An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
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Blood Brothers
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Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Nick Curtis's rating
Reader rating
Dir: David Yates.
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Gary Oldman, Ralph Fiennes, Imelda Staunton
Description: Harry and his chums Ron and Hermione return to Hogwarts for their fifth term, where news of Voldemort's increasing power is dismissed by many key figures in the wizarding community. The arrival of a new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge, sets in motion a devastating chain of events that will change life at the school forever.
Country: US/UK. 2007. 138mins
Daniel Radcliffe's Harry grapples with Professor Lupin played by David Thewlis
Harry faces up to adult responsibility as well as the evil Voldemort in his latest film
The fifth film in the Harry Potter saga feels as comfortable and familiar as a well worn wizard's hat.
Daniel Radcliffe and his young co-stars are maturing into decent actors, and director David Yates delivers plenty of warmth, humour and stunning settings as Harry faces up to adult responsibility as well as the threat of the evil Voldemort.
Gallery: Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix premiere
But there aren't many surprises or scares here, nor even any major abracadabra set pieces until the very end. Devotees of the series, even as they sink once again into the comforting embrace of JK Rowling's world, may feel they've seen it all before.
This isn't entirely Yates's fault. Alfonso Cuaron and Mike Newell navigated Harry through the murky areas of puberty and bereavement in the superior third and fourth films, and there is nothing like either of those two milestones here. Instead, an attempt by the po-faced Ministry of Magic to wrest control of Hogwarts from Professor Dumbledore enables Voldemort's forces to strike at our hero.
But, dark lord though he may be, Voldemort has made precious little headway in five films. The greatest threat Harry faces is Imelda Staunton's Dolores Umbrage, a brittle, hysterical killjoy in fuchsia twin-sets, intent on taking the magic out of magic.
Harry's nascent romance with Katie Leung's Cho is stalled, while the tenderness between his chums Ron and Hermione continues to proceed at a slow simmer.
Although Yates's film is less episodic than others in the series, it reprises several established scenarios. There's Harry's increasing isolation followed by a reassertion of friendship, the usual bittersweet interlude with Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid, another bout of gnomic behaviour from Dumbledore and another guilt-inducing death.
There's also the typically underexploited discovery of fantastical creatures, in this case a giant and some centaurs briefly shown on a ministry-approved reservation (Centaur Parcs, perhaps?).
Where the film does score is in the incidental detail and the performances. Radcliffe is a leaner, tougher Harry, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint a more laid-back and charming Hermione and Ron. Yates generates great fun around Ron's older brothers, the borderline-criminal Weasley twins, and David Bradley as the caretaker carrying out Ms Umbrage's decrees with vicious relish.
Staunton's performance is a perfectly judged study of controlling mania, and there are brief but pin-sharp cameos from Gary Oldman, Maggie Smith and Helena Bonham-Carter.
The production design, by Stuart Craig, is as ever ravishing, and when Yates does pull out all the magical stops in a confrontation between Voldemort and Dumbledore, it is impressive. Let's hope he turns out to be just as competent, but a bit more exciting, when he gets his teeth into the sixth instalment, the Half-Blood Prince, next year.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens on 13 July.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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This is the poorest Harry Potter film so far. Parts of the story were changed significantly and where the director had the chance to excel in the search for the prophecy there was nothing but disapointment. I left the cinema deflated. I hope that the next film improves and actually sticks to the story line.
- Shell, UK
I for one LOVE the movies and the books. Even though I know whats going to happan, I still find my self at the egde of my seat every time!
No matter how many people have negative view about the book or the film it still does not stop people from buying the book or even going to watch the film; without these people it would not have been an international success.
I think that adults love the books and are just as excited when yet another book or a film comes out is because its always a very nice to treat the inner child in them. Come let's face being an adult is NO fun!
- Henna Hussain, London, England
Trevor, what a terrible snob you are! I am 40 and have read every Harry Potter book. I have 3 A levels, a good job an IQ of 142. Just because you are an adult doesn't mean you have to neglect your inner child-something which I think you would do well to remember!
- Sarah, Shepperton
I am going to see this movie when it first comes out at midnight!!!!!!!
- Mackenzie Lester, Gray,USA
Harry Potter is a great kids book and a great film for kids, quite why adults read them is a mystery to most people with an educational level above that of a 13 year old.
- Trevor Roll, London
I have to disagree with you here, the third and forth films were terrible, I remember coming out of the cinema saying "Hmmm, I wonder why that was called Harry Potter"
I'm a Harry Potter fan, I've read all the books and when I go to see the films I like to see what I've read in the books not some stupid director's opinion on what Harry Potter is going through, we know what he's going through because JK'S told us. This isn't a teen movie, it's not about puberty and girls.
I for one hope Yates does exactly what he did this time, that is sticking to the book
- Alison, London
Just read the books, they're always better than the film adaptations (case in point - Eragon, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe - I could go on)
- Pietro, Witney, UK
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