Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – the film and clearly not the book
I for one had been looking forward to a roaring hat and some good old fashioned Quidditch, not to mention some definite forehand showing of the future, although for now possible, relationship between the main character’s two best friends. But I got a lot less than I bargained for – a film containing no magical sporting events whatsoever, nor hardly any evidence concerning the witch and wizard we all know are going to be doing some serious hooking up in the seventh, and final, book about the famous Harry Potter.
It started out great – the definition of great being a retarded cousin of Harry’s and some approved special effects, involving a slight remake of both dementors and patronuses. This was fallowed by well awaited, now finally materialised, Mrs Figg – by far being the most adorable squib we’ve been introduced to so far, seeing as Neville has finally proved that he is actually capable of performing a spell or two.
The arrival of the hilarious character of Nymphadora Tonks must be one of the most surprising elements throughout this instalment. Her hair being more purple than the, supposedly, preferred pink, can be overlooked. The charm that this characters puts on you, the second she appears on screen, does not wear off. You don’t even care about the fact that Lupin is missing from the rescue-Harry-scene, because this girl has charmed the socks off you not just this specific werewolf.
Order members and Harry, flying over the midst of a yet nightly lit up London, must be one of the films most beautiful scenes. But the euphoria over this wonderfully made scene is to be interrupted by the irritation of the simplified hidden headquarters – it’s not that hard to just mention the secret keeper deal in passing and show the kid a note. But again, the happiness over something good took over; the house revealing itself must be some of the greatest special effects in cinema this year. Sirius’ place was, for a lack of a better word, perfect. His mean disgusting little house elf even looked mean and disgusting, the staircase was just in the right place, not to forget the hidden portrait of the woman who could scare the shit out of a dementor; Mrs. Black.
We all know perfectly well that muggles, like ourselves, really are something out of the ordinary and extremely interesting people – total bullshit. But someone who actually believes this, to the fullest, is, as we all know, Mr. Weasley. His expression when on his way to the subway is his most hilarious reaction to any kind of muggle event so far. I applaud him, and I must say; “Bravo, Mr Weasley. Bravo.”
From the moment the ministry of magic was described in the book, I was really nervous about how it would look in the film. I must say that Yates took me by surprise – in the positive sense of the word. The millions and millions of fire places, I am of course exaggerating slightly, alongside of the walls, the gigantic space, and the statue – that really should’ve come alive at the end but, of course, it didn’t. But seriously, thumbs up for the ministry – especially the elevator with all the funny little airplanes. Nice touch, Rowling.
From the moment Dumbledore makes an appearance in this film he seriously freaks me out. He’s acting all crazy as soon as he comes in sight, scaring both me, me and, let’s se, me. Dumbledore is supposed to be a calm person whose main job is to calm everyone else down with his freakishly wise wisdom. He is really not supposed to be screaming, not to anyone, his superpower is, unlike Spiderman, that he scares the enemy with his calm wisdom, not by acting like a crazy person.
They aren’t many, but they’re there and they’re amazingly awesome – doing just what they’re supposed to be doing; forehead showing the future of Harry’s two best friends, showing the tension that so clearly hover between the two of them, pointing out the feelings that are slowly rising to the surface. Being a fanatically addicted Ron/Hermione shipper I was of course keeping my fingers crossed for some more of this awaited scenes, adding yet another argument to my disappointment over the left out Quidditch-scenes – not quite believing how on earth they could have overlooked the fact that we, as a very obsessive community, have been looking forward to the screening of the greatest moment in the Order of the Phoenix – the well awaited kiss Ron receives from Hermione before his first Quidditch match, I know that it’s only a peck on the cheek, but in this case there is no such word as only.
The most amazing highlight in this film is the appearance of the most horrible witch throughout the series – Bellatrix Lestrange. I must say that the decision to cast Helena Bonham Carter is the greatest decision any director has ever made during the last four films, apart from the beautiful entrance of Hermione Granger at the Yule Ball in Goblet of Fire. No on else would have been able to portrait this character as well as Bonham Carter, casting anyone else would have been considered a crime, seeing as this would have ruined the film completely. She is the highlight of it all – bringing Bellatrix’s craziness to a level were you know it can’t possibly get any worse, she can’t possibly go even more mad. But then you found yourself mistaken, but hoping that you can just see another glimpse of her again because she’s simply amazed you with her bare presence. What she does in the Department of Mysteries is that she makes you overlook all the little things that bothered you throughout the film, she makes up for all of it – leaving you quite breathless and taken aback, realising that the greatest materialization in the entire film is of a character that you so deeply loath.
But to summarise it all; Luna “Loony” Lovegood, Bellatrix Lestrange and Dolores Umbridge are just three reasons why you should get off your arse and head down to the nearest cinema and buy a ticket to the film of the year. If you’re a nutter like myself and adore the books to the core of the hardback, then yes – you might get hit by the disappointment every now and then throughout the film. But in the end, you’ll end up loving it, because even though Gambon makes an awful Dumbledore and there’s no Quidditch whatsoever, there are always the highlights such as the spot-on-perfect chemistry between Watson and Grint, as well as some excellent fighting scenes. It’s the best one so far – trust me.
