Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2005)
Studio: Warner Brothers Pictures
Director: David Yates
Screenplay: Michael Goldenberg
Main Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Imelda Staunton, Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter, David Thewlis, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Jason Isaacs, Brendan Gleeson, Tom Felton
Grade: B+
If Goblet of Fire is the funniest of the Harry Potter films then Order of the Phoenix is the angriest. Fifteen is possibly the age where we're at our most 'teenage' as far as the cliché of frustration, confusion, horniness and disdain for elders reach their apex and form a swirling cocktail of grouchiness. Harry is no different in this regard - he answers back to teachers, snaps at his friends and even yells at Dumbledore. The fact that the fate of the entire wizarding and Muggle world rests on his shoulders may make it a more reasonable reaction than most of his peers but there are still moments when you feel the need to belt him over the head with a rolled up newspaper and tell him to count his blessings, go outside and get some fresh air.
It's not just Harry that's angry. JK Rowling seems to be furious. I always wondered if I read too much into this but a lot of Order of the Phoenix seemed to me to be about the fears of a mother observing their children being put through the education system. Though she contributed a million pounds to the party there seems to be a physical incarnation of everything that was wrong with the Blair New Labour government and it's manifested in human pink marshmallow Delores Umbridge played by Imelda Staunton.
If any performance in all the Harry Potter films warranted an awards nomination I think a Best Supporting nod somewhere should have gone to Staunton. Ralph Fiennes' Voldemort is still the big baddie and Staunton's Umbridge is dispatched as a precusor for the final conflict to take place but it's her performance that will induce hisses from a pantomime audience - Voldemort mere fearful silence. It's a lot easier to convey evil with a sneer than a smile but a smile is all that Umbridge displays through most of the film - coupled with a self-satisfied squeak similar to a cartoon mouse finding the stash of cheese.
Umbridge is every interfering cabinet secretary imposing their will on a department they know nothing about through sheer arrogance of their knowledge as a politician of what is right and denial to acknowledge any dissent through dismissal, passive agression, bullying to outright violence. Her villainy is never anarchic and cool like a Joker nor unapologetic evil like Voldemort - she believes what she does is warranted and everyone who disagrees just doesn't know better. When she finally snaps, the smile evaporates and the physical punishment is no longer 'self inflicted' scarring of writing/carving lines into their hands but a slap across the face is a sign that she has ultimately lost. The resolution of her being carried away by the centaurs is weak but the pay-off line 'I really hate children' almost entirely makes up for it.
As well as the start of the 'Wizard War II' (my trademark!) trilogy this is the point where the series stayed under the directorial control of David Yates. For a cinematic debut from someone who'd previously only worked in television it is quite remarkable. There is an ingenuity and energy to this film that has only previously been matched by Alfonso Cuaron's work in Prisoner of Azkaban. As well as Yates this was the only film not to be scripted by Steve Kloves with Michael Goldenberg stepping into the breach. These fresh eyes and lack of reverence to both the books and the previous films is probably what leads to the longest book being the shortest film so far. There are wonderfully creative moments such as a montage of Umbridge's increasing control of Hogwarts being punctuated by more and more decrees being nailed to the walls by happy-to-participate caretaker Filch (a consistently fun performance through all films by David Bradley) and the use of the moving Daily Prophet as a visually interesting way to convey exposition and jumps in time.
Yates' greatest achivement comes in the final fight scene in the Ministry of Magic. The ratcheting of tension and excitement first at the battle between Harry's makeshift Dumbledore's Army and the Death Eaters followed by the titular Order acting as the cavalry really marks this as the most blood-pumping final action set-piece yet. The ultimate reveal of a 'prophecy' is weak but that's in the source material. The only interesting reveal within the book was the intertwining fates of Harry and Neville Longbottom which are unfortunately not kept and don't allow for a more emotional connection in the previous and future films. If I wished to see any additional scene not adapted from the book it was the sight of Neville's parents struck dumb through torture by Bellatrix LeStrange. Helena Bonham Carter's gleeful performance as LeStrange does convey most of what be known, though, and her deranged demeanour is a great addition to the rest of the series as she essentially becomes Voldemort's second-in-command. Her child-like taunts and gleeful destruction are again a great contrast against the other villains in the series.
Another daring decision in the fight scenes are the sparse use of music. The ominous silences, echoing footsteps and sudden jolts of lightning from wands keep thngs exciting. Particular praise should go to Voldemort's clash of the elements with Dumbledore. There is a great sense of the two great powers colliding with everything at stake - a vast improvement on the Yoda-Palpatine and Anakin-Obi-Wan clashes at the end of Revenge of the Sith.
Would the series have been better off if they had hired different directors for the future two films? There's strength in both arguments - I can't have been the only one to have been interested in what Guillermo Del Toro could have done but his innovative designs are probably best suited to his own project that he can work on from the start. Coming in on the fifth series it's more the job of a craftsman telling a rollicking yarn than an artist interested in conveying emotional resonance and some sort of personal auterial vision. In Order of the Phoenix Yates certainly proved himself to be a master craftsman.
Coming up: Dilemmas, dating and disasters!
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