Terrible Adaptation, With Awful Direction and a Screenplay to Match...

Rating: 1/10 (7 September 2008)

Easily the most-anticipated of all the Harry Potter books to be made into film was The Order of the Phoenix. It was a book that I read at a certain milestone in my life, and to finally see it in a movie theater was a treat.
However, this Harry Potter installment is so lackluster in story, and completely unfaithful to the source material, it is the biggest disappointment I've had to face in the cinema since the first X-Men movie.
The acting is okay. Radcliffe tends to go over-the-top a few times, especially near the end of the film in the Department of Mysteries. Gambon is still a somewhat okay replacement for Richard Harris, though the Dumbledore portrayed here is nothing like the one in the previous films. Grint and Watson are also treats. Imelda Staunton as Delores Umbridge is so great in her performance, that it is truly the only saving grace of the movie.
The music this go around is weak. Compared to the beautiful and haunting score created by John Williams, the music for The Order of the Phoenix is anything but enjoyable or deep.
Michael Goldenberg's screenplay is not only weak in terms of delivering a satisfying movie with a good pace and character development, it is also one of the worst adaptations of a novel I have come across in years. Omissions are inevitable, but there's a clear line between what "should be" and what "shouldn't be". The series as a whole up to this point has left out so much information, it's no wonder why the final book has been split into two parts. The subtle stuff that leads up to the finale is completely omitted or wrongly placed in the film -- Dumbledore does not explain the prophecy. Sirius's fate would be confusing to the average audience member, and the tension between characters is incorrectly written to the point where I'm surprised no one is burning Harry Potter DVDs instead of the books. I'm not a purist, I just have a better understanding as to what needed to be included for the next and final (two) movie(s). THERE IS, ALSO, NO CONTINUITY -- they introduce the Daily Prophet as a device to incorporate montage sequences to make the film go by faster.
The special effects are mediocre compared to The Goblet of Fire, and the Department of Mysteries is not realized to its full potential. The Ministry of Magic was excellent however, and nicely realized.
All in all, as a fan and not a purist, Harry Potter has shown no magic or charm in this fifth installment, and as a story, there's no character development, faithfulness, nor pace. This is just one big rush job. I highly do not recommend it to any fan of the books or to an average viewer. The film goes all over the place, loosing focus of what is to come in the future, all equaling to the biggest disappointment of 2007, hands down.