An incredibly powerful movie.

Rating: 9/10 (25 July 2007)

To begin with, this film is visually stunning. This was the best use of special effects and computer graphics I've seen in many years, it also included some very fine cinematography. Not even once was I taken out of the plot by a poorly shot or improperly lit scene. This was the only Harry Potter movie that I can truly say is best viewed on the big screen, from the spectacularly rousing fireworks scene to the truly phantasmagoric battle scene I frequently felt moved to rise in applause for the magnificent visual feast I was experiencing (especially after the recent run of films currently in theaters that leave one with only a sickly sense of empty boredom).
Secondly, this movie had a compelling story and was tightly edited. The continuing moral of the Harry Potter movies, that love conquers all, is very poignantly made clear by the Harry gradually being forced to realize throughout the story that he is surrounded by people who love and care about him and that he is not alone. These ideas are finally crystalized by denouement of the film when it becomes clear to him that (much like Luke skywalker in Star Wars) Voldemort is using his negative emotions (anger, loss, hatred, sadness, etc...) to take over his mind because they are his weaknesses, and that all along his survival and strength has come from happiness and love. The depicted change in the political climate is, of course, drawn from much of history and is an accelerated portrayal of the actions of many paranoid world leaders- past and present. I also thought that this was a very convincing portrayal of how a hero (Harry) might suddenly be forced into leadership in order to subvert a cruel tyranny that is taking hold. I have very few qualms about the editing or directing in this movie. The stair trick in the argument between Umbridge and McGonagall was a little long, but it was a nice bit of staging. And I suppose Hagrid's brother was necessary to the plot, even if he did seem corny and superfluous.
The acting in this movie was another component that I felt was much improved from the previous Harry Potter films. All the kids did an excellent job and, for once, they seem to have found a way to make Gambon almost work as Dumbledore. I really liked Luna, she has the same sort of ethereal presence as The Childlike Empress in The NeverEnding Story. Staunton did an unusually good job of playing someone who's just evil as sin, really makes your blood boil to watch.
This is a funny, moving, and uplifting film. If I wasn't so loyal to the first Harry Potter movie I would say that this was the best one. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix really is a tour de force in film-making.
Bravo!