Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

This fifth movie in the Boy Wizard series is enjoyable but suffers from a lack of a clear objective, most likely because this is actually the first of a three part finale while each previous story had a well-defined milestone. JK Rowling’s novel handled this by dropping hints and bits about the prophecy regarding Harry and his dark counterpart but the script by Michael Goldenberg made no mention of it until just before the Ministry of Magic confrontation that climaxes this movie.

No knocks against Goldenberg (the 2003 Peter Pan and Jodie Foster’s Contact) but Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is also the first script not written by Steve Kloves and I’m happy to see that Kloves is doing the script for Half-Blood Prince, due to arrive on your local cinema screen in 16 months. David Yates took over the director’s chair and will also return for HBP.

Harry, Hermione and (less so, but that’s his part) Ron have learned from the harsh lessons of their previous four terms at Hogwarts but, as we see right from go, Voldemort is only getting started: two dementors attack Harry and his muggle cousin Dudley in the first scene, with Harry barely able to drive them off with his Patronus and his use of magic leads straight to a trumped up trial in front of the entire Wizangamot.

Not everyone, you see, believes our boy that Voldemort has returned and that he killed Cedric Diggory at the end of the Tri-Wizards Cup in the previous book. The Death Eaters do as do Harry’s friends in the Order of the Phoenix but, denial not being just a river in Egypt, key members of the magical community like Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and his top staff refuse to admit it. So Potter’s use of magic in front of Dudley can’t be justified and therefore deserves expulsion but Dumbledore arrives in time to convince the Wizangamot to acquit.

Most of the movie, unfortunately, focuses on the antics of Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), Fudge’s assistant who comes to Hogwarts to restore order and stamp out absurd notions of appropriate student behavior. These bits are good for quite a few laughs and getting Harry to step up as a leader among his peers but were, correctly in the novel just a sideline. This volume wasn’t titled Harry Potter and the Annoyingly Nasty Woman, after all.

recommended, just