Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Review by Sean Lynch

Call me crazy, call me weird, call me a silly Muggle - but until two days before attending the screening of the fifth instalment of the mammoth Harry Potter franchise, I had never seen one frame nor read one paragraph of the story of the child wizard.

I don't know why. 

Perhaps it's because the series never really struck me as "Must See" movies. Or perhaps because I missed the first flick, I just assumed there was no point seeing the rest. 

Whatever the reason, I was out of the loop - and thankfully I finally made the effort to catch up on Potter 1 to 4 before seeing Order of the Phoenix....because I would have been as confused as a straight man at a Chippendales male strip venue.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix follows Harry (the ever ageing Daniel Radcliffe) for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts. It turns out that Harry high-pants has discovered that much of the wizard community has been denied the truth about the teenager's recent encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort (who looks more and more like Michael Jackson in each movie).

Fearing that Hogwarts' headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lying about Voldemort's return in order to take his job, The Minister for Magic appoints a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to keep watch over Dumbledore and Hogwarts students.

However, Professor Delores Umbridge's "Ministry-approved" course of defensive magic leaves the young wizards woefully unprepared to defend themselves against the dark forces threatening them and the entire wizard community. So, at the prompting of his friends Hermione and Ron, Harry takes matters into his own hands.

Arguably the most detail intensive of the book series (and the longest), the latest film is surprisingly short in running time in comparison to it's predecessors. However, much like the other films, every minute of Order is thouroughly captivating - and there is rarely a moment you regret being part of the adventure (as opposed to The Lord of the Rings, which for mine, really started to drag on by hour 54). 

The real strengh is that it isn't simply Harry Potter 5: Mission To Miami. It's just part of the ongoing story arc - which is why, in my opinion, the series continues to hold up so well.

While the die hard book fans will be screaming from the highest hills that the latest Harry Potter flick doesn't follow the book word for word (and let's face it - most of those people are 45 year old virgins who live with their mothers, so their opinion mean little), I simply couldn't ignore the sheer joy that was showing on the faces of literally everyone in the cinema during the screening. They were beaming!

And while many will love the distraction of the magic and wizardry, for mine the real strengths of Order (and the rest of the series) are the human aspects and the underying - if not completley unsubtle - themes and social commentary running through it.

The past stories have addressed intolerance etc, however Order lays on the life lessons and political commentry rather thick. And it works a treat. 

From a distraught Harry confused about what he's going through (is he simply growing up, or distraught from being tormented by a noseless murderer) claiming he's "Just so angry all the time", to his trusted new God Father Sirius Black explaining "No matter how badly you've been treated in the past, it doesn't make you a bad person". It's such a sincere way of getting through to it's young readers without ever speaking down to them, giving them the advice and support they might not recieve at home. It's perfectly executed.

And there's stuff in there for the adults to think about too, with the "Ministry" storyline a thinly veiled stab at our current political climate.

But it's not all "Thinking stuff". There are some fantastically funny and touching moments. There's the infamous 'First Potter Pash', to the discussing of said pash, as well as a fantastic final battle which displays glimpses of the classic Darth Vader Vs. Obi Wan duel in Star Wars.

All in all, despite it's constant intensity and overall bleakness, Order of the Phoenix is yet another superb edition to the franchise which will delight parents and kids alike, casting a spell over it's audience.

From the stunning visuals, to the unique Wizard of Oz magestic qualities, to the fantastically layered analogies, subplots and underlying themes - there is very little not to like about the world J.K Rowling has created.

I'm just upset it took me so long to enter it!

4 out of 5

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Australian release: 11th July, 2007
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes
Director: David Yates
Website: Click here.