This was such a good movie, but it could've been so much better! I read the book for this movie only when it first came out, but I still remembered enough to tell that a ton of the side stuff was left out or abridged for the movie. I definitely wouldn't have minded if the movie was an extra hour longer, because it came up short for me.
I loved what there was, but I just wish there was more of it. I came out of the theater feeling like I had sort of been ripped off. Of course, I probably felt this way because I was so used to the other lengthy films.
Basically, in this episode, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) struggles to warn the world of magic about the rise of the dark lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), as the situation slowly but surely gets worse just like the last time he came to power. To make matters worse, the Ministry of Magic's Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) has convinced Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) and everyone else in the magic world that You-Know-Who is still dead. As she threatens to undermine Harry and his good friend Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), Harry must depend on his friends (Rupert Grint, Gary Oldman, Emma Watson) to aid him in the coming war.
I just wish there was more character development regarding his friends and particularly Sirius Black (Oldman). Black has had such an important role, but it was definitely minimized in this film so that by the end, I still felt he was a mystery.
Acting is still as good as always (especially on the part of Staunton).
Special effects are even better than before, and I really liked the whole thing overall.
I just wish the movie treated the book better. Oh well, it's still a great film, and should be seen as soon as possible!
Media > Movies > 2007 > Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix > All Reviews
My Review - 12 July 2007
overall: 8
My Review - 11 July 2007
overall: 7
It's definitely difficult to fit an 870-page book into two-and-a-half hours of screen time. This movie shows why. Throughout the fifth movie in the wonderful Harry Potter saga, I felt as though scenes were rushed, hurried, or altogether left out. I greatly enjoyed the book, and I know that not every detail can be included in the transition to the big screen, but I feel that just too much was missed during this go-around. The movie starts out with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) having to defend his evil cousin, Dudley Dursley (Harry Melling), from two dementors in a Muggle neighborhood. In what seemed like a twenty minute period afterwards, Harry had been expelled from Hogwarts by the Ministry of Magic, picked up by members of the Order of the Phoenix, flown by broomstick to his godfather Sirius's (Gary Oldman) hiding spot, cleared of all charges at a hearing, and taken the Hogwarts Express back to the school with Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) to start his fifth year. The point I'm trying to make is that to me, it seemed as though the movie jumped from scene to scene way too quickly, without giving the characters or plot a chance to develop as they do in the book. My friend put this feeling into words perfectly: it seemed as though the movie consisted of just disjointed previews from certain parts of the book instead of a cohesive whole. Back at Hogwarts, things don't go too well for Harry. His new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), will stop at nothing to promote the Ministry's view of Voldemort's return last June: namely, that it never happened. Harry and friends spend the year resisting her evil reign and looking for support from those who believe Voldemort has returned. The movie's definitely not all bad. There are some funny lines, and I must admit, Voldemort and his Death Eaters were kind of scary. However, I would definitely choose the book over this movie any day.
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