Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Imelda Staunton, Ralph Fiennes.

Director - David Yates

The fifth book in J K Rowling’s unstoppable series about the boy wizard and his geeky but great friends is the latest to be turned into a PotterFilm. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, while not the fastest-moving, or most eventful of the series, is the book where Harry starts to grow up, and he begins to feel abandoned and angry at the world – aka “A Teenager”.

The film starts, as usual, in the Dursley world, but all is not as Harry knows it. Dementors attack Harry and his cousin Dudley - forcing Harry to use magic outside of school and he is subsequently hauled up in front of the Ministry of Magic who will decide whether or not to expel him from school for this breach of the rules. The wizarding world is refusing to believe Harry that Lord Voldemort has returned, and are branding him and those associated with him liars.

Harry gets off lightly at the trial thanks to a guest appearance from his bearded Headmaster, and he spends the rest of the summer at Grimmauld Place, the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, (a group of wizards and witches - most of whom fought You-Know-Who the first time around) who have re-grouped with Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) at the helm to fight evil once again.
Upon returning to Hogwarts and finding out they have been given the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher from Hell - Professor Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) - Harry and the gang decide to form their own secret society; Dumbledore’s Army, the DA for short. They practise defence with Harry as their teacher and gear up to fight.
Amid all this rebellion, Harry gets his first kiss, and the tension between Rupert Grint’s Ron and Emma Watson’s Hermione forms subtly in the background.
But that pesky Dark Lord has planted an image in Harry’s mind to lure him to the Ministry to rescue his Godfather Sirius (Gary Oldman). It’s a trick. Voldemort and his Death Eaters – led by the blonde bombshell Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs) proceed to try and kill Harry and his friends for the prophecy Harry has obtained while looking for Sirius. Things do not go well until the Order turn up and a wonderfully bizarre battle ensues. Sirius is killed by an evil female Death-Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter), and Harry runs after her in to the atrium of the Ministrty to avenge his Godfathers death.
Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) turns up, as does Dumbledore and the two greatest wizards in Harry Potter world duel, until Voldemort possesses Harry, and dares Dumbledore to kill him. Harry, writhing and convulsing on the floor a la Emily Rose fights the evil inside him and Voldemort is gone. For the moment.

At the end of this film, Harry finally gets the answers he was looking for, and for the first time in his life, he has an idea of what the future holds for him.

There are some things wrong with this film. The Harry/Cho “relationship”, without all the blather from the books, seems contrived and a little out-of-nowhere and Michael Gambon’s portrayal of Dumbledore is - as usual - too aggressive, too unfeeling, too humourless. One of the beautiful parts of this book was the ending, with Harry’s despair and Dumbledore’s regret at not telling Harry his fate sooner. This was sacrificed for the special effects laden climax at the Ministry, and it was a big mistake. These films are still waiting for a director to get the balance of action and human interaction just right.

On the whole though, this was a fabulous film. Darker than all of the others put together, and with a tighter, much more waffle-free script.
The trio have all finally settled into their roles, with a new stubbly Dan Radcliffe taking charge of the role of Harry for the first time, and finally becoming believable. Watson’s Hermione still has the occasional out-of-control-eyebrow moment, but she has got the balance of pretty but bookish just right, with the odd coy look at Ron to pave the way for Half Blood Prince. Rupert Grint, always head and shoulders above the other two in terms of acting, was not given a lot to do in this film. However, he was brilliant in every scene he was in - more soft spoken and relaxed than he has been previously, you believe and invest in his loyalty to Harry. He is a wonderful character in the books, and faithfully portrayed on screen by the most talented of the three.
Staunton as Umbridge is deliciously evil, Fiennes’ 10 minutes as Voldemort is so brilliant it is impossible to take your eyes off his flattened face, and the new character of Luna ‘Loony’ Lovegood is played to sheer perfection by Evanna Lynch. Director Richard Yates has really grabbed this franchise by the reigns and brought it all together, everything in this film is tighter, truer to the book.

This was by far the best PotterFilm and with Yates signed up to do Half Blood Prince - things, as they say, can only get better.