I don't mind the series growing darker, but it seems it's beginning to get a little stale, repetitious and old.  I only wish they could have held on to the same formula that made the first few films great.

6/10