The fifth Harry Potter film, ‘The Order of the Phoenix’, is upon us, with all the cast returning alongside newcomer director David Yates. Yates directed the phenomenal TV series ‘State of Play’ so I was really looking forward to what he did with the franchise, and for the first 10 minutes he really delivers. The opening set piece feels different to anything done previously in the Potter films: pacy, moody, exhilarating and scary. Whilst the look returns to the series standard once we get to Hogwarts, the pace doesn’t let up, forging a clear and speedy path though the longest of the Potter books.
The middle still sags slightly and some of the other set pieces don’t deliver quite the same punch as the opening, but once it gets to the final act in the Ministry of Magic things pick up again. The 3 part finale is sinister, action packed and visually spectacular. Reading the book, I though the ending descended into a cheap Star Wars knock off, with wands replacing lightsabers. The film, however, avoids this trap, making the magic feel different and truly powerful. The use of white and black smoke like effects to mask the teleportations works extremely well, giving the film a wonderful stark yet ethereal look: black, white and grey with dashes of bold colour.
My other big gripe with the book was Harry propensity to TALK IN CAPTIALS FAR TOO MUCH. Yes, he’s angry but the great thing about a book is that we can know what the character’s thinking, so the anger can bubble under the surface instead of physically manifesting itself on the page. Daniel Radcliff and Yates handle this superbly, the seething rage behind Harry’s eyes for the first third is palpable, making the moments he does lose his temper all the stronger.
It’s pleasantly surprising to see how many of the cast from the previous films have reprised their roles for what are little more than cameo appearances: Thompson, Thewlis, Gleeson et al. Hopefully they’ll all stick with it through to Deathly Hallows.
Overall it’s an enjoyable film, not as good as Azkaban or Goblet but that’s more the fault of the book than the filmmakers. Some scenes could have been tighter (it would be wonderful to see what Hitchcock would have made of it) but I left the cinema happy and looking forward to the next one. That is, until I remember how bored I was by Book 6 (tum-te-tum-te-tum, oh look nothing’s happening for 400 pages, Zombies, Death, the End).
