A nitty gritty potter installment - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Reviews

Say goodbye to the happy sugar-coated Harry Potter films, and hello to the darker and more threatening installments. The fifth movie (OotP) is dark, but the nice incorporation of lighthearted moments help to make it another solid hit for the Potter series. The story (for the most part) stayed true to Rowling's longest novel (they did cram it into 2 hours and 20 minutes, mind you). One who has read the book will realize how quickly the movie skims the pages, but one should also realize that it does touch the main elements of Rowling's story quite effectively. For the first time, I was genuinely impressed with the acting from Daniel Radcliffe. His counterparts Emma Watson and Rupert Grint deliver another solid performance, and are truly becoming exceptional actors. Radcliffe finally gives a performance showing the true mental and emotional struggle of Harry's character. The sugar coat is stripped and the audience sees with its own eyes the troubles Harry must deal with. Not to leave out Professor Dolores Umbridge, a character portrayed by Imelda Staunton. Staunton delivers such a precise and malevolent performance of Umbridge that it left a gentleman sitting behind me saying "get that bitch!" Visuals were not quite up to par with other Potter films (ie: Cuaron's dementors > Yates' dementors) but still fantastic. Fred and George's final rebellion against Umbridge is brilliantly shot, with fireworks and glass-crashing that leaves students and the audience alike pumping their fists for the first time in the movie. Altough the true climax of the film includes a great battle between the OotP and death eaters...followed by a cataclysmic duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort (which upon introduction, gets the audience thrilled.) Though the climax was quite good, I was expecting more time and more focus on Dumbledore's talent, (In the book, Dumbledore single-handedly disarms several death-eaters and handles Voldemort with relative ease.) Overall the movie was quite good, and though I respect Yates as a director, you can't really go wrong with a story from Rowling and a nice budget provided by Warner Bros. The PG-13 rating is no joke, although this installment of the Potter series truly has something for everyone.