Harry Potter: Disorder of the Phoenix

Rating: 7/10 (15 July 2007)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix isn't a bad film, but it has obvious and glaring mistakes that keep it from being on par with the other Potter films. It's barely ten minutes into the film when Nymphadora Tonks utters "Don't worry Harry. We will explain every thing when we get back to headquarters." Sadly nothing could be further from the truth.
The sad part of this film, is how untrue that statement was. They never do explain, they keep applying the same formulaic plot. A mystery appears, Harry and the Scooby Gang face adversity, overcome adversity, then face a greater evil that is ultimately squashed by or with the help of the older generation who plotted the showdown all along. This film failed to hit hard where it should have - dealing with death, unlike the previous which dealt masterfully and subtely with puberty.
Pieces were missing all over, it felt like everything in the film could be considered a Deus Ex Machina. Merely introduced to later fill in a plot gap. There was no casual blending or mere foreshadowing that Mike Newell delicately established in the Goblet Fire, it was blatant disjointed plot objects mashed together to complete the puzzle. Some points the film miserably at: - Dolores Umbridge's hatred of half-breed's into the ultimately just ending of her doom. - Thestral's obviously symbolic of dealing w/ death they are largely ignored, and I found it preposterous that anyone but Luna and Harry could fly on them considering the others couldn't even see them. - The Lastrange family line. It seemed weak and just thrown in, despite perfect casting of Bellatrix w/ Helena Bonham Carter. The director should be ashamed for limiting her screen time with the role, and never expanding on the racism. - The failure to establish inner conflict for Hermoine's character in obvious parallels between Dolores and her methods - Believable establishment in Harry seeing Voldemort and himself alike - The failure of interaction between Sirius and Harry - It seemed forced and poor. The audience was forced to recall emotion from either the book or two movies past. There just wasn't the connection in this film, where it should have been the strongest. - The failure to properly vindicate and re-establish Cho as good character, instead of a turncoat.
While it had bad points, it also had good. The most notable was the performance of two new actresses to the series that lit up the screen whenever they were involved - Natalia Tena as Nymphadora Tonks and Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood. While Natalia had very little screen time, I enjoyed every moment of it, and left wanting more. Evanna as the peculiar Luna Lovegood gave a near perfect performance, and brought an utterly brilliant character to life.
The actors all around gave good performances, as usual the adults seemed to outshine the kids whenever they could, but overall it was a good movie.