Review of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) by Victor T — 05 Dec 2016

With the franchise halfway done and again in need of a new director, incomes David Yates, the man responsible for the rest of the saga. With now a darker tone being set and the villain being finally introduced and shown to be ready for war, is this film a success?

After the events of "Goblet of Fire", things look dark for Harry: Lord Voldemort is back in human form and ready to continue what he started. After an incident with his Muggle family, the Ministry of Magic decides that it's time to interfere with Hogwarts.

Here we are now, at the beginning of the Yates half of HP and to be honest this is where my interest/love for the saga banished due to the franchise enters to cliché territory from now on and thus is why I consider this fifth installment the worst of the saga for many years but after rewatching it I realize I was wrong. By this point is redundant to mention the pros of this saga (the solid special effects and the solid acting by the supporting cast plus the maturation of the three leads) so we can only focus on two elements: Directing and writing. In the directing department David Yates finally gives this saga an identity (for better or worse) as due to the constant changes of directors this saga didn't have a solid style, plus he shows a meticulous craftsmanship in some sequences (on a side note I want to complain about the muted colors of the cinematography as that is a step backwards for what was up until this point a colorful franchise, hell even part 3 have better use of color), particularly the final magic duel between the two biggest players of both sides (say what you want about this saga but this film has the only good magic duel of the 8 films as it is creative and actually exciting, it is not people throwing random flashy CGI all over the place or crossing streams ala Ghostbusters). But regarding the writing this is the beginning of the downfall of script quality as like its source material the story goes to cliché territory and shockingly wastes precious time by focusing on teen romances and a mean teacher (this comes up as a teen film) plus it adds even more plot holes to the saga, instead of wrapping up the story to its conclusion.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" marks the end of the establishing of the world and making fun films and the beginning of cliché stories. The script is filled with unnecessary elements as teen angsts and more plot holes. But regardless it is still a fun film that has its moments.