Lacks structure and pace. Mr. Yates needs to brush up on his interpretation skills.

Rating: 4/10 (22 July 2007)

Be it the first or the last season, but excluding the third, with Harry and his friends at Hogwarts, this years school term feels exactly the same as the previous terms. This year we see a much drawn-out affair that takes great pains to expel any adventure and fun, yes, fun. For the same messages that we have become accustomed to, such as Harry's parents, Lord Voldemort's so-called appearance and his good-time older friends treating him as the child that they, and we too, still see him as, is no fun to watch any longer. He really does need to become more assertive and independent, this does happen in a tiny moment, but it seems more tantrum and transcendence.
With the conspiracy theorists out to outdo our hero's reputation, once more, it really is surprising how much this young man can take after the last four years, Harry is led into the world of the Order of the Phoenix, an organisation banded together, by the elder wizards and witches, to challenge the evils of Lord Voldemort. But what a waste, as Harry is pampered around these guardians, it is obvious that these magnificent men, and women, on their flying machines are only a fleeting and almost none affair throughout the entire movie. Whose only appearance, toward the end, is to do battle with their evil nemesis, the final battle, if we can call it that, is over before it starts, another anticlimax to an uneventful journey in the life of master Potter and his friends.
The short-lived characters coming and goings, and more often goings, such as Rubeus Hagrid and his journey to the land of giants, to find allies, but only comes back with a half-wit brother who serves no purpose at all, and what did become of these giants? Hagrid, along with Remus Lupin and Alastor 'Mad-­Eye' Moody, who no doubt we'd like to have seen more off, felt like they were just there to prop up the plot and serve as little purpose as possible. All well and good perhaps, but wasn't the title of this fifth term called the Order of the Phoenix? We know that a Phoenix can regenerate itself but these Phoenix's make very little time and effort to generate any screen time at all, it is then bewildering and farcical as to why the movie was called Order of the Phoenix in the first place. Having read the book, I can fully understand, but these are two completely different mediums here, and to simply take one from another and pass it off as the first is both dangerous and arrogant. To have so many holes and questions left unfulfilled and unanswered in this movie can possibly do irreversible damage to its reputation as a whole. Are the movie makers of these novels becoming complacent or are the books too long too interpret into the medium of film? This could be just giving the public what they want, but to judge them as a whole, as two mediums that should work as one is too a dangerous act. One plus one may not always add up to one here, as we have been shown, but it does add up to two, without a doubt: Novel vs. Movie. Take your pick.
Yet again, the emphasis is centred on Harry and his friends, of course, and this time becoming that little more rebellious, that little more independent, and why not, while the cats are away the mice shall play. But do we have to be constantly reminded of his poor dear parents, his poor old scar and while all this is going on it truly distracts from the adventure and excitement of magic and witchcraft. The opening sequence looked very promising (and how much has young Dudley Dursley changed, until his name was spoken he was unrecognisable, he seems to be the first to have a completely new personality) but then we see the same, if not very much older and larger actors, as to can be said for Mr and Mrs. Weasley, uncle and aunt, setting the same rift and contempt. Another term, another year, and another pound around the old waistlines of all our favourite characters'.
Yes, this David Yates interpretation of the J.K. Rowling novel is more prone to droughts of fulfilment and stimulation than the highly sub-plotted, imaginative and creative Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) by Alfonso Cuarón, in all areas of movie-making here. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2008) shall be the final term of endeavour and with Mr. Yates at the top of the class once more. Let's hope he has learnt some very important lessons by then, or detention may not be enough, expulsion may be his only option if he fails to rise up to the level of courageous and inventive movie-maker and there are no excuses for not delivering the goods on time. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007): Repetitive, short-lived and disappointing, stay behind for extra studies. If you know what's good for you.