Thursday, January 16, 2020

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

How is it that one character has almost single-handedly ruined this movie?




I like this movie, I really like this movie, this and Goblet Of Fire were my absolute favorites of the series when I was younger. And again, it still held up tremendously and I know I will have to fully rank this series once I finish. So Harry returns to Hogwarts after a nasty run in with the Dementors, and things aren't exactly all that better at the school, with the main government body the Ministry Of Magic interfering severely with the inner workings of the school and is trying to usurp complete control with the assumption Dumbledore is making his own private army. A good story, and one that changes the game a bit. Something I've just now noticed is this series certainly isn't formulaic, each story is radically different than the last and to take a more political take on the wizarding world is fascinating if absolutely infuriating. I still heavily stand by what I said in my Fantastic Beasts review, the americans are 1,000 times worse than the british who are already absolute ****bags who could not be more potrayed as antagonistic or corrupt if they tried. Sweet Jesus, do I even need to talk about Dolores Umbridge? The woman is Satan. Wait no, that's an insult to Satan, Satan is a charming and pleasant person compared to that...witch. I offer my sincere and great apologies to Lucifer Morningstar, we'll have lunch as my treat. Just, she is so....


I'm sorry guys. I just need a moment. That...that was pure rage, and I'm just gonna take a break. Happy thoughts. She didn't survive, she was eviscerated by centaurs....and then burned. Now I feel better. And don't you come to me saying that was dark and hateful, EVERY Harry Potter fan wishes her death. I guess I really have to tip my hat to Imedla Staunton, she is absurdly good at being the person we adore to hate, screw Walter Peck this girl man. This girl. Anyway, let's talk about performances. I like what they were trying to do with Harry, expanding on the connection between him and Voldemort and suggesting Harry is turning a bit dark side, and that's all fine and good but we never get a big oh snap moment where he just loses his shit and almost kills somebody so the tension and suspense just isn't there. I appreciate it, but it doesn't amount to much. This is so much the reunion film cause just about every major and side character from past films are here, good and bad with of course new additions. I mean we get the whole Weasley family, Sirius, Lupin, Moody, my boy Jason Isaacs, Voldemort of course, it really does seem like the gang's all here. Biggest new additions we have are Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange, who granted doesn't have a lot of screen time but the impact she has is heavily felt, and of course best witch Luna Lovegood played by Evanna Lynch who shock of all shocks I adore and I may or may not ship her with Neville, she's the unsung hero of this film she practically saves the day twice with giving advice to Harry and flying those rad skeletal horse things. Best witch, I have spoken. So characters and story get thumbs up from me, but how's the rest of the film? Quite good, I'd probably put it above Goblet Of Fire in terms of technicals, the new sets are very well done, the lighting and cinematography is kind of unreal at times how they pulled that off, and the direction is handled very well. There's some real standout moments for the whole series, I mean yeah the wizard's duel between Albus and Tom is great stuff to be sure, and honestly any shot with Snape, especially the little training segments with Harry is kind of a big deal which we'll talk about later on, is brillaint but what really struck me the most is when Harry really breaks these almost legendary exploits of his and admits that it sounds heroic but is really downright terrifying and that most of the time it was luck that could have went very badly. I don't know, just something about that acting and dialogue really struck me as something very real and brutally honest. I was kinda shocked how good that scene was. All in all, I would proabably put this slightly below the 4th movie but the stuff they get right is done really right, and there are plenty of moments to love and enjoy. 4 stars, 8/10, Prisoner Of Azkaban still top dog but we got three more movies to see which is truly greatest of all. I suspect the next potential candidate is the next film, so join me for The Half-Blood Prince.

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