Very good. Surpases the book even, but GoF is still the best movie.

Rating: 9/10 (12 July 2007)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, who is getting better and better) enters his fifth year at Hogwarts, and a shadowy threat grows outside and within the school walls. The threat outside is in the form of scary @ss Voldemort (played by scary-@ss Ralph Fiennes). The threat within is pink, obnoxiously evil Doloros Umbridge (played to horrifying perfection by Imelda Staunton), a plant from the Ministry of Magic who believes that Albus Dumbledore is trying to use wide-spread fear of said Voldemort to usurp said Ministry of Magic. Harry and his classmates rebel from the imperialist thumb of this woman by forming a Defensive Magic club.
Of course, if you'd read the books you'd know all this, and if you are going in without reading the books or at least seeing the other movies, you made a stupid decision. This film does not stand alone and if you're a cynical adult critic, see something else. Why should the film lose points for building on the plots of the others? No one seemed to complain about it in the Lord of the Rings movies, or the Star Wars films.
Fanbase issues aside, the is perhaps one of the best of the lot so far. I loved Goblet of Fire, and all the adult critics gravitated towards Prisoner of Azkaban like catnip for some reason. The film had the most going against it of all the films so far. It's a 2 hour 20 minute version of a 800 page book, yet it breezily goes through the plot and makes it comprehensive without losing any of the book's charm or seeming like a "Best of" clip show. In fact, I would go so far as to say it amplified the charm of my lesser favorite of the books. Much props to the editors. They agreed to do what no previous director had dared to do. MONTAGES! No, not the dreaded "m" word! Yes they did. And it serves the film well.
Maybe hiring TV director David Yates was a good call after all. Right from the start the movie has a totally new richer darker feel to it. Harry and cousin Dudley are attacked in a tunnel, straight out of Jacob's Ladder, by Dementors, who seem to have a new look and even rougher attitude.
Of course, some critics have made this film out to be a funeral march. Not true. It's not all dark and despair. There is still loads of fun to be had, but when snake headed Ralph Fiennes is right outside your backyard waiting to kill you, how much fun can you have? By Harry's side is a legion of excellent supporting cast. They seem to have picked most of my favorite British actors, Alan Rickman and Brendan Gleeson (who I hope is given more to do in the remaining two films) at the forefront. Gary Oldman is wonderful in this new fad of his to not play bad-guys. Jason Isaccs returns with promising psychotic newbie Helena Bonham Carter as Death Eaters Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, and oh hell, there's too much wonderful acting. You could literally remove half of the huge cast and still have enough quality British actors to do a rousing Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth. My personal favs have to be Evana Lynch as the wonderful wayward hippy Luna Lovegood and Mathew Lewis as Neville Longbottom, who has really come into his own. Daniel Radcliffe also shows dramatic improvement in his best round as Harry yet. I like Emma Watson, but she could take a page from Dan and do a few plays. It's not entirely her fault as she's only given exposition to say, but something to change her speaking pattern and keep those eyebrows from not rising up and down every time she talks.
The movie manages to make the least cinematic of the books into a movie where something rousing is there around every corner, and it still manages to seem like the kids are going to school. There is an anormous awe-inspiring magic streetfight at the end. I'd give the film full marks, but it feels like there could have been a little more room for emotion and grieving (look! spoilers!) had they made time and not hurried everything along at the end.
Nearly the best yet but second to GoF, Order of the Phoenix gets an A- Now lets all find out how this ENDS. I hope JKR doesn't "Sopranos" the ending.