Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix Movie
Went to see Harry Potter And The Order of the Phoenix last night and enjoyed it. Best film so far for me. The acting was better across the board, all of the big three (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint) turn in good performances with fewer of the big reveal faces that feature heavily in the first couple of films. You know the ones ‘Don’t you see Harry, this means Voldermort knows your shoesize now!‘ pull back on the big three looking surprised and anguished. Sadly this movie introduces a new feature shot, the pull back and see Harry alone and anguished, that I suspect will stay with us for the remaining films.
As a series the movies hold up very well. Part of the reason is the attention to the supporting characters throughout the films. They not only use great big name actors like Helena Bonham Carter, who does a fun Bellatrix Lestrange, but also on picking solid child actors like Evanna Lynch who does a very good Luna Lovegood in the film. The only disappointment for me was Katie Leung as Cho Chang who came off very flat in the film. The biggest presence in the film is Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge, the films major villain. Her smiling evil was a nice break from the cartoon Death Eaters in the big fight sequence.
The film is the shortest one so far and I was thankful for it. The book dragged out far too long for me and the film did a good job of pulling out the core of it and making a fun film. Looking forward to the next movie to see if they can pull a win out of what I felt was the most disjointed book in the series.