Boredworkers.com

Watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last Friday as part of a company event at Cineleisure. The theatre wasn’t as packed as I had expected it to be. The movie is the fifth chapter of seven. The final book in the series was released just weeks prior to the movie’s premiere.

Sypnosis
Read the book dangnamit! But for the benefit of those who are too lazy to do so, here’s the gist.

The story picks up where the last one left off. Lord Voldermort has returned and is gathering his followers, the Death Eaters, and threatens the existence of both the muggle and wizarding world. Sensing what looms ahead, the Order of the Phoenix, a secret band of wizards formed and led by Hogward’s headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is reassembled.

Meanwhile, it’s Harry Potter’s fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Together with his buddies, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasly, they return to the wizarding world. But the wizarding world is in a state of denial. The Ministry of Magic discredits both Harry Potter and Dumbledore in a vain attempt to avoid the cold truth of the Dark Lord return. Professor Umbridge is assigned by the Ministry to Hogwarts to keep Harry and the headmaster in check. This brings about a tyrannic and draconian change to the way the school is run.

In defiance, the students form a society headed by Harry Potter himself. Dubbed Dumbledore’s Army, they meet in secret where Harry draws from his past experience and teaches them the finer points of defence against the dark arts. In between the serious lessons, our hero finds time for teenage angst and puppy love.

Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasly, Lord Voldermort, Dumbedore’s Army, the Order of the Phoenix, the Death Eaters. They will all come together eventually. What grand adventure awaits?

My Say

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint reprise their roles as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasly respectively. They’ve really grown since the first movie was shot in 2001. I’m sure many will agree that Emma Watson’s looking good.

Order of the Phoenix was never my favourite of the HP series. It was probably the darkest book in the set. It was all teenage angst and anger, alot of shouting, plenty of smooching and little else. It got a little repetitive after a while. While the movie wasn’t as bad as the book, it had that dark element about it. I can just hear the screams of blasphemy right now. In all honesty, I didn’t particularly enjoy the movie.

Like its title, the movie is too damn long. I wouldn’t have minded as much if it was one of those epic movies like The Patriot or The Gladiator. But for HP, there was little substance to fill the 2 hour and 18 minute screen time. This is evident when they threw in a 30 second kissing filler sequence between Cho Chang and Harry Potter. As it was in the book, that smooching sequence had nothing whatsoever to do with anything.

There are also plenty of holes between the different scenes. If I hadn’t already read the book, I would have had a hard time following the movie. The movie was trying to stay too close to the book and in doing so, revealed many things in a subtle manner that would have been easily overlooked. Come on. People watch the movie because they are too lazy to read the book. Making things obvious is better than obscure.

IMHO, they made the movie with the assumption that everybody’s seen the previous 4 movies or have at least read some of the books. If they hadn’t, then they’ll be at a total loss as to what some of the things mean. Tell me you know what veritaserum without having seen the previous movie or read one of the books and I’ll buy you the tickets to the movie.

As far as I’m concerned, a successful movie (and more importantly sequel) is one that is self contained. All ideas are explained in the movie itself and you can watch it without ever knowing that a previous movie existed. Sure there can be subtle hints and references to prior episodes but it shouldn’t be made like a private joke where only two people understand and everyone else is left dumbfounded.

It’s also a pity that Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger had very small parts in this installment. They’ve practically been reduced to supporting cast. They don’t play any pivotal role in the movie. Worse for Ron than Hermione. A few months back, the world was shocked by rumours that Emma Watson was calling it quits. Having seen the movie, I can understand why if that rumour were true.

The movie’s also pretty cliched. When the good guys moved, they were a flash of white while bad guys were trails of black. That’s regardless of the colour of the garments they wore. I can understand why the trails of the Death Eaters are black since they are wearing black robes. But flash of white and Sirius Black appears in black robes? Even his namesake is black!

The best scene was probably the final battle between Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldermort in the Ministry of Magic. It looked too much like something from an anime sequence. A throwback to the good ole days of Dragon Ball. There’s alot of ball throwing, controlling of chi, flying around, shields, yada yada. Definitely the highlight of the movie. While I won’t say it made up for the rest of the movie, it was at least worth the wait.

Watch it if you’re a fan. If you’re not, then at least watch the previous movie or read the book before hitting the theatre.