Rating of
2/4
Harry Potter & The Order of the Abridgement
goodfellamike - wrote on 10/26/08
In this installment, the teenage wizards find themselves waging a battle with not only Voldemort, but the Ministry of Magic as well. The ministry has appointed their own regime to Hogwarts in the presence of Dolores Umbridge, the toad-like authoritarian who unleashes a massive stronghold over the freedoms that were previously allowed to the students and who believes Magic should be taught, but not practiced. This tyranny inspires a handful of the students, led by Harry, Ron and Hermione to form Dumbledore’s Army: a secret organization instructed to prepare each other for battle; a gathering that Umbridge considers as mutiny.
The Order of the Phoenix gets a lot of things right, least of which is the accurate casting of its new characters. Imelda Staunton is terrific as Umbridge, a character every bit as menacing as Voldemort, though accompanied with giggles and a warm cup of tea. Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood is every bit as nonchalant and confounding as her character in the novel; and Helena Bonham-Carter, cast as the insanely evil Bellatrix Lestrange, adds a brief, but inspired bit of lunacy to the proceedings. The flight of Fred & George Weasley is also an asset, as is the art direction for the Ministry of Magic.
The film, however, takes a lot of missteps. Viewers may be displeased never to discover the identity of the person who sent the Dementors to attack Harry and his cousin in the opening scene (a detail in the book which adds a level of evil to one of the characters); the film also skims over why the Centaurs are so avidly against the human characters, or why for instance Harry, Ron and Hermione break into Umbridge‘s office at one point. The film’s biggest errors are when it challenges the integrity of Harry himself. In the film, Harry hands over the prophecy to Lucius Malfoy, but in the book he does not. In the book, Harry’s sense of loss when someone close to him dies is huge, and he spends a great deal of time getting through it by talking with his friends, Dumbledore and even Nearly Headless Nick--in the movie, it seems Harry is lacking in compassion as he initially screams, and it’s apparent it doesn’t bother him much after that. Also, Grawp, Hagrid’s giant half-brother looks so out of place, it’s like he wandered in from a Rugrats movie.
Things move so fast that it’s not out of the question that fans who have not read the novels will become increasingly lost and confused as a barrage of new information comes hurtling from the screen every few minutes; this isn’t the story’s fault, but the rate at which things are abridged. Moments that were built up so well in the book are reduced to a passing glance here, not only because of the liberties taken with the script, but because the efforts to condense an 800 page book into a 2 hr and 10 minute film feel forced, jammed with too much information, and rather unexciting; tension is one thing Order of the Phoenix is void of. Consider the scene in which Dumbledore is accosted in his office by Umbridge, the Minister of Magic and a couple of Aurors. This is one of the most exciting moments in all of the series because we get to see Dumbledore in action as he fights off everyone single-handedly; in the movie, Dumbledore claps his hands and simply disappears.
The fifth film of the franchise gets darker, more ominous treatment than the previous films, which match the texture of writer JK Rowling’s text. What the book gave us in details and imagination, the film strips down to its barest essentials, leaving a narrative that feels jumbled, unfocused, often aloof and too condensed. Did the longest book of the series have to be the shortest film? I can understand that the massive novel had plenty of fat to trim, but it’s unfortunate the screenwriter and director removed some important nutrients as well. Final Grade: C
