Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix REVIEW

[Elessar]

What did everybody think? Who else saw it? It's getting bad "reviews", but I think they're a load of crap. Without spilling anything for anyone who hasn't seen it, I'll say that it was a much more adult drama, with politics, emotions, and social paranoia at its center, and probably most prominent theme. Minor spoilers below.

So it's something quite a bit different from the other films in that you are acutely aware from the very opening scene that the primary characters and many of the secondary characters are no longer children, no longer even "young adults"... they're physically on the virge of adulthood, and emotionally many of them ARE already adults (Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna, etc). Along these lines, the primary themes are very real and dark realities of death, betrayal, aloneness, and loss. In the earlier films, we sometimes saw Harry mistreated or poked fun at, but it only lasted a few seconds at the hands of Malfoi or his goons before Harry's indominable friends stepped in to make him feel better. Not the case here. You are more thoroughly convinced (or I was) that he really is on his own for much of the emotional journey of coming to terms with an incontrivertible fate that will kill either he or Voldemort in the end. I think the truth of it is, Harry may have had fear of Voldemort in the earlier films in the same way a child fears what it doesn't understand, and then in the last film he was held steady by bravado in the face of an evil he didn't understand. The difference now is that he's a character actually facing an evil he knows, is reminded of night after night in dreams, and in the faces of people who think he killed Diggory.

My new favorite character of the series though, is Luna Lovegood. Another neat thing about her is that the actress is a complete unknown and in fact pursued the part because she has never acted before but read the books and thought she was THE ONLY ONE who could possibly play Luna Lovegood. Well she's fantastic, in a looney sort of way. You definitely half-expect this girl to snap and start screaming at any moment, she's just so... tweaked. But awesome. I was pleasantly surprised by the genuine friendship that Harry and Luna begin immediately after they meet, because, while Luna is a social outcast, you never get the feeling from Harry's body language or behavior that he's just being friends with her in some kind of "lesson learning" about being a social outcast, as he himself has become. Instead, the kinship is there because Luna knows what it feels like to lose a parent, and in fact only she and Harry can see these beasts that carry them in carriages to Hogwarts...why? Because only they have seen death. It's a unique friendship that I think will really help him and I was just pleasantly surprised to see it fleshed out with such effectiveness.

The one complaint I have read about the story that I can somewhat agree with is the claim that you never quite understand exactly why the head of the ministry of magic is covering up this return of the Dark Lord, and that consequently one is lead to the implication that the Minister, the Ministry, and/or many of the high ranking wizards and witches working there, are in league with him. The latter may be and is somewhat true, but apparently the former is not (as the books apparently say, there is some other, more complicated reason). They DO say that it's out of fear of panic and all that sort of thing, but it's really just hearsay out of Sirius' mouth, not action on the screen that SHOWS us why.

There's some great special effects and choreography of the fight/flight scenes, but unlike the reviewers, I really don't think that it's too flashy and attempting to makeup for lack of substance. Some of my favorites are the broom flights through what appears to be London, past what appears to be the Parliament. The other thing that does kind of confuse me, but it may just be me, is exactly what era this is all in. The thing is, obviously Hogwarts and any enchanted, bewitched or otherwise magical place/locality has a medieval tone because of the whole magic thing. But in the previous films, the London they portrayed looked like 70's or 80's or even earlier. But in this film, it's quite obviously the modern era, as per the cars and clothes everybody's wearing when they're not in school uniforms. Which is a lot more common - I think there was a definite effort to stress that these are no longer children by showing them lounging or "off duty" more often, and not in Hogwarts robes, in order to change the tone of the whole thing from a school-house magic show to a serious, medieval, socio-political upheaval of factionalized witches and wizards.

I definitely liked how they are being portrayed 'coming into their own'. But, whereas, the movie only went as far in most scenes as "saying" they were out on their own, I didn't see as many scenes of them BEING on their own, as I would have liked. The film seems to go as far as to have them come to terms with this concept of "being their own wizard" and raising their wands in their own defense, but doesn't quite take the leap to have them live it just yet. There is, however, some good development of Neville, allowing us to "root" for him and hope he finds a way to become a surprisingly good wizard. In the end, the young wizards are in fact in a showdown of their own for a little while before they get any help, but unlike in the last film, the ultimate showdown is between two seasoned wizards of the old guard, not a trial-by-fire of one of our young apprentices. I mean in social upheaval there comes a time when you just collapse a social structure, where, instead of whining and stamping your foot because they put up a curfew, you actually burn down somebody's office - that's the kind of "growing up" in a militant-political sense I wanted to see more of, though, I must say, to my anarcho-socialist giddy, I did see some of it. Basically the authority figures got in their way and they snuck around and half-admitted defeat at times, but never just plainly stood up against the authority and said "No", in the kind of Planet of the Apes-esque first-time refusal of the servile to the oppressor that so vivaciously characterizes the first spark of a rebellion that spreads like a firestorm.

One thing I really liked was the first scene where Harry accepts the charge of teaching all the younger (and some older) students at Hogwarts about defense against the dark arts, when Umbridge's willingness to do so falls far short of what the dire realities require. I always had the impression that Harry's great deeds in all the past films (maybe this is because I haven't read the books) were common knowledge, such as the slaying of the basilisk, his many encounters with and victories over the Dementors, and fight with Voldemort at the end of the last film -- but apparently this is not so. When Hermione and Ron finally convince Harry to teach the group, just at the fever pitch of Harry's persona non grata status, he is suddenly a hero again when these students aren't just TOLD that he knows how to perform these charms and has fought off these beasts, but see the reality themselves when he teaches THEM how to perform the patronas charm or various defensive spells. It's just a good day for him since he's been through all this crap, beasts and wizards trying to kill him his whole life and scathed by each encounter, and finally come into some respect and recognition not just for some vaguery of foretold destiny, but actual abilities.

In the end, I think this film was fantastic. I'd give it a 9/10.

[Rigil Kent]

I just got back from watching it myself, and, from the standpoint of someone who hasn't read any of the books, I mostly enjoyed. It did drag a bit in the middle, but the final duel between Dumbeldore and Voldemort rocked. It was everything I wanted to see in the Gandalf v Saruman fight and didn't get. There were a lot of instances that I required additional information about from the readers of the book that attended with me (like the reason they let Potter go home when class is out - they haven't once stated in the movies that there is some sort of protective ward around that home that defends against the bad guy's magic.)

I think, honestly, I preferred the Prisoner of Azkaban (or however you spell it) as a movie, mostly due to the directing, but this one wasn't bad either.

[Elessar]

Yeah, I never knew that about his home either. My mom's listened to them on CD so I ask her things occasionally. Like, apparently in the book, Luna's dad owns a competing newspaper to the Daily Prophet and published his account of "the real story" of everything that was going on which was largely the reason people stopped blaming him for Cedric's death and treating him like a pariah. But what didn't you like about the directing in this one?

I honestly don't have time to watch for the directing in a movie like this, especially in the theaters. I'd have to sit down and re-watch it to even talk about it other than one thing - which was what I mentioned, and that's the splitting of the frame. I mean, I'm just not sure how a person can watch a movie for content and come away with directorial criticism, what didn't you like about what they did?

[Rigil Kent]

I mean, I'm just not sure how a person can watch a movie for content and come away with directorial criticism, what didn't you like about what they did?

It's just a personal thing. When I watch a movie, I watch it for content but keep an eye out for really cool scenes and the like. If the director, for example, uses a particular kind of camera shot that really grabs my notice or makes me think "Cool!", I tend to notice it. That sort of thing. The Prisoner movie just grabbed my notice and held it better than this one; with it, I don't recall the movie dragging in the middle like this one seemed to. I can't really explain more than that.

Note: I didn't say that I disliked the movie, I just kinda liked Prisoner better. Take the Dementors (sp?), for example. I much preferred their look in Prisoner, although they were pretty cool looking in this one too.

[Elessar]

Yeah, they were much more of a focal point in Prisoner of Azgaban too, since they were being introduced for the first time. You know, I almost wondered (but it'd take some BALLS) if Harry would actually do what that old Prof of the Dark Arts did with him in private and get a Dementor out of a closet or, that other demon thing that could look like a dementor, and test someone in the room with that... But hella dangerous.

One thing that I was reminded of was, I think I know what you mean by it dragging in the middle and I think that's (as I percieved it anyway) because like all the rest of the harry potter movies, Prisoner of Azgaban had a very regular set of events that you expect in any more, a rising action, climax, resolution, all the tidbits in between, all good. But this movie didn't really have a focal point, its middle especially was just sort of a gray mass of showing all the paranoia and giving a general picture of people's opinions around Harry and things. Of course, the Umbridge character and her increasingly fascist control provided a steady flow to the story for that part. But I think some of it was a little without form due to the nature of there wasn't quite as much of a thickly defined order of events to this one than others.

One shot I did catch - when Ron's brothers busted up the test with fireworks and broom flying, when they left the hall and more fireworks started blowing her decrees off the walls, they were all falling and exploding as she stood in the archway of the hall and one of the camera shots was close in on her crouching while all this falling stone, wood and glass was coming from the top of the frame. That was pretty neat, and I didn't consciously realize it, but as I started to ask myself if I remembered anything that I noticed, that came to mind

[enterprikayak]

AzKAban. AzKAban.


it's 2:08 am.

i can't sleep/

[Elessar]

Oh it's 4:08 here... about 1:30 I decided to clean my room, take everything down stairs that I'm going to yard sale or eBay... cuz my room was a mess and I need money. I found the damnest things...

OH foo you Enty!

[enterprikayak]

s'ok. i just scrolled up and found the part about how you only watched not read.
so spelling confusion is to be permitted.

i suppose.

so whadja find? 'sides your old my little pony collection?

[Elessar]

AHAHA! Actually my cousin Erin had a pony collection that I always liked...

BUT ANYWAY! Tons of just random minutae (sp?). I found a budweiser coosy...my old rastafarian beanie... my bongo drums...a candle shaped like a shroom... need I go on? Oh lord, those days. The funny thing is I never touched a drug, I was just a big hippy. I have like 10 bob marley shirts. I also ran across a couple of books of matches from my Mom and Dad's wedding, June 3 1980. I always find tons of little folded up pieces of paper with scribblings on them, from girl's phone numbers to atomic bomb calculations to pre-pubescently written love poems. That's really what I found. What else, an SNES controller, a bottle of multi-colored sand which sunglasses and a face glued to the top with wild Troll-esque hair. The box my highschool class ring came in, the safety kit from my freshman chemistry lab. Incense trays, Magic the Gathering cards, a single X-Men comic book, all kinds of stuff.

OH YEAH! I forgot, I freaked out when I found a Pog slammer and then I REALLY dropped a brick when I found a black-and-white printout photo from a Mall photo booth of me and this girl Emily making out!

But we're OT

[enterprikayak]

was it an alf pog?

[enterprikayak]

SNES controller

you can't give that to eBay...how'll you play supermariokart?

[dark_rain]

SNES controller

you can't give that to eBay...how'll you play supermariokart?

One word sister/brother (delete as appropriate, or not if you are a single sex alien ). Emulate!


Swell review, Elessar. Now I'll have to go see it. (yeah, right, like I'd go out 25 miles to the nearest cinema **grumble**)

God, I thought I kept some stuff, but the things in your list are in a whole different league. Does eBay have a "OMFG!!! Too many items!" Page?

[Elessar]

. Actually, Dark you're the only one to hit the nail on the head with regard to why I kept it in the first place and why I still kept it - emulators! I've been planning for probably a decade to find this How-To on the internet for converting an SNES controller into a USB joystick, and I even have a severed USB-connector that I can wire it into. So, maybe in a few years I'll get around to that

[Emberchyld]

As to the era, the movies are kind-of "now", but the books (if you follow the rabid fandom timeline) are set in the 90's (I think Harry was supposedly born around 1980).

The movie was great. I saw it on a regular screen but will re-watch in Imax when I get the chance (the last 30 min of the film for Imax will be IN Imax... that will be amazing!). Umbridge and Luna stole the show, Cho was appropriately slap-worthy, and the trio were great.

Of course, this time I kept to the rule of not reading the book for months before the movie so that I wouldn't be disappointed in everything that they changed or cut out.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

OK, I'm not much into Harry Potter. Is this the fourth movie or so? I think I've only seen the first two. Is it recommened to see all the other movies before seeing this one?

Not that I have the time, since there are tons of other things on my to read list, but do you think I'd enjoy the books? Or are they more for younger persons?