Review of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) by Mrmoviebuff — 07 Nov 2016

The dark days are coming closer, and this time, director David Yates is in charge to bring it in a very visual and chilling way, with 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', the fifth installment in the "Harry Potter" franchise created by author J.K. Rowling.

Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is back with his cynical relatives, his cousin ends up being attacked by a dementor and Harry must use his magic to save him. This leads to him getting expelled from Hogwarts school as he performed magic in the presence of a muggle outside of the Wizard world. However, Madeye Moody (Brendan Gleeson) manages to help Harry escape his home and take him back to Hogwarts.

Upon getting there, Harry finally meets up with his friends; Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint), as well as seeing Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) who informs Harry that there might be a war brewing since Voldermort (Ralph Fiennes) has returned.

The events of "The Goblet of Fire" (2005) still haunt Harry as he has recurring nightmares of the night Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson) was killed by Voldermort, yet nobody, other than Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) believes Harry. He manages to get out of trouble after Dumbledore defends Harry in a court case since he used magic outside of Hogwarts, but for some reason, Dumbledore seems distant from Harry, not even looking at him, and always walking past him whenever he tries to get his attention. Harry fails to understand this at the moment, but it soon becomes clear later on.

It is also announced that a new professor named Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) is placed as the new teacher for the Defence Against the Dark Arts, and after Harry quarrels with her, she becomes very quick to judge Harry and punishes him for even thinking that there is a possibility that a former Hogwarts student was killed by the Dark Lord. Ron and Hermione hear about Harry's brutal and unfair punishment from Umbridge, and they urge Harry to tell Dumbledore about this, but for some reason, Harry refuses to even tell, as he assumes that maybe he deserves all of this, or maybe this is just some sign that he must be able to take any form of brutality if he were to go to war with Voldermort.

Harry begins to receive more nightmares as it seems that Voldermort is getting into Harry's head, he does not understand why this is happening, but Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) tries to teach him to control his thoughts and discipline his mind. Things also get worse when Umbridge sets new rules for the school after Dumbledore's absence, which leads Harry, Ron and Hermione to set up their own little club where students can learn to defend themselves against the dark arts. Without Umbridge's knowledge.

'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' is a more steady paced movie, there are moments of dark tension and emotional complications. Director David Yates chooses cleverly how to handle the tone and pacing for this particular story and the cast, once again, manage to commit to their performances, especially Imelda Staunton, who plays the ever so unlikeable Dolores Umbridge.

The battle scenes are small, but they are gripping and dark and at times, haunting. The effectiveness of the mental and inner conflict work well for the title character and what we are about to see in future installments. This is another good chapter of the franchise.