Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
7/16/07
The
Harry
Potter movie series is a fascinating structural experiment, allowing
the kind of epic saga we've grown used to seeing doled out in a trilogy
of increasingly unfocused films to play out over no fewer than seven.
It helps, obviously, to have the most beloved novels of their time as a
blueprint, but unlike the standard movie trilogy, which marches to a fairly
predictable three-act pattern of setup (Star Wars), darkest hour
(The Empire Strikes Back) and payoff (Return of the Jedi),
the Potter saga has the ongoing drift of a serialized TV show, kinda
like a big-screen Lost that only airs once every 18 months.
Now, after four movies of setup, the franchise has finally produced its'
Empire
Strikes Back: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
sees the sunny, childlike world of magic and wonder we entered six years
ago so upended and infested with evil of every variety that it's barely
recognizable. Some will despair the coming darkness, but I say “Let
it come”: the Harry Potter franchise remains the most exciting
and vital of our ongoing holiday thrill machines.
It's
another lonely and hard summer away from Hogwarts for Harry Potter (Daniel
Radcliffe). He's tormented by nightmares about the return of Lord
Voldemort (Ralph Finnes), attacked by Dementors and forced to stand trial
before the Ministry of Magic to remain at school. The Ministry refuses
to believe his story that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned and throws
all their energy into discrediting both Harry and Dumbledore (Michael Gambon).
Harry and his old friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermoine (Emma Watson)
gain brief sanctuary with the Order of the Phoenix, an old alliance against
Voldemort led by Dumbledore and Harry's fugitive Godfather Sirius Black
(Gary Oldman), but soon it's back to school for another year. There,
waits a new menace: Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Dolores
Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), a Ministry toadie whose cheerful facade covers
a dark agenda to end the teaching of magic and slowly seize power and eliminate
freedom at Hogwarts. Desperate for someone to help them learn what
they'll need to fight the coming war, the students turn to the only person
they know who's used magic to save his life from evil... Harry.
Any
attempt to reduce the plot of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
to a paragraph is doomed to fail. By this point, there's so much
going on and so many people doing it that most characters get One Big Scene
to strut their stuff. But it's important to keep the focus where
it belongs, on Harry, and Radcliffe continues to grow as an actor, handling
every challenge the story throws at him. It's amazing to think of
the great job of casting that selected Radcliffe, Grint and Watson as their
iconic characters: each actor has matured so well and showed so much
range no one could have guessed at when they were simply adorable tots.
And the supporting cast at this point seems to include 90% of England's
acting talent. I had trouble making the adjustment from Richard Harris
to Michael Gambon as Dumbledore three movies ago, but he's really settled
in. Finnes brings all his considerable skill to play as Voldemort,
acting
under all that makeup like few before him ever have. The endlessly
versatile Oldman has no trouble finding the swashbuckler within The Prisoner
of Azkaban. Alan Rickman's Snape becomes more refined each time out,
to the point where he now barely moves or raises his voice above a low
growl, but expresses so much. We also get a great flashback that
informs his back story remarkably well. Maggie Smith doesn't get
a lot of screen time as McGonagall this time, but she has one great scene
with Staunton where the tho women's positions on a flight of stairs keeps
changing depending upon who's got the upper hand. Emma Thompson is
heartbreakingly good when silly Divination teacher Sybil Trelawny attracts
the Ministry's malicious gaze. And Jason Issacs is so cool and so
nasty as Voldemort loyalist Lucius Malfoy that he even pulls off that silly
white wig.
The
new characters are all winners, led by the gifted Staunton, who shows bottomless
reserves of banal evil beneath Umbridge's proper exterior. The script
gives her lots to work with, particularly a sadistic form of detention
which, like much of the movie, may prove too dark for some of the franchise's
younger fans. Newcomer Evanna Lynch is splendid as the slightly mad
student Luna Lovegood, and Helena Bonham Carter sensationally walks the
line between camp and evil as the totally mad fugitive Bellatrix Lestrange.
If
you're looking for a breakdown of how the film differs from the book (and
I'm sure it does so substantially), I can't help you out. Because
I first encountered Harry and his friends on the screen, I'm determined
to experience the entire saga there before turning to the books and their
no doubt richer and more detailed version of it. I do know that Order
of the Phoenix is J.K. Rowling's longest work, and signs that its'
compression into 138 minutes were not entirely smooth are present.
For instance, we meet Harry once again spending the summer with the odious
Dursleys, who sat out Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire entirely,
with no explanation. And much is made of the fact that only those
who've witnessed death can see the winged Thestrals who inhabit the forest,
but later, people who specifically said they couldn't see them are riding
them into battle, again with no explanation. One compression device
that does get the job done are frequent bravura montages of Daily Prophet
headlines explaining what's happening. I love that snarky Wizard
newspaper!
Taking
the movie plot on its' own merits, I found it to once again be quite rich
both as an examination of the mechanics of totalitarian takeover (granted,
that's Bush-era Hollywood's new favorite theme, but it never gets old for
me) and as a continuing magical metaphor for the process of growing up.
Harry's well into adolescence now, and the fact that he's “angry all the
time” only makes him more vulnerable to Voldemort's schemes. Even
with all the horror swirling around him, he does still find time for his
first kiss with the sweet but unmemorable Cho Chang (Katie Leung), and
a fun scene with Ron and Hermoine breaking it down afterward.
British
TV director David Yates takes over the directing reigns from Mike Newell,
who did such a sensational job on The Goblet of Fire, and continues
the process of increasingly leaning on the quality of his actors.
It's interesting to see him also continue the trend toward more hand-held
camerawork and general “realism” after the Spielbergian fantasy tone established
by Chris Columbus in the first two films. At times, I thought he
might have gone too far: it's impossible for me to imagine the franchise
low on money, particularly given the amazing sound and fury of the climax,
but at times Hogwarts seems not only overcome by darkness and despair (Yates
drains the life from the once-merry institution very effectively), but
also strangely underpopulated. Much is made of Umbridge's order late
in the film to take down the wonderful living paintings that line the halls,
but it comes as a surprise since I had noticed their absence in the background
throughout. In general, the casual wonder of Hogwarts' art direction
has been jettisoned, with things like moving staircases and pictures only
present when the script calls for them.
So
yes, I have my quibbles here and there, but unlike some viewers, I have
found the series richer and more exciting as the characters grow older
and their peril grows greater. Upon the first viewing, I'm inclined
to stick with The Goblet of Fire as my favorite Potter film, but
Order
of the Phoenix builds impressively upon it. Like all those serialized
TV thrillers I'm hooked on, I can't wait until Harry, Voldemort and the
whole gang return a couple Novembers from now. But wait I shall:
be nice and don't tell me too much of what happens once you've gone and
read the whole story. |
