Evil must be confronted.

Rating: 9/10 (22 August 2019)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth instalment of our boy wizards adventures and this time, it's getting even more dark. Yes Harry is back again with his magic world right behind him, well actually that really isn't the case here. With the events that took place in the preceding film, Harry is up against seemingly everyone in this movie, and the angst of some of these teenagers is sky high too. The movie is awesome. It's the kind of movie that after 10 times of watching it never gets boring.
Harry's year at Hogwarts is full of thrills but also a lot of fun, the epic battle scenes were just that epic although mostly confined to the beginning and the end with the middle being the funnier parts. That said the funny parts are pretty hysterical and characters such as Neville Longbottom yet again step it up with Matthew Lewis becoming a regular feature to the gang. This is the first time I feel that Harry doesn't just need Ron and Hermione, he actually needs a lot of his fellow students and it makes it a much bigger film because of it. The trio and all the young cast members are great in this film.
The film doesn't go crazy with new additions, but it does conjure up quite a few. The most impressive and absolutely spot on of these is Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge who's annoying persona and very shall we say, unorthodox methods make for a more intriguing character and a hard one to play but done very well by Staunton. Gary Oldman is back in person for this one and he adds to the wealth of the cast, this is the biggest when it comes to showing off British acting talent and really shows it off in a bright light for all to see.
Now David Yates is brought in for this one and I do think he does great, he manages to get the best performances of the series out of the returning cast so far especially Daniel Radcliffe and Gary Oldman. With Order of the Phoenix being such a huge book, it is a surprise that this is so short compared to what fans expected, but it works in it's favour, it tries not to dwell on certain parts too long and the sustained parts of talking would not have been good made even longer.
I enjoyed the effects used in this movie, the massive scenes are there and the epic scale of the movie and it's budget are plain to see, but it doesn't go over the top with special effects in the middle, creating a kind of movie that feels real and tangible in a weird way . Nicolas Hooper score is solid, it works well because it doesn't contain those sweet snippets of song so often seen in the first movies but doesn't go all dark on us either, he balances it nicely so that the scenes move nicely with the music and long periods of just the score can work well too.
I think Order of the Phoenix is one of the best Harry Potter films and continues it's trend of just consistently great storytelling, it may not make the book fans the happiest bunch with the amounts cut out, but this film is still as a movie, a great entry into the franchise. Would recommend it to anyone, definitely one that even though is pretty dark stuff, can still be enjoyed by the whole family and importantly, even the little kids too.