Boo for yates, props for cast! - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Reviews

I give Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix a B+ This was the darkest movie to date. The entire acting cast was marvelous, but I had a few gripes. The movie started off very slowly, and then began moving along very quickly once they entered Hogwarts. I noticed right off the back that the movie might be confusing for those who haven't read the books. The movie didn't take the time to acknowledge every character or place. They never acknowledged Nymphadora as Tonks, and they never introduced any of the Advanced Guard or the Order properly. The Dursely's has very little screen time, and they seemed a bit off. They didn't include any of the things that could be significant in the final book, such as Dumbeldore's howler to Petunia. Overall, I thought the Dursley's had enough screen time to acknowledge them. Moody, Tonks, Lupin, Molly and Arthur—all exhibited good acting. I was a bit disappointed at their screen-time, though. I liked that they still illustrated their character as they are in the books. I felt that the entire hearing might have been confusing to the audience, it was rushed and none of the characters were introduced at all....Not even Ms. Figg's name was mentioned. This was definitely a movie for Harry Potter fans. Luna Lovegood was probably one of the highlights in the film. She was created so perfectly, I could not have cast a better actress myself. I felt that Evanna didn't have good diction, and so I sometimes had trouble understanding what she was saying. Besides that, she was created perfectly. Her voice and overall acting skills portrayed Luna exactly how she was created by JK Rowling. Dan Radcliffe's acting skills have improved significantly, I felt like his nightmare scenes were somewhat badly directed and the camera angles were awkward. Emma and Rupert were excellent, as always. They portrayed their characters as they always have, and always will. Praise for them. Umbridge was good as well! I wanted to jump into the screen and strangle her. But she was also amusing, especially in the dark forest scene when the Centaurs carried her away. Overall, she was great. I felt she was portrayed as I envisioned her in the book. I thought that she could have been a bit nastier, though. *laughs* Snape, Dumeldore, Trelawny, McGonagall, all portrayed well. I thought that Dumeldore was portrayed a bit better in this film than he had been in the previous films. Good acting from all the Hogwarts teachers. Gary Oldman was Sirius, once again, did a phenomenal job. His acting skills were superb, and sometimes saved the scene when Dan's acting was horrid. I felt that his death was not nearly dramatic enough...I think that the entire end battle scene was disappointing...the Order of the Phoenix was only showed for three seconds fighting. The Lucius Malfoy actor and the Bellatrix actresses were very good, they were very evil. I especially felt that Bellatrix contained the same brand of evil as she did in the book. Good job on her part. Overall, the end scene was disappointing....the prophecy was smashed by Lucius, not Harry. The battle between Dumbeldore and Voldemort was one of my favorite parts of the movie. It was superbly done, and I felt like it had a lot of intensity behind it. I enjoyed Harry's flashbacks, especially when they used scenes from the previous movies. I felt they added a particularly emotional sense to the movie Overall, I felt the movie was dark, but too short. Good acting wasn't highlighted as it should have been. Characters weren't introduced as I would have liked them to be. Acting: A The acting is what gave the movie its flare. The acting by the adult actors was especially good, as well as the trio and the new cast. I felt like Dan's acting was, once again, mediocre. I felt Cho's actress was horrible and she didn't express emotion well. Dumbeldore improved, as well as Hermione and Ron. Luna was my favorite, as well as Umbridge, Snape and Sirius. Visuals: A The special effects were amazing, the detail was very nice. The wand duels were done very well, especially Dumbeldore and Voldemorts. Overall, it was done well—as always. Direction: C I think David Yates gave the movie too much of a dark feeling. I also feel that the movie was paced and timed horribly. The beginning of the movie went by in a flash, and the end did as well. I felt that he relied too much on montage-type scenarios to move along the storyline, especially with the Daily Prophet scenes. Overall, he did well with the direction of the actors and the story was told very well from his point of view. His camera angles were interesting, but sometimes distracted me from the story. Adaptation: B As everyone expected, the movie did leave out a LOT of things from the book. I felt that the director made a lot of unnecessary changes, such as how Neville found the Room of Requirement. I think he used a lot of substitution to move the story along. I also hated how he cut scenes off to change to the next scene. I think it confused the audience more than anything. However, this movie included a lot more from the book than the third and fourth movies did. I was surprised to how much they actually got into the 2 hour and 18 minute film. Overall: B+ I felt the movie captured by attention. It didn't have the same magical feeling the first two had, it didn't have the colorful visuals the third one had, it didn't have the action the fourth one had, but it had something that was unique to it. It was darker than any of the previous films. The movie had no suspense whatsoever. Even though I have read the book several times, I didn't feel as though the movie offered any cinematic suspense. Additional comments: *Hagrid's character was pretty much ignored...Occlumency was given little screen time, as well as Snape's worst memory. *The movie was rushed in areas, and scenes didn't melt together very well. The direction could have been a lot better. *I was disappointed that they left St. Mungos out of the storyline. *Kreacher didn't get nearly enough screen time.