Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Cute Kid No More

It's crystal-ball-clear that Harry Potter has grown up. The Order of the Phoenix (from here on in TOoftP) is the one that takes the franchise further away from just a children's book with dark undertones and places it comfortably next to other adventure fantasy tales.

In TOoftP, Harry goes through the same Joseph Campbell-esque seduction test that Frodo and Luke Skywalker went through. He's being lulled into the dark side, and it's not difficult considering the circumstance. Chased by Dementors, haunted by nightmares, shunned at school, ignored by Dumbledore, put on trial, almost expelled, humiliated by the press... And that's just at the beginning of the movie. It's enough to make you wanna bust an Expecto Patronum in some mudblood's ass. While not exactly an original character arc, it is an important one in the induction of a hero.

The incentive for these books (and thus the film adaptations) to "grow" along with the hero has always been appreciated. Prisoner of Azkaban was the first to treat the series in a less whimsical tone, and Goblet of Fire introduced the Dark Lord Voldemort as a legitimate, physical threat. What brings TOoftP further into "maturity," if you want to call it that, is the fact that its main plot is actually directly relevant to the big conflict of the saga. No more Quidditch games, no school competitions, no time traveling. There aren't many fluffy demonstrations of magical item this-magical item that like in previous movies (especially the first two), and the ones featured are hardly adorable, such as a magical pen that torturously cuts whatever you write on your flesh - which provides one of the series' most unsettling scenes.

TOoftP deals with one problem and one problem only: Voldemort. Even the big sub-plot involving Hogwarts being taken over is a result of the fear and confusion from You-Know-Who's return. The sense of dread is played right from the very first scene of the movie, continuing from the downer ending of the last film; and even though several examples of the series' familiar sense of humor are still there, a big chunk of the movie tries to maintain harrowing suspense. It gets repetitive at times with Harry's nightmares and constant declaration that Voldemort has returned, but it did effectively build up the eventual showdown. Plus, how can you not enjoy the deliciously wicked Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, playing his best boogeyman in Harry's dreams?

On the flip side, all this focus on Voldemort dooms the film from having a satisfying conclusion (since, y'know, gotta save the Dark Wizard's defeat for at least two more movies). It's always a problem with episodic movies like this, how it never feels fully resolved, but the entirety of TOoftP is like the second act of an action movie. Nothing much progresses. It's essentially an endless training montage (without the montage) and then one big fight. If this was Spider-Man, imagine if right after the first tussle, Green Goblin flies off yelling, "Curse you, Spiderman! We'll meet again!" and the movie wraps up.

Still, good stuff abounds. The climax is something a lot of people waited five movies to see: an all-out magic brawl between the Order of the Phoenix and Voldemort's army. I wondered how a magic spell warzone would look like (I kept thinking of the breakdancing fight between Gandalf and Saruman), but director David Yates found a way to make it exciting by being practical. Spellcastings look like non-contact sword fights, and the spells are basically bullets, prompting some ducking-and-covering behind pillars and stuff. Explosions and scattered debris always help when you want to make something look dangerous.

It's also the most thematically ambitious Harry Potter film to date. Alfonso Cuaron explored themes of puberty, lies and consequence in Azkaban, bridging innocence with adulthood - while this one more cynically explores the seedy things that come with that growth. There's a scathing critique on how theoretical and standardized education systems don't help children prepare for the real world (aka jobs), in the form of new teacher Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton, continuing the list of great British actors to join this franchise). Also, on the subject of media manipulation, we see how much damage the press can do in influencing blame and selling fear. The magic-folks' paper demonizes Dumbledore and Sirius Black for the sake of sensationalism, while burying the truth because the government of the magic world is afraid of losing their power over the people; an allegory that's already too obvious to even explain. Equally clever is how the newspaper headlines act as exposition.

While Azkaban remains the best so far, if Yates lives up to the promise he's shown here, then Half-Blood Prince could be the real winner.

Cross-posted from: http://www.justpressplay.net/