Still a great deal of fun, but less captivating than previous installments

Rating: 7/10 (16 July 2007)

With each new film, the Harry Potter franchise gets darker and more mature, perhaps also to reflect the fact that the audience has grown up along with the characters. "Darker", however, is not synonymous with "better", in fact Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the least accomplished entry in the series so far.
And yet it starts very promisingly: following a quarrel with his cousin Dudley, now a cruel bully, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is attacked by Dementors and thus forced to use magic in front of Muggles (i.e. human beings). Now, had this happened in one of the preceding movies, he would have gotten away with a mere warning, if even that. Unfortunately, that is not the case, as the Ministry of Magic has become incredibly paranoid when it comes to Harry: not only are they threatening to have him expelled from Hogwarts, they have also openly stated that the return of Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), which the teen wizard witnessed at the end of Goblet of Fire, is a scandalous lie invented with the purpose of spreading panic and allowing Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) to take over the Ministry. Given the situation, all that is left to do is prepare for the imminent, inevitable battle in secret, which is why Dumbledore has restored the Order of the Phoenix, whose most prominent members include Harry's godfather, Sirius Black (Gary Oldman). Sadly, they can't do much to solve Harry's other problem: Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), a Ministry employee who has managed to be appointed as the new teacher of Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. Her intentions? To keep all students disciplined, make sure no one mentions the Dark Lord and, generally, turn all the good people's lives into Hell.
Regarding the tone, which is closer to (moderate) horror than fantasy (hence the PG-13 rating that has been applied since the fourth film), some critics have expressed their disappointment, fearing the last two movies, yet to be filmed, might become too violent for the franchise's target audience. And while it is true that an R-rated seventh episode would lose many of its viewers, it is equally true that the bleak moments are the best in the whole film: the last half-hour is arguably the strongest conclusion a Potter film's had to date, emotionally speaking, whereas everything that comes before that, especially the lighter stuff, is quite uneven.
The problem has almost nothing to do with the adaptation, in fact director David Yates and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg have managed to make an accessible, entertaining blockbuster out of an 800-page book which, according to many, is the weakest in the saga. Nearly all the unnecessary stuff that could have been amusing but wasn't very relevant in terms of plotting (such as possible returns for Kenneth Branagh and Miranda Richardson's characters) has been left out, ensuring the film hardly ever gets slowed down by futile digressions. There are, nonetheless, a few instances that are included in the movie but could easily have been left on the cutting room floor. What, for example, is the point of having Sirius' house elf Kreecher appear, when his contribution to the film's events equals zero (although he had an important role in the novel)? The same goes for Remus Lupin: it is nice to have David Thewlis back on board, but with very little of relevance to do or say the overall feeling is that his presence is merely a reminder of how great the third flick was (Brendan Gleeson, on the other hand, is allowed more space to reprise his quirky role from the previous installment). And last, but not least, the much talked-about kiss between Harry and Cho Chang (Katie Leung), which is part of the "teen romance" section introduced in the fourth picture, is actually a huge disappointment because: a) there is no more mention of the love story in the rest of the picture; b) the scene itself, being completely flat and lifeless (and what we see is supposedly the best of the several takes that were required), stands out as the single dullest moment in the franchise's history, making it even more ironic that the subsequent sequence, a conversation between Harry and Ron that follows the book word for word ("How was it?" "Wet!"), is one of the series' comic highlights.
Elsewhere, though, the film seems to work pretty well, mainly thanks to the consistently reliable cast: Radcliffe is at his best, angry and in pain, while Gary Oldman and Alan Rickman, sidelined in the fourth film, are enabled to steal the show once again, the former warm and humane, the latter deliciously sinister. As for the bad guys, Fiennes' role is, as usual, brief but instantly memorable, and the same ought to be said of Jason Isaacs, finally allowed to fully show his dark side. Now, what about Staunton? Well, she is far from bad as an actress, but her characterization makes Umbridge more of an annoying buffoon rather than an unsettling threat, making it possible for fellow "bad girl" Helena Bonham Carter, who is truly disturbing and scary as the demented Bellatrix Lestrange, to outshine her.
In the end, Order of the Phoenix is pretty good on its own, but sub-par compared to previous achievements. Hopefully Yates, who will direct the sixth film as well, will deliver a more even product next time.
6,5/10