Sunday, July 15, 2007

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: A review!

The thing about the Harry Potter movies is that I tend to go in for them with zero expectations. Yes, I look forward to them like crazy and whine till I am actually taken to see them, but when you're a hardcore fan of the books, you know the movie is bound to be something of a disappointment. The lines and scenes are never quite played out just how you had seen them in your head, your favourite parts are invariably cut out, and Michael Gambon is just one huge casting mistake as Albus Dumbledore.

I wasn't particularly impressed with the first two movies; the third, widely declared as the best of the first four, was reasonably good. I went for the fourth one expecting it to be really bad. However, the graveyard scene was done much better than I expected, Ralph Fiennes was just perfect as Voldemort, and my friend and I thoroughly embarassed my brother with our hooting with excitement and clapping loudly. Verdict: I loved the movie.

With Movie 5 releasing on July 13 (yes, I know, July 11 in the RotW, but what can I say? this is India.) and Book 7 releasing on July 21, you can imagine what kind of palpitations I've been having for the last month or so. Then came the news that we're travelling the weekend of the movie release (said travels should really get an entry all to themselves; it's been quite a fascinating trip). Adding insult to injury were loving friends all round to like to gloat when they get to see a movie I'm dying to see long before me. Luckily, Indore's a very cool place with an extremely cool PVR (which I might add, was the only hall in town showing the English version of the movie; everywhere else is showing the dubbed Hindi version).

So anyway, the movie: Extremely cool, edited just right to make the longest book in the series fit into just under 3 hours (a few personal favourite scenes missing notwithstanding), not enough of Michael Gambon shown to make him as annoying as usual, and the Ministry of Magic scene was dealt with pretty darn coolly. Yes, Cho Chang was annoying (but then I never liked her anyway), I don't get why Harry's Patronus wasn't shown to be a stag, they really should have shown more of Lupin and the Weasley twins (aren't they just brilliant? :D), and I was quite surprised they cut the scene with Ginny telling Harry how it feels like to be possessed by Voldemort. But those are minor details.

I thought the acting was quite decent, particularly Dan Radcliffe in the scene where Voldemort possessed him. Emma Watson is beginning to annoy me (Hermione does not pout so much), but the rest of the cast seems just right for their roles. Bellatrix Lestrange was scarily good, although Tonks looked a bit too scary if you ask me. Now Luna Lovegood didn't make much of an impact on me the first time I read Order of the Phoenix; she's one of those characters who really grows on you. But I have to say this: J K Rowling was right, Evanna Lynch is just perfect for the role!

All in all, I loved the movie. When you go in for a movie with zero expectations, the only two ways to go are be proven right or be pleasantly surprised; thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. Now the 21st needs to get here faster. I can't wait much longer!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

ra...one my names not ther..two im not really good with comments, three ur a really good writer!! and i love you...:P..hows that??

R said...

I think it was a good effort. Concising a book that big to a movie would have taken 3 hours so they'd obviously have to delete quite a bit. Fortunately I only read that one once so I don't remember much. Except that it wasn't a favourite. The movie wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. the beginning was very scary... and Umbrdige's detention with the blood. My cousins who'd read the book more than once, especially the oldest, thought the ministry of magic wasn't at all like how it appeared in the book. And I know I was supposed to be scared of Voldemort, but I KNOW it's Ralph Fiennes and he comes along with his nice blue eyes (so what if there's no nose) and his lovely voice (even if it's meant to be evil) and I KN)OW it's him and I like him, so I'm not scared.