I must begin this by saying I am not a reader of the Harry Potter series. My knowledge of the Potter mythos is based solely in the cinematic portrayals and the things my friends tell me (whether I am interested or not). I have enjoyed the movies but I have no understanding of what gets missed from the source material. I will be reviewing this specifically as a movie, like I would any other movie. So in that aspect is it any good? Does the Potter series still excite or has it worn out its welcome?
After a bad ass fight with Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) has spent his summer alone, apparently spending it all on a swing getting his emo on. It seems that no one believes his Voldemort story, except Dumbledore but Dumbledore isn't speaking to Harry, so Harry is left to be a whiny little teenage boy. Now, I am not entirely sure who the bully is, but I believe it is a cousin(?) and they are about to go toe to toe when the sky gets dark and there are all of a sudden two Dementers(?) appear and harry busts out his magic wand and knocks them back to whatever hell they came from. The Ministry of witchcraft and wizardry wants Potter expelled from school so they use this use of magic in front of a muggle (non magic person) as their excuse to do it. However, Dumbledore saves the day, but continues to give Potter the big brush off. Back at school the friction between Harry and his two friends have carried over as people still don't believe Voldemort is back.
Delores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) has become the new teacher of the black arts (?) but she is a ministry approved teacher so she is taking all of the fun out of magic, electing to spend time focusing on standardized testing. Soon, with the grand minister at her back (perhaps literally and metaphorically) she gains all sorts of power within the school and laws start popping up. All the while, other students finally start to believe that Potter and the big bad did duke it out and the teenage wizards begin to form their own army and practice their wizardry. The big plot though is that Potter and Voldemort are becoming one. They have this deep connection and Potter finds himself getting a little more evil (Hello Spiderman 3). Voldemort is trying to gain this prophesy thing and that is where the climax happens. I believe that is all the main stuff.
This is one completely and totally average movie. It is 2 hours of exposition for the final two chapters and features so many loose ends I wouldn't even know where to begin. First off all, since the Dementers are controlled by the ministry, we are to believe someone in the ministry sent them to Potter, but it is never discussed again. Also, there is a giant and a few canataurs (half people half horse) that have nothing to do with advancing the story in any way. Dumbledore is ignoring Potter because he thought if he did it that Voldemort wouldn't want to invade Potter's mind, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. How does the head master Wizard underestimate the big bad like that? And how is he immediately forgiven? I know the ministry doesn't wan tot believe the big bad is back, but how convenient is it that they don't even seem to pursue that possibility and just go straight to slandering Dumbledore and Potter? Hagrid ( Robbie Coltrane) talks about going to the land of the giants, but only mentions it in passing, so I assume this will show up in the seventh installment, but here is just doesn't work. Also, it is called the Order of the Phoenix, but the order bookends the movie and doesn't really do anything when they are on screen, certainly not enough to warrant the title being named after them. The kids are all still horrible actors, with Harry taking the cake of suck. Hermoine (Emma Watson) is the best character of the teens but Watson has a very whiny delivery that is obnoxious.
Could someone please makes a movie where Snape (Alan Rickman) is in every scene. His ambiguous character is mesmerizing but in every movie I keep wanting more Snape and less of everyone else. Gary Oldman is back with a fantastic Serius Black, however unceremonious his death is. Ralph Fiennes is turning Lord Voldemort into a truly iconic villain, joining these ranks- Nicholson's Joker, Darth Vader, Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor, Ian McKellan's Magneto and Alan Rickman's Die Hard villain. The closing Voldemort line "You will lose everything" gave me chills and again, I need more of him! While some do not like the new Dumbledore (I can't tell the difference) the character is bad ass. He can disappear as fire and then in truly stunning climatic battle he and Voldemort exchange bad assery wizard mojo. Also, the scenes where the students are in the secret room practicing their magic for the big battle (two movies away!!) are fun and thrilling the way these movies are supposed to be. The effects have taken a step backwards and the life felt sucked out of these movies. I enjoyed the real life applications of the school being run by the school district but Delores Umbridge was such an obnoxious character that I wasn't annoyed at what she was doing, I was annoyed by the fact that the author made me deal with such a character.
I am sure not being a reader of the books has affected my viewing of this movie and perhaps the loose ends are discussed to more depth in this book or the next one or perhaps in the closing book due out next week. The things I love about the third and fourth installments of this overly long series were gone here. Even series need a specific story arc and this movie had no real discernible middle or end really. The Lord of the Rings movies all had a beginning middle and end for each movie where even when the ending was indeterminate, they had a specific ending and this movie just kind of wonders from scene to annoying scene, not focusing on the cool characters or the cool magic. Some of this fault lies with the source material and some of it lies with the director which worries me because he is coming back for movie number 6. This is not a bad movie, it just a movie with a lot of holes. It has enough of a cool battle to make me give out 1 cheer, but it was boring enough that I left to go refill my soda, which I rarely do in the middle of a movie.
1 comment:
Books 5 and 6 set up the action for Book 7. So be prepared that Half-Blood Prince (set to start filming next month) will be slightly anti-climactic as well.
I liked this one. Perhaps it's because it's the first not written by Steve Kloves (who did a phenomenal job at the first 4 films) giving it a fresh perspective.
It took one of my least favorite books in the series and made it more digestable - I hated the Dolores Umbridge storyline in the book, but the movie (in part due to Imedla Staunton's impeccable performance) made it amusing and fun to watch!!
You're destined to see some great Voldemort sequences in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But that isn't slated to be released until 2010.
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