good entry in the series

Rating: 7/10 (18 July 2007)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix  the name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but it's one of the more entertaining films I've seen so far this summer. Since I've read the book, it's a little hard for me to judge how good this movie would be for me if I had not read it. But all in all I found it more entertaining and convincing than the 4th film, not quite as good as the 3rd. It really seems like the more the filmmakers try to avoid slavish devotion to the books the better they are as films.
In this installment of the series, we see the menace of Lord Voldemort growing while the "Ministry" sticks its head in the sand and denies that what Harry Potter saw at the end of the 4th film actually happened. This leads to various humorous and dramatic situations, although the story somewhat lacks focus. Unlike in all of the previous HP stories, in this book we are not primarily concerned with the discovery of a treacherous tutor or former student, so the mystery component present in previous Rowling stories is missing. In its place we have the development of a more complicated character for Potter and we see the Ministry itself emerging as a confounding villainous influence, particularly when they recruit Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) as the new headmaster of Hogwarts. She introduces a regime that is low on educational content and high on pink accoutrements adorned with kittens.
Umbridge's slow descent into outright fascism is certainly the story's most compelling element, and Staunton's performance is just as excellent and brilliant as Rowling's description in the novel. I could see the audience around me go from being sort of annoyed and amused by her, to being deeply annoyed at her, and finally as her tortures grow more intense the audience reaction descended to hisses and other vocal forms of anger. Very effectively done. I'm glad the writers left former-educator Rowling's commentary on education in the story  it's a rare thing indeed for a popular fantasy story to convey to the audience at least some hint of the difference between pointless theoretical memory-based learning and a more practical application-based learning style.
Daniel Radcliffe's performances as Potter are becoming more and more interesting and capable. Wish I could say the same for the other two actors in our primary triumvirate, although the addition of Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood was solid casting. Unfortunately a lot of the parts of the story involving Ron and Hermione were excised on the way from book to screen and the actors seem to feel the need to over-act as if to compensate for their lack of screen time. I also think downplaying Harry's argumentative and jealous relationship with Ron with regards to his Quiddich playing damages several other scenes in the film, particularly when he tells Sirius (Gary Oldman) that he's afraid he's becoming a bad person (which we've seen very little evidence of in the film). We see virtually nothing of some of the better character actors in the series including Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) and Alan Rickman (Severus Snape). But on the plus side, what we do see is good, and we now get to see much more of Ralph Fiennes fun Voldemort portrayal.
When all is said and done, it's a fine film for Potter fans.