HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

By: Tim Janson
Review Date: Thursday, December 27, 2007

The tragic and grim events of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire carries directly over into The Order of the Phoenix and might almost be considered a two-part film. While “Goblet” set things up “Phoenix” truly brings the Potter series into a new age, graduating from a largely juvenile fantasy into a modern, dark vision. Things are dark for Harry right from the beginning as he, and cousin Dudley, are attacked by two Dementors near their home. When Harry uses magic to defend himself and save Dudley, he is brought up on charges by the Ministry of Magic. This sets the tone for the major plot elements of the film.

The head of the Ministry, Cornelius Fudge, refuses to believe Harry’s story regarding his encounter with Voldemort from Goblet of Fire and that Voldemort has returned. The vote goes Harry’s way but Fudge uses his influence with the Daily Prophet to discredit both Harry and Dumbledore. After his trial Harry learns about the Order of the Phoenix who opposed Voldemort fourteen years ago and whose members include Sirius Black, Ron’s Parents, and Mad-eye Moody. When Harry returns to Hogwort’s he is viewed as an outcast by those who believe the stories in the newspaper. He has only the support of his closest friends, Hermione, Ron, and Neville.

Events go from bad to worse when the Ministry appoints a new professor to teach defense against the black arts, Dolores Umbridge. Working in conjunction with Fudge, Umbridge virtually usurps most of Dumbledore’s authority, issuing a veritable wall full of new rules and proclamations, which, among other things, prohibits the students from actually practicing any defense spells. Her machinations serve to cast Umbridge as the film’s most hated and tangible villain. Imelda Staunton plays the role with pure English politeness, which covers up (almost) her covert serving of the Ministry’s goals.


Neville discovers the secret Room of Requirement and Harry recruits a group of students to secretly train in defense of the dark arts with Harry as their instructor. This represents a major shift in the Potter character, as he transitions from student to teacher. Even older students like Ron’s brothers, recognize Harry’s skill.

This was certainly Harry’s film, perhaps like no other. Many of the usual recurring roles such as Hagrid and Draco Malfoy are greatly diminished while new characters like the wacky yet wise Luna Lovegood, Nymphadora Tonks, and the murderous Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) are introduced. Radcliffe displayed a range of emotion from despair to outright rage without over-acting and I think it was his best performance as Potter to date.

Not to play spoiler too much and I assume most have seen the film anyway…but the climactic wand battle between the Order of the Phoenix and Voldemort’s legions was absolutely stunning. It’s the kind of memorable sequence that stays with you long after the movie has ended.

If there is a weakness to the film it is the running time. At 138 minutes it’s the shortest of any Potter film and yet it’s based on the lengthiest of the books. I didn’t read the book but if I had, I’m sure there would be a number of things I could complain about that were cut from the film. I’d have liked to see the film about 20 minutes longer as parts did seem unduly rushed.

Extras

In what seems to be a bit of a growing trend, the Extras on the “Special Edition” were somewhat disappointing. The Extras disc contains “The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter” which takes a look at the entire series of films with comments from cast members and writers. This is from an A&E special and thus not really anything new. It’s 44 minutes in length.

There are approximately 10 – 11 minutes of deleted scenes that play all at once without any introduction or setup. None would have added anything significant to the film although Professor Trelawny’s scene where she plays with her food during Professor Umbridge’s speech is amusing.

“Trailing Tonks” is a 19 minute feature as actress Natalia Tena takes viewers on an informal tour of the studio with visits to her trailer, the canteen, the sound room, the animal compound, etc.

“Harry Potter: the Magic of Editing” looks at how editing and adding sound effects and music and drastically change scenes. This comes with an interactive editor that allows you to play with a scene from the film and have it play from different angles and with various musical scores and sounds.