HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
( WARNING : SPOILERS )
"Arry Potta", .........two words that never fail to make my skin crawl. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve disliked all the previous Potter movies, so it was highly unlikely I was going to enjoy this one. Maybe if I read the books it would give me a greater appreciation of their big screen adaptations, but at any rate, movies should be able to stand by themselves.
I’ve always disliked the plots of the Potter movies and this one is no exception. They are just so incoherent. And for a movie supposedly aimed at kids, I’ve often found them to be quite confusing and unnecessarily complicated. It could be that the film just suffers from huge portions from the book being expunged (due to time constraints), but that means it’s just been adapted poorly.
An annoying trend that continues in this movie is the inconsistent behaviour of many of the characters. Every movie a new character pops up who appears to be shady, only to turn out to be good (in previous movies: Sirius Black, Professor Lupin, 'Mad-Eye' Moody, Severus Snape). Then at the end of the movie they give a feeble excuse for their unusual behaviour. This movie has an already-established character (Dumbledore) acting out of the ordinary, but his justification at the end is still weak and nonsensical.
My big issue with the series has always been Daniel Radcliffe. He couldnt act his way out of a cardboard box. When the series started I was able to chock that up to his very young age, but now (four films later) I just can’t escape the fact that he is a brutal actor. With the burden of carrying these movies resting squarely on his shoulders, it’s proven far too much for someone of his limited ability to handle.
The films one saving grace is that the adult cast is populated by some of the finest British character actors working today. This boon is something of a double-edged sword however, as it serves to highlight the poor acting skills of some of the younger cast. In my opinion, most of the big name cast are vastly overqualified for the shallow roles they are being given to play and they get little or no screen time to develop their characters.
In this movie however, Imelda Staunton (who plays the character of Dolores Umbridge) does get a sizable chunk of the movie to herself and is an absolute joy to watch. She steals every scene she’s in. As always Alan Rickman is a delight to watch, but his role in this movie is somewhat limited. Maggie Smith gets barely a look-in and Emma Thompson and Robby Coltrane barely have cameos. The man I feel has been most wasted throughout the series is Gary Oldman. All the character does is fawn over Harry (same as most of the cast really).
Another disappointing aspect of this movie (and all the movies to date) is the lack of imagination where magic is concerned. The extent of the students powers (and their teachers, for that matter) seems to be limited to knocking things out of the way with their wands. I’ve always found this VERY underwhelming, and figured that maybe as the series progressed, their range of powers and spells would too. This never came to pass, and any battle that involved magic was a bit pathetic. The climactic scene between Voldemort and Dumbledore was nothing more than the two wizards firing off different coloured streams of light at each other.
As a counterpoint, I remember a scene from the old Disney “Sword in the Stone” animated movie from the 60s, where two wizards faced off against each other. In this duel of magic, they both tried to turn themselves into ever more menacing forms of creature and attack then each other. Are the wizards in the Potter universe simply too unadventurous to resort to such displays of power? But...... I digress :P
The films one significant happening (the death of a major character) is handled in such a hurried and throwaway fashion as to make the whole event almost meaningless.
And the way in which Harry eventually dispels Voldemort was SUCH a cop-out “I have friends, BEGONE foul demon!” etc. The whole film felt like it was building up to something, and then.........the credits rolled.
I think it’s ironic that a film about wizards has so little magic or sense of wonder about it. It’s all pomp and no substance. For reasons beyond me, this movie will no doubt end up being one the top ten box-office draws of all time. *sigh*
And can ANYONE explain to me how Draco Malfoy is still in Hogwarts when everyone knows his father is working for Voldemort?!?!
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