The Phoenix has Risen Indeed

Rating: 8/10 (3 March 2013)

I would begin my review of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with the statement I've made before: A return to greatness, but sadly, the series, to date, has never been even close to this level of quality.
True. And it's one of the biggest sequel-improvements of all time. Where Goblet of Fire (#4) was almost an entire waste of filmmaking, Order of the Phoenix (#5) leapt countless bounds past it and wasn't just a great Harry Potter chapter, but a fantastic film on its own merit.
Let's see, when have I felt this way before during a series? Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1/5 Stars) to the follow-up: Halloween: H20 (4½/5 Stars.) But, to be closer to home, or from a Part IV to V we have: Batman & Robin (1/5 Stars) to Batman Begins (4/5 Stars) or Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1/5 Stars) to Superman Returns (4/5 Stars.)
Order of the Phoenix was a fantastic ride, filled with very good special effects, funny lines, the most beautiful cinematography since Prisoner of Azkaban (#3,) a (much needed) tight, well paced and crisp story with the most depth given in the most realistic way to the characters, a incredible story of good vs. evil, friendship and connection and had the best, the most exciting and suspenseful climatic finales of the series. In fact, if it had ended here, aside from the obvious doors left open, I would've been okay with that.
BUT above all that, the fifth Harry Potter movie FINALLY contained direction, intensity, passion, a clear vision and lacked all the randomness that was thrown into the previous four installments. My main complaint, so far, was the chaotic and haphazard scenes that did not further the stories and were blatantly obvious scenes from the books to only appease that one demographic (the book-club fan) and not a new-comer like me. I have felt the series, leading up to and including number four, had been irresponsible in the sense they chose to be narrow-minded and forgo the art of making a movie to stand on its own two legs. Order of the Phoenix, didn't just have that; it had wings.
I digress, Harry uses his powers in front of a non-wizard in order to save him setting off a chain of events leading up to the over-powering and blind Ministry to slowly, but surely, take control of the school. In real life, this would be called: the TSA.
The most obvious of bad people, Miss Pink, is inadvertently causing Harry and his (this time) extended gang of friends to fight for themselves, literally, because The No-Nose, Man in Black is back.
I wouldn't just recommend this movie to Harry Potter fans. I wouldn't just recommend this to normal Muggles. I would simply tell people to skip the first four and begin the series here. I'm almost joking.
For the first time, from what I recall, the use of flashbacks and background events from the first chapters were shown. Gather what you need to put the pieces of the past together and save your time as this, the – THANK YOU! – shortest of all Harry Potter movies, is the tightest and best paced of all of the films.
Needless to say, I had a ball here. It's the kind of story I want to see, the depth of characters, namely Harry Potter himself (FINALLY), that I want to enjoy and it's an adventure with heart that made me care for those on the screen. This is the first time I have said this about a Harry Potter feature: I can't wait to see this one again.
(Editor's Note: I decided to listen to the masses for this Harry POTter phenomena and revisit the series. I've only seen the first two, both once and in first run theatres. Since it's been around a decade since the initial releases, I've started over with #1 and will get to what everyone calls: the better years. Cheerio!)