... and the order of the Phoenix

[Dafydd]

Sorry to bother, but there doesn't seem to be any threads about this movie yet. I have little to say about it to be honest - it felt rather different from the other movies and focused a little too much on Harry's hard feelings, in my opinion. Anyway -

am I the only one to think Imelda Staunton (Umbridge) looks like she could be Will Ferrell's sister? I mean, they look so alike.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I just got back from seeing it.

I thought that this one, unlike the other four, was very well done. Unlike # 4, which seemed to be made from cliffnotes of the book, this one left out all the right stuff, kept in all the right stuff, and made all the right changes to make it work on screen.

Umbridge was brilliant.

Luna was brilliant.

The entire movie was very well done, and is in my opinion the best movie in the series by far.

[Broken]

I'm not sure which character you're referring to, Dafydd. Who does she play in the movie?

I loved the film -I'm a big fan of the books, so that no doubt taints my judgement- but I can see how some people could see it as a let down. The ending seems a little anti-climactic and all, but I challenge that conclusion with the fact that it only takes around 2:30 of high quality special effects, professionally scored music, and only the most important parts of the narritave to reach said ending. When I originally finished reading Order back when it first came out I felt just as let down by the ending, but I had poured more than a couple of ours into reading through the book by then and I spent 40 dollars (I think) instead of $8.50 to get the same ending.

Just my two cents.

[q-pa]

I saw it in IMAX last night and enjoyed it. I'm not sure which I liked more though, Goblet of Fire or this. As usual, as a fan of the books I was a little peeved at certain things, but the experience overall was definitely fun.

[Possible Spoiler]

Personally I thought the Order vs the Death Eaters battle was better than Dubledore vs. Voldemort, the one that all fans were looking forward to. The, *ahem* death scene was done well, if a little vague (as it is in the book I suppose).

[/Possible Spoiler]

I do find it interesting that Rowling inserts scenes that clearly translate to the screen well (such as the letter-owl chaos and that time-changing thing at the climax) yet the producers/writer chose not to include them.

Edit: a little more spoiler-proof?

[watkinzez]

SPOILERS

I half expected Sirius to say "Fly, you fools!" before falling through the veil. It was so similar I almost laughed.

Otherwise it was okay, but Azkaban is still far and away the best book and film.

[siven7]

It was a solid movie - I did enjoy it... not quite as much as the others... but it was good. I mean, I didn't really enjoy the book as much as the others as well, but both (the book and the movie) were really well-done.

I agree with Geoffrey Taucer that Umbridge and Luna were amazing... Umbridge especially, just because she was such a sugary-sweet b*tch Amazing casting for that. Also, I would've liked to see a bit more of Hermione and Ron's getting-closer-ness

And the cast just got ripped for that movie - Harry and Ron were behemoths compared to Goblet of Fire. Also, I was really happy to see that Neville got a bit bigger of a role... I love Neville.

Oh yeah, and Order vs. Death Eaters... awesome.

[DarkeSword]

I was quite pleased with how this one turned out, moreso than the last two. I was very disappointed with PoA and all of the things I felt were really essential left out, particularly things about the marauders. You get a bit of that in this movie, with with Harry invading Snape's mind, and seeing James and Snape as kids, but they cut the vision before Lily showed up to save the day.

Luna Lovegood was absolutely perfect; she was like a salve for all of Harry's rage, and I've been disappointed nothing more's blossomed from it in the HBP book. Alas.

[q-pa]

You get a bit of that in this movie, with with Harry invading Snape's mind, and seeing James and Snape as kids, but they cut the vision before Lily showed up to save the day.

Luna Lovegood was absolutely perfect; she was like a salve for all of Harry's rage, and I've been disappointed nothing more's blossomed from it in the HBP book. Alas.

Yeah, the fact that that "flashback" was only about 15-20 seconds was one of my biggest objections with this movie.

Yes, I enjoyed the Harry/Luna scenes as well.

[Dark_T_Zeratul]

The, *ahem* death scene was done well, if a little vague (as it is in the book I suppose).

Oddly enough, it was actually LESS vague than in the book. At least, it is if you caught what spell he got hit with.

[Dafydd]

As I remembered it from the book, he just dropped dead (though it's been a long while since I read it - I didn't remember many parts in the film from the book). Now he just vanished into the gate (or that's what it looked like anyway). Wtf was that gate anyway?

[Dark_T_Zeratul]

In the book, he got hit by a bolt of magic and knocked back into the gate (which was implied, later on, as being sort of a portal into the next world).

In the movie, Bellatrix zaps him with the killing curse and he falls into it.

[Dafydd]

Wow, I really don't remember it that way, I was sure he was killed by the same curse as in the movie. This is how I remembered it before seeing the movie, too. A green flash of lightning, and he stopped dead in his tracks, falling dead to the ground. I wonder why memories get twisted like that.

[Effef]

Luna was he best part of the whole movie. Almost EXACTLY like i imagined her.

[Dafydd]

I'd expected her to be uglier, and also a lot more annoying and embarassing, almost scary in her oddness. The movie version was a calm and reliable person with a few funny ideas.

[Imagist]

I have got to say that the scenes with Umbridge watching over her detentions (especially the first one with Harry alone) have got to be some of the creepiest I've seen in a long while. Though I'd imagined Umbridge to be quite a bit more plump (and round, very round), I'm willing to let that slide for a spot-on performance. Luna was also pleasantly surprising; when I first saw their choice of actress I thought she was completely wrong, but she absolutely nailed it. I'm really quite disappointed they didn't find excuses to give her even more screen time (the Rita Skeeter sub-plot would have been nice, if they hadn't practically abandoned it with Goblet of Fire already).

Spoilers abound from here on out.

There were a number of points in the film where there were obviously deliberate visual cues in the actors' performances and such that alluded to pieces of the book that were never followed up with any direct (verbal) references, like when Snape mentions that Umbridge interrogated Cho using Veritaserum and Harry and Hermione look at each other like "OSHI-" but no one so much as says "Looks like we were wrong," or "Sorry we unreasonably ostracized you when you were so clearly penitent and helpless." Or you get passing glances of the group's faces as they're riding the (as far as they know) invisible thestrals and you don't even hear a peep from Ron about how "bloody terrifying" or even "bloody brilliant" it is. I mean, if you're going to cut Cho's friend out of the film and pin her as the traitor, you've either got to justify it with some snooty behavior or force her into it and have a heart-touching redemption, not just force her into it. And if you're going to spend time on scenes about animals that some of the characters can't see, you'd better pay dutiful attention to the circumstance throughout the film, not just when it's first an issue.

While there was at least one instance where I found one of these fan-teases excellent (the scene at the end of the last DA meeting before the holidays in which Ginny, as she walks out and Harry heads back toward Cho, turns around and looks sort of miffed--it was nice for people who have read Half-Blood Prince already to get a hint of the future), for the most part they were really sort of annoying to me, as the impartial critic I'm trying to be, because it's a blatant statement that the creators know they're cutting things fans of the books would like to see because they think fans of the movies don't care to see them, even though completing each and every one of these half-scenes would have added five minutes, tops, to the movie. In the past two films I've thought they could have (and should have) added quite a few things that would have extended the running time only a few minutes, but in this film it's like they started to add many of those things and decided to give up instead.

Another issue: the flashing headlines of the Daily Prophet were particularly annoying, and although I feel this way partly because I had just finished the game for Wii in which they were utilized to a much greater extent to glance over large sections of the plot, it's also because, again, having actual scenes show or even imply those events would have added mere seconds to the film without cheapening the effect. The newspaper montages, primarily the segment immediately after the fights at the Ministry, were pretty much telling the audience, "Read the bloody book, 'cause we ain't showing you anything!"

All in all, I thought the film started off great, but about halfway through turned into some sort of rabid race toward the finish line, making many more cuts and resolving issues in only the most half-hearted of manners. But as a movie, I can't honestly say I expected perfection, and even if all the issues I've mentioned were resolved it wouldn't have been perfect. The creators did well enough, and they'll make the money they were likely after. The only major concern I have is the absence of the two-way mirror. Not only did I think it should have been potentially the best way to show Harry's teenage arrogance, by having him forget such a simple way to be sure of Sirius' condition as the mirror, but Rowling has also said it will play an important part in the final book. Without a presence in the movies, what will we be missing once Deathly Hallows rolls into Hollywood?

(One last thing: I'm almost afraid to say it for sounding like too much of a greasy fanboy, but it was kind of ridiculous that Bellatrix used Avada Kedavra to finish off Sirius in the film. In the book it was taken to be some sort of stunning spell which pushed Sirius backward into the veil, making for an extremely unexpected and mysterious death. On screen, while only a little less sudden, his death had nothing of the mystery and uncertainty it should have. And it begs the question: why wouldn't nearly every spell the bad guys shoot be Avada Kedavra, if it was as easy and casual a thing as it seemed for Bellatrix at that point? I kind of felt the same way about Voldemort's nonchalance in killing Cedric during Goblet of Fire, but that's excusable because it was written that way in the book and, well, he's fucking Voldemort. Whatever. Greasiness over.)

[Steben]

In the book, he got hit by a bolt of magic and knocked back into the gate (which was implied, later on, as being sort of a portal into the next world).

In the movie, Bellatrix zaps him with the killing curse and he falls into it.

More like, drawn into it. I think the difference is that in the books, he fell into death by going through the black veil (which was sadly missing from the movie if you ask me), but in the movie he was killed, and therefore was sucked into death, which lay behind the gate?

[Dafydd]

I never really understood what happened to Sirius in the book. I remembered it as him being killed and falling down dead, but now I re-read that particular part and it only says he falls through the gate and Harry thinks he's going to come back. The others insist he's dead, however, but you never really get to know for sure. A comeback in tDH is not impossible, as I see it. Some speculate that Dumbledore will return in the next book, but that would require that Snape only said "Avada Kadevra" but cast another spell, or Dumbledore returns as a ghost, or Dumbledore has found a way to return from the dead (I've seen that happen in other worlds... like Star Wars), or he never died. Sirius has a better chance of returning, I think.

I agree that the film felt rushed, but not nearly as rushed as the fourth movie. But the flashing headlines did, indeed, feel cheap.

[Citris]

I'm going to have to say I didn't like this movie. It was just too choppy and anti-climactic. This was a very very deep and involved book, so I'm not surprised. It just seems they could have planned it a bit better. It almost feels like they shot another hour of film and just edited it out. I feel like the only reason I knew what was going on was because I've read the book.

I did like Umbridge, she was perfect. Luna could have been a bit more loony.

Also, now that I've read the books (I started reading after I saw GoF), I don't like the new Dunbledore. Especially in this one. He plays him too seriously. He almost seemed angry.

[Dafydd]

Agreed, the movie was anti-climactic, and I don't like Dumbledore either. He's too vigorous and tempered. The one in the book was always calm and harmless. Except that one time when Harry's name came out from the goblet of fire.

[Zeklan]

The only major concern I have is the absence of the two-way mirror.

The mirror was in the movie.

They just never explain what it is.

They'll leave that for extended DVDs or the next movie.

[DarkeSword]

The mirror was in the movie.

They just never explain what it is.

They'll leave that for extended DVDs or the next movie.

I'm sorry, but I do not recall ever seeing Sirius giving Harry a mirror, or anything for that matter.

[Dark_T_Zeratul]

I never really understood what happened to Sirius in the book. I remembered it as him being killed and falling down dead, but now I re-read that particular part and it only says he falls through the gate and Harry thinks he's going to come back. The others insist he's dead, however, but you never really get to know for sure. A comeback in tDH is not impossible, as I see it

See, personally, here's what I think happened:

Rowling wrote the book intending for Sirius's death to be final. Almost everyone assumed that he was going to come back somehow, and so she asked David Yates (the director) to make it more clear that he was quite definitely dead.

[senatorexlax]

I'm glad there is finally a thread on here about this movie. I tried going to rotten tomatoes forums, but I noticed pretty much every person there responded to criticism of the movie with "It got a lot of positive reviews, so it can't be bad." As for my two cents, I pretty much agree with most of you, this movie felt really choppy a lot of the times, and it seemed like major plot points weren't explained at all. I had to explain several parts to friends who hadn't read the books. Also, did anybody notice that the CGI was fucking awful for the mistletoe scene?

I can't say it's all bad though, not by a long shot. I would say the last half an hour or so tickled me just as much as say, the final saber fight in episode 1. What I mean by that is I was pretty much giddy for the whole thing. Lucius Malfoy (I don't remember the actors name) was exactly like I felt he should have been, and the death eaters are portrayed with the type of power that they are supposed to have.

Then of course there is <i>the</i> fight, the big daddy of them all. I felt like this was cut short, but wow did it ever impress me. In previous movies, and even in the books to a certain extent, you don't really get to see the absolutely tremendous power that Voldemort and Dumbledore have. That scream, the glass, the sand, the fire, the water... fuck that just was unreal. I really hope Voldemort gets a TON of room to play in the seventh book, if for no other reason than the see Ralph Fiennes on screen more come 2010.

This post is too long, I'll stop now.

[Imagist]

The mirror was in the movie.

They just never explain what it is.

They'll leave that for extended DVDs or the next movie.

Yeah, I don't know what you were watching, but I never saw Sirius give Harry the mirror.

[Broken]

possible spoiler material

Did any one else think the Oclemency lessons (excuse the spelling) were well filmed? Those scenes played out exactly how I imagined they would in the book. Of course they were cut short but damn, the book is just long and full of little things like that (Hospital scene anyone? Not that I really miss that scene.) I just can't be angry that they edited a lot of it (I do wish this movie had an extended version where they had a lot more of the scenes that we all felt needed to stay, however.)

I do admit that the newspaper transition screens were a little lame, but I think they were apropriate because to me, this book was very largely about the power of the presses over the masses and the movie emphasized that very well. I also agree that the mistletoe was just bad looking. Especially in the room of requirement where some of the best effects occured. Actually, all around, that movie had some of the most riveting special effects sequences that I've seen in a while. And I say that after watching and loving Transformers to death.