Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

With so many film franchises falling into mediocrity as of late (Notice the fall of the once-strong Spider-Man films with May's mediocre Spider-Man 3), it's nice to know that some still manage to hold most of their original charms. The Order of the Phoenix, the fifth installment of the Harry Potter franchise, still manages to entertain and captivate. And yet, I couldn't help but notice that it seemed to be struggling to do so and with more effort than previous entries. That's not to say Order of the Phoenix is a bad film. Judged on its own, it's highly entertaining. But compared to the last two wonderful installments (2004's Prisoner of Azkaban and 2005's Goblet of Fire), the film seems a lot more rushed and not quite as fascinating.

Young wizard Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) has a lot on his mind these days, as well he should. His arch nemesis, Lord Voldemort (Ralph Finnes), has returned and is already starting to assemble an army of dark wizards at his command. Not only this, but Harry is being threatened with expulsion from Hogwarts after he used a magic spell to save the life of his "Muggle" brother from an attacking Dementor. At school, things are not much better. Many do not believe Harry's story of Voldemort's return, due to the fact that the Daily Prophet newspaper is accusing him of being a liar and trying to stir up fear in the magic-user community. The Ministry of Magic is behind the effort to strike down Potter's claim of the villain's return, and are so insistent in silencing any doubt, they slowly start to take over Hogwarts itself in the form of one of its members, the sunny yet sinister Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). Dolores is hired initially as the new teacher for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but she quickly uses her clout with the Ministry to take control of the entire school, and turn it into an oppressive and strict environment. With his two trusted friends, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), Harry must figure out some way to convince his fellow students that the danger is real, without alerting the seemingly all-seeing Ministry to his efforts.

Continuing the trend set forth by the previous films, The Order of the Phoenix is perhaps the darkest and most dire story to surround young Harry Potter yet. What started as a fairly whimsical story with dark undertones, seems to be turning into a dark story with whimsical undertones. This is, of course, intentional. The Potter franchise is supposed to mature along with the characters. Harry himself is no longer the wide-eyed innocent we initially met back in 2001. He seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders as the truth of his family's past is slowly revealed to him, as well as the return of the one he fears the most. Radcliffe is more than willing to meet the acting challenges needed to make Potter a somewhat wiser, yet still naive, young hero who is getting stronger with each installment, but still seems to be overcome at times by doubt and fear. This time around, Harry is forced to become somewhat of a leader to a small group of students who come to him to learn offensive magic spells after the Ministry banishes their physical practice at Hogwarts. The pieces are slowly falling into place for Harry and the young man that he will eventually become. It helps him become much more than a character we are watching on the screen, and he becomes someone that we can identify with in various ways. He is a great everyman character, and the movie is wise to play upon this. For all the broom-flying and wizardry that makes up the series, Harry continues to be the emotional heart at the center of the story, and this is probably the character's finest hour yet. With this film, we feel like although he is starting to come into his own, we still have yet to see what he can really do.

It is beyond Harry where things slide just a little bit. I'm sure it was quite a daunting task for screenwriter Michael Goldenberg (2003's Peter Pan) to turn J.K. Rowling's nearly 900-page epic into a movie that stretches just a little past two hours. For the most part, he succeeds, and seems to know which parts of the story he wants to focus on. But, the story also comes across as disjointed at times and the characters underdeveloped. Major characters in the franchise such as Ron and Hermione seem to be given little to do this time around, other than stand behind Harry and support him. Characters often seem to come and go from the screenplay, and pop up only just long enough to do the bare minimum before they're forced to exit the movie without warning. Most of the veteran characters from the series seem neglected and shuffled into the background or cameos. Most of the attention seems to be fixated on newcomer Dolores Umbridge and her efforts to turn Hogwarts into an almost iron-fisted environment. As played by Imelda Staunton, she comes across as being both comical and malicious, often in the very same scene. She giggles cutely and at the most inappropriate times, as if she is hiding something, is dressed head-to-foot in pink, and her office walls are lined entirely with pictures of mewing kittens. And yet, Staunton is able to bring out the right amount of sinister undertones behind her deceptively sunny demeanor that the character requires. Another new character standout is Harry's bizarre fellow student, Luna Lovegood. In her first screen performance, young actress Evanna Lynch manages to bring a bizarre and off-beat charm to the character without going to extremes.

Aside from Harry, these are the only two characters who do not seem short-changed by the screenplay, which seems to be in a desperate hurry to squeeze as much as it can into a limited amount of time. Other newcomers introduced in the film left some young children in my audience asking out loud "who's that", due to the fact that the movie doesn't give us enough time to truly get to know them. A good example would be an evil wizard who joins Voldemort's army, Bellatrix LeStrange (Helena Bonham Carter). We see her escape from Azkaban Prison, and then she never shows up again until the climax, where she plays a fairly pivotal role. Unless you are familiar with the character or the original novels, you won't really get a good idea of just who she is, other than some background information passed along in the dialogue. Even though most of the actors are mainly stuck in the background this time around, that doesn't mean they don't give it their best effort. The cast has once again been comprised of most of Britain's finest actors, and everyone brings their skills to their characters. It's just a shame that the movie itself gives them so little to do. Still, there are some intriguing elements brewing. Professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) gets some choice scenes in his limited appearance, and although it seemed to be cut short, the nervous relationship growing between Harry and student Cho Chang (Katie Leung) kept my interest.
Though not without its flaws, The Order of the Phoenix still should hold the interest of just about any audience member, and make the minds behind the franchise even richer. There are a lot of ideas at play here, and only the film's length holds them back. This is the rare time when I actually wanted a movie to be longer so that they could go deeper into the ones expressed here. But, I guess that's what the original novel is for. As an adaptation, the film falls somewhat short, but still manages to entertain and comes across as a successful summer blockbuster. At the very least, it has me anticipating what's to come next. And isn't that the whole point to begin with?

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