Movie 46: Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

No one believes Harry and Dumbledore’s claim that Voldermort has returned so they are derided in the press. The minister for magic flat out refuses to believe it, causing massive political problems for the two of them. When Harry uses magic to protect himself and Dudley from some Dumentors he nearly ends up in Azkaban prison, and the minister is so paranoid that Dumbledore is moving against him that he places a mole in Hogwaters. Power steadily moves to the pink, evil and twisted Dolores Umbridge making life miserable for the kids. Meanwhile, due to the fact they are being taught defensive magic, Harry forms an alternative practical defence against the dark arts class.

That’s the jist, don’t want to give any spoilers in case on of your is one of the 6 people in the world that hasn’t read the Potter books or watched the movies.

This isn’t going to be a book comparison. It’s been a while since I last read Order of the Phoenix and I can’t remember it well enough to do that. Also, it’s not fair. The films and books are different animals as it always is with adaptations. To make a film that includes everything in a book the size of Order of the Phoenix would be ridiculous. You’d have a 7 hour movie. Hell, even small paper backs would cause you some bother.

So yes this is trimmed to hell and back. It’s a bare bones version of the story. Gone are subplots and minor characters. But who cares? What it results in is a lean story that clips along. It doesn’t really feel like bunches of things have been removed. There are still side plots and character moments. They threw Krecher back in for a couple of scenes so that he fits in future books. Grawp could have been cut entirely but they didn’t. Book fans can’t really complain.

It’s also a rare series that gets better as each movie comes out. It could be argued that either this or Goblet of Fire is the high point so far, but there has been steady improvement. Which is understandable as the same could be said about the books. Not so sure about Half Blood Prince, I remember being a bit disappointed and sick of seeing the word snogging on every third page but we’ll get to that when I watch it.

One major thing that this film shows is how damned good British actors are. You know how good? David Tennant had a bit part in the 4th film. Fair enough, that was pre-Doctor Who but he was still a great actor then. How about the fact that Brendan Gleeson, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters and a handful of others don’t get that much screen time but they’re still at the party? We have so many good actors they could be cast as bloody EXTRAS and we wouldn’t be wanting. Take note Hollywood.

This isn’t really one I have to recommend or not as you’ll either watch it, have watched it or don’t care either way. I liked it though.

Next up: Star Trek