harry potter and the order of the phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is my least favorite book in the series. Most people regard Chamber of Secrets as the weakest book, but I’m willing to chalk that one up to context. Being the second book in the series, Chamber was written when Harry Potter was still essentially The Hardy Boys with wands. Order of the Phoenix, however, reads like an anticlimactic slog, which is particularly hard to forgive after the brilliance of Goblet of Fire‘s big reveal.
The big action piece of Order is the much sought after prophecy hidden away in the Ministry of Magic’s Department of Mysteries, but unlike the other books, which revolve around a big, action heavy finish, it’s really not the point of the book. The book is subtitled …and the Order of the Phoenix, because it’s really about people, not some glowing ball hidden in a basement. A prophecy stating that Harry will face Voldemort in a battle to the death is hardly news, and is totally redundant from the audience’s perspective.
Harry has plenty to be mad about. His arch-nemesis has just come back from the dead, he feels partly responsible for the death of Cedric Diggory, he still has to live with his crap aunt and uncle, his only blood relative is a wrongly accused wanted felon, none of his friends seem to want to talk to him, and oh yes, his parents are still dead. Rowling devotes way too much time to Harry’s emotional miasma, but it’s nicely handled in a single sentence in the film (even if the trailers made it look like we were in for more Ultra Angst).
In fact, there are lots and lots of things from the book that were neatly compressed for the movie. I doubt too many people are upset that Tonks has just the one line, and Dobby was mercifully excised entirely. The trouble is that the movie is written to emphasize the climactic battle at the end, which is not the point of the fifth book. Order of the Phoenix is about Harry coming to terms with an imperfect world. His Occlumancy lessons with Snape are a total failure mostly because Harry despises Snape so much, and what’s more, they reveal that his father was a real jerk back in his Hogwarts days. So Harry has to deal with the fact that his dad wasn’t the perfect human being that he always imagined. Likewise, Sirius is dealing with some extreme frustration over his inability to step outside and appreciably help the Order, as well as his nostalgic and inappropriate conflation of James and Harry. None of this really comes across in the movie.
Other important details are missing. Order of the Phoenix is where the Ministry of Magic turns from whimsical to incompetent to malevolent. One of the key things about the Ministry is that they are distinctly racist. They tout the superiority of wizards over creatures like half-giants, goblins, house elves, and centaurs. In a way, this makes them hypocritically similar to the pureblood-obsessed Voldemort and ultimately weakens the Ministry’s ability to mount a proper early defense against the Dark Lord. It’s an important detail that is barely addressed.
Order of the Phoenix fails for its inability to represent the character driven core of the book, but as summer entertainment, it can’t really do that. There needs to be action, and if there’s going to be action, there needs to be less talking. For what it’s worth, the film crunches the book down to its more physical essentials, keeps things entertaining, and does its best to keep the nihilistic ennui intact. Some critics have pointed out that the final battle feels chaotic and disjointed, but it’s even more so in the book. Fight scenes are hard to film and even harder to write. In general, the screenwriters subtracted the right things.
As usual, the faculty gets the shaft. Maggie Smith and Emma Thompson have about one line apiece (it’s a shame, since one of my favorite scenes from the book is the career advice showdown between McGonagall and Umbridge). Alan Rickman manages to do incredible things with his few lines, as usual. I can’t wait to see him get some real screen time in the sixth movie. Likewise, Helena Bonham Carter is so freaky that it feels like she’s on screen for more than five minutes. Imelda Staunton really is a perfect Dolores Umbridge, imbuing the character with a venomous sweetness that helps make the film so enjoyable. And thank God that Daniel Radcliffe is turning out to be a good actor.
So, on the whole, a good movie. The editors used their red pens well. Even if the movie is less character driven than it should be, the performances are great and all the important points are there. Order of the Phoenix suffers none of Goblet of Fire‘s weirdly spastic pacing problems. And seriously, how awesome is Dumbledore?
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