Yates, Goldenberg and Hooper try, but come up short with Order

Rating: 7/10 (11 July 2007)

When I think of the great fantasy movie franchises I think of two of the greatest: Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Both (in my humble opinion) excelled due to one crucial element: continuity. Unfortunately, for the Harry Potter movies this element is lacking, and as a result the franchise suffers.
Oddly enough, the first thing I noticed about this latest installment of the Potter franchise was the score, which was sorely lacking. The John Williams Harry Potter theme has become one of the most iconic film scores in history. However, the new composer for this film (Nicholas Hooper) seems to feel other wise, as he has completely changed the musical tone of the series. As a result of this decision the 'feel' of this film is very much different from the first four, and this is not a good thing. My advice to Hooper: "If it isn't broken, don't try and fix it." When I learned that Steve Kloves was not slated to adapt J.K. Rowling's "Order of the Phoenix" I knew that the film would suffer. The film OOTP is extremely convoluted and choppy. However, I don't blame the new screenwriter Michael Goldenberg. I must admit it would be hard to jump into a franchise such as Harry Potter and attempt to adapt the longest novel of the series into a feature film. I see that Kloves (imdb.com) is slated to adapt 'The Half-blood Prince.' Hopefully having a movie off won't cramp his style.
And finally we come to the director, newcomer to the series David Yates. I actually feel that he was able to coax some good performances out of his actors; the number of winces at Dan Radcliffe's acting was considerably less this time out. Nevertheless, being given a hack job of a scrip like this one would be difficult for any director to navigate. I feel for him. I look forward to see what he can do for "The Half-blood Prince," which is a dialog driven story that will fit his style.
End Notes, My personal gripes: The name of the movie is "The Order of the Phoenix," so I'd like to see more of the order. The final battle in the Department of Mysteries was way to short. Serious's death was very anti-climactic, and not how it was described in the book. I'd have liked more dialogue between Dumbledore and Voldemort.