Gone is the magic

Rating: 5/10 (14 July 2007)

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth installment based from J.K. Rowling's wildly popular series of a young wizard's adventures in the magical school of Hogwarts, feel much more an obligatory splice between its predecessors and the impending eventuality. For fans who have loyally followed the series, it's temporarily stopping an itch before the final book comes out. But for anyone else, the film is an emotionally inept and borderline drab for most of its running time as the narrative feels crammed just as to cover all bases before going to the final two films.
Prior to his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his bullying cousin Dudley (Harry Melling) have been attacked by Dementors in a subway prompting Harry to use a spell in front of a Muggle to expel the dark soul-sucking creatures. This places him in trouble with the Ministry of Magic, which forbids such practice, and would have been expelled by the tribunal from Hogwarts if not for the intervention of school headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon).
Still, even after being cleared of the offense, the Head of the Minister Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) refuses to believe Harry and Dumbledore's claims that the Dark Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has returned. He instead installs the sweet-talking pink-loving Professor Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) as the new Defense against the Dark Arts instructor, whose fascist-style of running the school has led a group of students to form "Dumbledore's Army." Led by the trio of Harry, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), the underground rebels plan to put up an army that would fight the one Voldemort is forming.
To their credit, director David Yates and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg succeed in giving the film a dark tone that signals the young hero's transition to adulthood. The performances, as usual, are competent and the cinematography contribute to a menacing atmosphere all throughout.
Yet despite all the polished trappings, there's no sense of magic. While Goldenberg, whose screen writing credentials include the brooding 2003 version of "Peter Pan," manages to consistently translate the angst required of the film's characters, Yates fails to impart consistent pacing throughout and bring out the requisite emotion from the film for the viewer to connect with its characters. As a result, everything feels less genuine drama than a mere anchor for subsequent Potter films.
While fans may be pleased with this end product that coincides with the source material's seventh and perhaps final installment, anyone else probably won't be held spellbound.