A movie review by:
Andrew Vigeant
"You will lose everyting"...Well apparently Voldermort lies!! At least for the time being... Yes, it's the long awaited Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at long last!! After a long, lonely summer on Privet Drive, Harry returns to a Hogwarts. Few students and parents believe him or Dumbledore that Voldemort is really back. The ministry has decided to step in by appointing a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that proves to be one hell of a bitch. Harry has insightful yet horrible dreams he can't explain, and a mystery item thatVoldemort is searching for. And to think with all these things going on he still has time to try and get with that ho Cho Chang.
Saturday afternoon. The theater wasn't crowded, so I was a bit worried. I had hoped for a near packed seating. All the hype in the infamous webstite imdb.com was that this movie blew chunks. Obviously it didn't and as usual people on imdb.com don't know quality movies. In short, they probably went to see Hostel 2 instead of Harry Potter.. I don't know why they'd rather see Eli Roth's 90 minutes in hell (thank you Stefan) instead of a great film. Anyways, I was supposed to go with four people to see this movie, but it just ended up to be jsut me and my buddy Stefan. It was probably better that way because well the other two were girls and girls are gay. Just joking. Kind of. Rawr.
Out of all the Harry Potter movies that were made so far this one had, by far, the best acting to date. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), displays his true abilities with his best performance of the series. It was actually quite shocking to my friend and myself that he was able to show as much emotion as he did in this film. I'm looking forward, even more so now, to the 6th movie of the series because of his stellar acting in this one. Emma Watson (Hermione) once again delivers a level performance. She hasn't been getting progressively better as the movies have gone on, but she still always delivers the same quality performance everytime which im glad to see. Maybe she is saving her best for the last of the series? Who knows? Time will tell. And YES YES she IS cute! Rupert Grint (Ronald Weasley) continues and continues to give us a good performance. That isn't even to mention he has the perfect look to the part while playing it so well. With the acting, this time around, for the trio I believe it is at it's best. The chemistry between them seems to have grown by many lengths from Goblet of Fire to Order of the Phoenix, and I'm impressed. Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore) and Ralph Fiennes(Lord Voldermort) are both impressive with Gambon's emotion, while Fiennes doesn't over deliver his lines as he has in the past. *Spoiler* Most impressive, though, is the fight scene near the end between the two because it puts the Gandalf and Saruman(from Lord of the Rings Two Towers) fight to shame. Jason Isaacs(Lucius Malfoy) and Tom Felton(Draco Malfoy) are still both irritating (in a good way) to the point where they act, sound, and look how you always pictured them while reading the book. Speaking of irritating Imelda Staunton(Dolores Umbridge) does another GREAT job in this movie, and is award deserving again. What I like the most is that David Yates(director) replaces the hatred you feel for her in the book and puts it back on the screen in the same way if not more so. Maggie Smith (Minerva McGonagall) does another good job as her character. She still gives off the impression of McGonagall in the book on screen. The teacher that whenever you do something wrong she's always their and you're like oh shit....then she still lets you off the hook most times. Gary Oldman(Sirius Black) won't be returning for the remaining movies, but I'm glad we got the preformances we've got out of him. He is a good actor, and deserves to retire from acting after a great career. Helena Bonham Carter( Bellatrix Lestrange) not only gives me that feeling of wow she's a psychopathe like I did everyday in my high school while seeing the girls their, but she shows us she still can act. A lot of people I conversate with(is that even a word?) say that she is on the downfall of her career, but I just dont see it. Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) still gives us that old creepy/eerie/hateful feeling on screen that we also got from him in the book, so we know he's doing his job still. Matthew Lewis(Neville Longbottom) and Evanna Lynch(Luna Lovegood) both perhaps the weirdest/oddest of the group add a certain normalcy to the film because their are always weird yet great people in a group of friends. Bonnie Wright(Ginny Weasley) does a good job although she doesn't have many lines for some reason, but then again Ginny is shy in the book, so maybe that's what Yates was going for. But I'd personally like to see her get more lines in the next film instead of just standing their looking pretty and showing off her power*spoiler* like when she blasts a death eater and then all the rows of prophecy's come tumbling down. Finally, I saved the best for last, Natalia Tena(Nymphadora Tonks) not only brings a certain "fun" to the film while she is on screen along with a good acting performance, but most importantly is incredibly cute. She's my personal favorite in the book and the films by far, and closely resembles what I'd always thought she'd look like save for the purple hair instead of pink as in the book.
This movie's greatest elements would have to be the main message it portrays. Friendship and love are two of the most important things in life NO MATTER what else is happening around you. It is sensed so strong throughout the film, and quite possibly could bring a few wet eyes to the audience especially in the end. Their are many good/great scenes in this movie like: *spoiler* The Voldermort/Dumbledore fight, The death eaters surrounding Harry and his friends in the Department of Mysteries, when Voldermort tries to posses Harry,Snape's flashback, etc... The acting in this movie along with the amazing special effects and editing are really what brings this movie from average to great though.
The drawbacks in this movie really aren't too apparent because their are only two. The main one being that this movie lacks an overall standout emotional/memorable scene. Yates seems to try to do this with many different scenes(some stated above), but doesn't deliver in this aspect which causes this movies rating to drop a near whole star. The second(yet not nearly as important) drawback would have to be the particular scenes that cut off the film from the book. Like I said the first drawback causes the movie to drop from a perfect 4 stars to a 3 1/4 rating then combine it with the second drawback to make it an even 3 stars. This film is definitely recommended. Also I definitely suggest purchasing this movie along with the rest of the series, and the 7th book which comes out really soon!!
2 comments:
WTF! No, the Dumbledore/Voldemort doesn't put the Gandalf/Saruman fight to shame are you kidding me?????
Other than that great review. You are officially a better writer than me. I love your humorous insights coupled with your great use of vocabulary that actually fits the review. I like that you concentrated on the acting - it is an important aspect of the film , in fact I think its the most important one - this was an actor's movie not a special effects movie.
Keep writing man and I like that you included me in your review :-)
so i guess reading this i thought about how the actors are actually really good at being the characters they are in the book. and its pretty awesome cuz u feel like they read all of the books themselves and are the character. but to be honest, i really didnt like the movie. they are all good at acting, but they still put the books to shame.
and one request in the review for the 6th movie- could u stress how rupert grant is cute too?? lmao! awesome review. i wish i had read it earlier =]
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