Goldenberg overturns both of those persistent issues in part because he’s got a great Dark Arts teacher to work with in Dolores Umbridge. And from film to film, each new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, even when relatively innocuous, has felt more like a villain of the week than an integral part of the story. As much as I enjoyed Azkaban and (so some extent) Goblet, both (particularly Newell’s film) felt like a relentless march to a foregone conclusion. Past films have felt either overly pagebound or episodic. There’s a big change here from the rest of the series. I didn’t miss Rita Skeeter at all, and found that Yates’ screwball comedy use of newspaper photos and headlines was a perfectly acceptable tactic to disseminate extra plot details. Though the scenes in which he trains other students are crafted by rote, I was happy enough to see more Hogwarts students actually using magic. Harry’s ostracization and reacceptance by the students at Hogwarts, largely implied through action, are handled just fine. At this stage, I’m satisfied knowing the prophecy’s claims with respect to Harry, which are clearly set out, if briefly so. I could have used more explanation about Voldemort’s need for a prophecy hidden within the Ministry and the background of the Order of the Phoenix, though neither omission is crucial to the film. But they left few holes, gaping or small, in the film’s logic. Looking at the wiki summarization of the novel’s plot, I can see a few notable bits that have been left out or minimized. She quickly takes over Hogwarts as Harry battles dreams, builds an army and confronts multiple enemies.
Cornelius Fudge, the increasingly paranoid Minister, installs Dolores Umbridge as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Dumbledore seems to be ignoring him, dealing as he is with a conflict with Ministry of Magic. They’ve got a lot of plot to sort out: despite Lord Voldemort’s reappearance at the end of Goblet of Fire, Harry is dealing with a populace that doubts his veracity with respect to Voldemort. But Goldenberg and Yates have come up with a chapter that satisfied me both as a continuation of the story and (inasmuch as possible) as a stand-alone film. As this is a one-time handoff of writing chores from Steve Kloves to Michael Goldenberg, resulting in a script said to be overly trimmed and unfriendly to non-readers, I was eager to evaluate the film’s clarity.
This is the first Potter film based on a book I haven’t read.
WATCH ORDER OF THE PHOENIX MOVIES32 SERIES
Order of the Phoenix is a well-paced, tense middle chapter with more exciting magic and better effects than the series has offered to date. New director David Yates has achieved a respectable balance between faithful attention to Rowling, character development and visual action. That is, it doesn’t stand out as did Cuaron’s film, but it easily gets the job done. And yet I find myself enjoying it more than any previous entry.
While Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix isn’t the least artful film in the series, it is rather workmanlike in comparison to the films by Alfonso Cuaron and Mike Newell.
WATCH ORDER OF THE PHOENIX MOVIES32 MOVIE
Since May, movie reviews across all media have been eager to exclaim finally, a summer movie that delivers! Now it’s my turn.
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