OotP movie review

[petronia]

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: non-Fantasia of course. I liked it a lot - it may be my favorite movie thus far - but I think I'm in the minority on this! The major complaints seem to be that it's too dark, that too many important plot elements were cut and that it worked better as a series of reference points to the book rather than a standalone adaptation. I don't see any of it. ^^; The fifth book is dark - Cedric's death is a hinge tipping the series away from lighthearted whimsy - and if anything had to be cut I prefer it to be the parts where the core Gryffindor trio are angry problem-causing gits (with or without justification). Newspaper reviews had given me the impression the movie was going to be all about HARRY'S CAPSLOCK RAGE, so I was pretty relieved to find this wasn't the case. As for the way it was put together, I only read OotP once when it came out, don't particularly pride myself on remembering the plot (quite the opposite XD;;), and it didn't even feel like there was anything missing. I did find it odd that they bothered to introduce Kreacher and state that Bellatrix was Sirius's cousin (but not Lucius's sister-in-law?) without delivering the payoff to the setup, but if I hadn't read the book I doubt I'd've thought twice about it.

The characters are more likeable in their filmic incarnations, and the kids do make more convincing actors as they age. Even Umbridge is tolerable. I don't want her to be whitewashed but I do prefer to watch movies without the urge to throw things at the screen. XD Not that IMO they intentionally set out to make her more palatable than in the book; as sororial unit says it may just be a function of the live-action adaptation, because at least you can appreciate the actress's take on the role. And Dan Radcliffe nowadays is about as convincing a 14 1/2 year old as any Prince of Tennis character, so the physical juxtaposition makes it come across more like a contest of wills and less like horrible child abuse.

Definitely it's quite different from the GoF movie, though. GoF did a better job adapting the book, by which I mean it did a heroic job adapting the unadaptable, and the charm of it had more to do with character development and incipient romance. OotP has no quidditch and little fumbling over Cho (tying her back to the DA plotline was an inspired change). They also did a much better job keeping John Williams on the leash this time around, or so it seemed to me.

Random observations: the director has very decided opinions on the characters' hair, which appear to be diametrically opposite in all cases to the opinions of the last director. XD Alan Rickman plays Snape camper and camper with each installment, it's to the point where I start laughing uncontrollably whenever he appears on-screen (positive y/n?). Luna and Tonks were note-perfect. So was the casting for young!Snape and young!James, all three seconds of them. My sister and I couldn't figure out who the long-haired brunet boy in the DA was supposed to be - Michael Corner? Zacharias Smith? The fight sequences were really cool; they've always been the films' weak point so I was glad these carried the proper buzz. Was afraid to pay too much attention to what Lucius Malfoy or Sirius Black were wearing as thinking about it would probably cause me to miss important dialogue ("Is that a tattoo? Do you have anything on under that coat?"). Most of the kids have come out the other end surprisingly attractive, in defiance of the rule of thumb that child actors grow up to be funny-looking. Or at least they still look like one's mental image of their characters. Neville, Draco, Ginny, and so on. Visually there was more juxtaposition of the wizarding world with modern muggle technology - downtown London cityscape of glittering high-rises at night, Oyster card (XD). Though logically the Order could never fly straight down the Thames at sightseeing deck level that way.




In other news, T is putting together an FMA cosplay group for Otakuthon. I >_> in advance (since my hair is now too long to do any character except Lust, and uhhh that outfit).

Now reading the manga I got off Sakki, up to volume 3. This... moves pretty fast. I forgot how much I like Scar; nowadays as well as liking characters because they fit my "type", I like some characters as characters, because they're unusual in some way.

fabulous_papaya - got the books and CD too, thanks!

Comments

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

http://supacat.livejournal.com/98118.html?thread=910150#t910150

It was my favorite movie too! (Though I haven't seen 2 or 4.) Everyone I know, online and off, has said that this was the best movie so far (and some of them are pretty hardcore book fans), so I don't know if you're in the minority.

worked better as a series of reference points to the book

I don't think this necessarily has to do with what's in Order of the Phoenix, it's more that previous movies cut subplots that turned out to be important, so the director had to cram them all into this movie and he didn't always have time to fully explain them. I'm sure it's still perfectly comprehensible though, those-in-the-know are always underestimating the ability of those-not-in-the-know to pick the general gist.

Ron and Hermione are great actors, Harry has dream sequences and the scene where he tells Sirius he's angry so he doesn't have to be a good actor, Snape and Dumbledore were both hilarious (I like this Dumbledore so much better than the old one), Luna was apparently not acting. XD. Umbridge was way less creepy, even though everyone's been talking about how her actor nailed the portrayal.

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

I think I completely agree with you on the movie. It was the first one I really ENJOYED. And the special effects were THE AWESOME.

I think I liked this incarnation of the characters better than Goblet's.

[nekokoban]

I actually really liked the fifth movie as well -- I don't know if it's my favorite (I also really liked the fourth), but I know I enjoyed it a lot more than the book (which I couldn't even finish, due to Harry's capslock rage). It felt like this was the story we could've gotten from the book, if Rowling's editors hadn't been so desperate to rush the book out to do their proper job. [/snipey XD]

Luna was the cutest thing ever, and Bellatrix was wickedly awesome. :D And I was glad that they didn't skimp on their special effects budget for the climactic battle sequence, so hey, I got no complaints♥

[chibaraki.livejournal.com]

I sort of took the movie as Selected Scenes from the Novel as opposed to a complete adaptation of it, and in that context I enjoyed it immensely, especially since they skipped over a lot of Harry's RAR I AM PUBESCENT CAPSLOCK OF RAGE! Also, the fact that Umbridge was less scary was almost kind of a relief. The book is just so unrelenting except for the bits with Fred and George.

My one big disappointment with the movie is that it utterly dropped the ball with the Fred and George Are Hilarious Delinquents subplot, which was one of my favorites.

[youkofujima.livejournal.com]

I liked it, though I personally also liked the fourth movie better, probably because it felt more like it was character-centered than it was plot-centered. (The fifth movie was a mix of both, and it almost seemed to me like they were spreading themselves thin trying to emphasize both the new key characters and then also attempt the plot).

Luna was awesome (she reminds me of a Malkavian from "Vampires the Masquerade," insane, but it's because they know all the truths)

Sadly, I never finished Book Five due to Harry's "TEENAGE CAPS LOCK OF ANGST AND RAGE" and also partly of Cho's "seeing/experiencing Cedric through Harry" business^^;;

Final fight sequence was awesome, and, as Voldemort's actor said during an interview: "A battle of Olympic level wizards, expect to see some major ninja wand-age."

[calintz.livejournal.com]

The fifth book was definitely NOT my favorite - there's only so much teen angst and rage you can take, even if it IS theoretically justifiable. The movie itself was decent, I think. I know I wrote that it sucked but that's for the same reason that I literally flung the book at the wall, i.e. "OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT TO (spoiler lol) YOU B****H".

Sob. I'm still traumatized.

[supacat.livejournal.com]

My sister and I couldn't figure out who the long-haired brunet boy in the DA was supposed to be - Michael Corner? Zacharias Smith?

Yes! The sort of oddly hot guy. My money's on Zacharias Smith, the hair-falling-into-the-eyes denotes Hufflepuff. Since I couldn't quite imagine Ginny dating him, I struck Corner off the list. Also, this is so shallow but, I like the idea of this shy oddly hot guy being the one who's not that impressed with Harry and stands up to him in the DA meetings. Smith all the way!

little fumbling over Cho (tying her back to the DA plotline was an inspired change).

Word. I liked all the book-to-screen changes, even the hair (!) (but very alone in this).

Kingsley Shacklebolt was exactly how I imagined.

i agree!

[pere-chan.livejournal.com]

This movie was my favourite too! I liked the lack of capslock. Also the epic "ninja wand-age". And Ginny's Reducto. And yes, oh, the Oyster card (hugged mine like a dork when I saw that!). And, er, almost everything.

Oh, Ralph Fiennes. Pale noseless snake-man + black silk suit = teh HOTT.

[jantalaimon.livejournal.com]

That's because John Williams didn't score it. He didn't score GoF, either. Nicholas Hooper was responsible for scoring OotP and Patrick Doyle scored GoF.

And actually, many of the things I started to wonder about as being missing bits were brought up by someone who hadn't read the book. I'm kind of enjoying the fact I've got someone watching these with me who hasn't, because it helps me with objectivity since I've read them all multiple times. XD

[jantalaimon.livejournal.com]

Oh, and also, I for one thought it wasn't dark enough. XD But I did mostly like it, and thought it was gorgeous to look at, definitely.

[celestriad.livejournal.com]

i still need to see order of the phoenix. D: but i've read the book a few times, so i might catch what was cut out as opposed to what wasn't. not that it'd bother me too much if it still made a good movie, which it seems to have been successful at (judging from all the reviews i've been reading on my f-list).