Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

***1/2

Harry Potter……………………….Daniel Radcliffe
Dolores Umbridge………………....Imelda Staunton
Sirius Black……………………….Gary Oldman
Severus Snape……………………..Alan Rickman
Professor Dumbledore…………….Michael Gambon
Hermione Granger…………………Emma Watson
Ron Weasely………………………Rupert Grint
Voldemort…………………………Ralph Fiennes

Directed by David Yates
Screenplay by Michael Goldenberg
Based on the novel by J. K. Rowling

Rated PG-13
Runtime: 2 hrs. 18 min.


There’s been a lot made of the magic being gone. I have to admit: for a time, I was wondering whether it was.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (movie #5 of 7) doesn’t begin as effortlessly as the others have. There are scenes that don’t pop as much as they have in the previous movies. The lone scene with Harry’s aunt and uncle was uncomfortable, like they tried to cram into a 2-minute scene all of the humor the other movies found in Harry’s home life and it burst.

But at some point, and I can’t say when it happened, the movie took off. I felt the same way I do when I read the books: breathless excitement as each scene unfolds wondering what’s going to happen next.

The movie opens well with a genuinely frightening scene when Harry and his step-brother Dudley are attacked by Dementors. In order to save himself and Dudley, Harry has to use magic.

For this, Harry is expelled from Hogwarts. He is eventually allowed to return, but Hogwarts is not the haven it once was. The newspapers and many classmates are accusing him of lying about Voldemort’s return (Harry fought Voldemort at the end of the previous film). There’s a new Professor of the Dark Arts, Dolores Umbridge, who is also a member of the Ministry of Magic, and who does not take kindly to being questioned. Professor Dumbledore seems oddly absent. And Harry is having recurring nightmares.

There are a few bright spots for Harry. He begins leading a secret class teaching defense against the dark arts because Miss Umbridge is not teaching them anything practical. And then there’s his first kiss.

There are so many intangibles with this outing that I don’t know where to place either the little blame or the considerable credit. There’s a new writer and it’s the longest of the Potter books, but it is new director David Yates who has received the brunt of the attacks. Several critics have said that he hasn’t brought anything new to the series. Really, I’m not sure anyone up to this point has added their stamp except Alfonso Cuaron with the edge he brought to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Yates wisely builds on this as Mike Newell did in the previous installment. But Yates brings a delicacy to this film that has been absent before. This movie has time for character and there are many intimate scenes that depend on acting and not effects. All the actors have improved, particularly Daniel Radcliffe. When he asks Dumbledore why he’s angry all the time, it’s heartbreaking. His scenes with his godfather Sirius (Gary Oldman) are excellent. The bond between them is very real.

Imelda Staunton has been added to the cast and is wonderful as Dolores Umbridge. Everything about her acting, costumes, and set decoration (love the cat plates) undercut her sadism, yet it makes her that much more terrifying.

But please, let’s give it up for Alan Rickman who works his own special type of magic on screen. He has a scene in which he utters only two words, both of which elicited laughs from the audience.

Finally, for all those who are complaining that the wonderment is gone, of course it is. J. K. Rowling’s brilliance was to begin this story as an objective experience, but the more we grow with Harry, the more subjective the story becomes. We have to experience things as Harry is. I suggest you stop complaining and come along for the ride. You might miss some magic you weren’t expecting.