Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was never one of my favourite Harry Potter books. It's the longest book in the series, yet so little seems to happen in the course of the story - a lot of its page count is given over to Harry at the height of his teenage angst years. I found it a bit of a hard slog at the time but I had to admit that this level of whining was a fairly realistic portrayal of adolescence, and it clears the deck for Harry to get down to more serious business for the next two books in the series. The film of Order of the Phoenix is actually the shortest in the franchise (despite the book being the longest), and it doesn't feel particularly condensed either, which I feel is proof of the book's padding.

• I love the opening scene, where Harry and his cousin tussle in the urban landscape of the Dursleys' neighbourhood. It contrasts dramatically with the Dementors, who turn up and cast a pall over the setting.


• This entry in the series could also be called Harry Potter and the Attack of Bureacracy. Hogwarts begins to take on a sinister tone as the Ministry of Magic increases their level of interference, and the use of doublespeak and the media is a nice way of examining the way the shifting of power to bureacrats can restrict and cowl a supposedly free society.


• After the rock n roll stylings of the last film, it seems that someone decided to give all the kids haircuts. It reminds us that Harry and his friends are starting to approach adulthood, but unfortunately it also makes Ron and his twin brothers look a lot more dorky.


• As mentioned, this story has less happening in it, so a lot of feels like the calm before the storm. There are lots of montages as the year passes, and there's a real sense of time passing throughout Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.


• In order to get this thick book down to under two hours, quite a lot of the subplots have been cut out altogether. As a result, there's no visit to the St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries (which would've seen a return appearance of Gilderoy Lockhart from Chamber of Secrets) and the House Elf stuff (which takes up a large portion of the novel) has been excised completely.


• I still can't help but feel that the significance of some things would no doubt be lost on some viewers who have never read the novels. Ron's brother Percy turns up in one scene but virtually nothing is said about his role in the Ministry of Magic, and aside from his red hair and one throwaway reference in the first film there's nothing to suggest to casual viewers who this character even is. I'm guessing there came a point with the Harry Potter films where the production crew just decided that the bulk of the audience would be familiar enough with the novels to follow who all these background characters were.


• After Prisoner of Azkaban, the special effects seem to have gone backwards.Once again there's an over-reliance on CGI... I guess some directors just feel it's quicker to let their visual effects crew do all the work!


• The Death Eaters have been redesigned since their apperance in the last film. They now have a more original look (as opposed to the KKK meets Skeletor look).


• The new major castmember is Imelda Staunton as the persnickety Ministry stooge Doloros Umbridge. She's pretty much perfect in the role, making it a good deal more memorable than the written version of the character comes across in the book, though I always imagined the character to look a bit more like Susan Boyle. I guess this can't be helped though!


• Helena Bonham-Carter is also terrific as the deranged Death Eater Bellatrix. It's nice to see her in something that isn't directed by Tim Burton.


• I found myself really choked up at the bit where silly old Trelawny was getting the punt from Umbridge. It's a great scene, and it's one of the few moments where Michael Gambon manages not to fail completely in his portrayal of Dumbledore.

I like this film a lot, mainly because it trims the fat from the rather bloated book and sets about telling a singular and strong story really well. David Yates takes over as director with this film, and I guess he must've been pretty effecient because he went on to direct the rest of the series as well. I can't really fault this decision, as the last four films have a uniformity to their (relatively) high quality and it's pretty smooth sailing from this point on in terms of entertainment value.

DIRECTOR: David Yates
WRITER/SOURCE: Michael Goldenberg, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling.
KEY ACTORS: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane, Timothy Spall, Michael Gambon, Warwick Davis, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, David Bradley, Ralph Fiennes, Imelda Staunton, Jason Isaacs, Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson, Julie Walters, Tom Felton, Helena Bonham-Carter, Bonnie Wright, Matthew Lewis, Mark Williams, Robert Hardy, Fiona Shaw, Richard Griffiths, David Thewlis, Natalie Tena, George Harris, Jessice Hynes, Gary Oldman, Miranda Richardson, Katie Leung, William Melling, Devon Murray, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Timothy Bateson

RELATED TEXTS:
- The novel Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
- The other films in this series are; Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
- All three of the leads took the opportunity after this film to appear in some other things. Rupert Grint put on his best Irish accent and starred in Cherrybomb, a movie about sex, drugs and juvenile deliquency. Daniel Radcliffe made the Australian film December Boys (where he did his best with an Aussie accent), and Emma Watson did a rather girly TV movie called Ballet Shoes.

AWARDS
BAFTAs - nominated for Best Production Design and Best Special Visual Effects.