Harry Potter and the Awesome Movie
Order of the Phoenix is, in my opinion, the best book so far in the Rowling series (though the last one comes out next weekend!), and now it is the best movie of the series, too. While burdened with the same problems as the previous directors of the Harry Potter movies, namely having way, way too much story to cram into one movie, director David Yates, a relative unknown at least in the States, succeeds in doing with a Harry Potter what none of the previous directors of the series have managed. He brings the spirit of the book out in a way that doesn't leave the fan thinking, well that was good, but just not how I pictured it. Of course, Yates' vision of the story is not what fans envisioned, but fans leave feeling like they gained something, not that they were missing something.
From the moment that Harry steps into the Ministry of Magic with Arthur Weasley for his hearing, I knew I was going to like the rest of the movie. This director's vision and understanding of what the story meant was clear.
I was also impressed with the acting in this film, and given that it was the same actors as before, I have to think that the directing had something to do with that, as well. I very much missed Richard Harris as Dumbledore in the third and fourth movie, where he was replaced by Michael Gambon. Richard Harris was Dumbledore, and his death was a blow to fans of the HP movies. In Goblet of Fire, Gambon yells and seems to lose his composure in a way that is hard for fans of the books to accept - that's not Dumbledore. In Order of the Phoenix, Gambon plays it much more like Harris did - cool, wise, and always in control.
So yes, I'll say that I liked this film. Now I want to go see it again. And I am quite glad to see that Yates is already slated to direct the next, sixth movie in the series - The Half-Blood Prince.
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