A bit of a drag

Rating: 5/10 (12 July 2007)

One always knew that, as the length of the HP books increased, turning them into films was going to get harder. So to be fair, one must remember that the Order of the Phoenix is a heavily padded book lacking the tautness of the first three novels as well as their clever plots. With the Goblet of Fire one still had an excellent plot but the padding had begun.
Thus it is no surprise that first four films got better and better. They also showed a steady progression into the battle between good and evil, with each one being 'darker' than its predecessors. I had hoped this film would continue that trend and to a limited extent it did, it was certainly gloomy. Sadly though, here one has a film that despite having some exciting interludes, ultimately did not deliver. We already knew from HP and the Goblet of Fire that Lord Voldemort was back; this film left me thinking 'so what?' Where were the real surprises? There weren't any.
Where was the climax? There really wasn't one because nothing was answered properly.
What one can see is that the switch of screenwriters from Steve Kloves (SK) to Michael Goldenberg (MG) was a big mistake. SK understood the essentials of the first four novels and put together excellent screenplays with the author. With MG, I think the main problem is that the screenplay tried too hard to stick to the book, with the result that so much was left out, the plot seemed full of holes (perhaps the author had something to do with this as well).
Looking to the future I am greatly relieved to note that SK is back as screenwriter for the Half Blood Prince and I really hope he will write the screenplay for the Deathly Hallows and we can forget about the Order of the Phoenix because that is what this film is; FORGETTABLE.