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 24th July, 2008 |
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Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007) DVD Review
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Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007) Synopsis:
In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Harry returns for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts and discovers that much of the wizarding community is in denial about the teenager's recent encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort, preferring to turn a blind eye to the news that Voldemort has returned. Fearing that Hogwarts' venerable Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lying about Voldemort's return in order to undermine his power and take his job, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, appoints a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to keep watch over Dumbledore and the Hogwarts students. But Professor Dolores 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 wizarding community, so at the prompting of his friends Hermione and Ron, Harry takes matters into his own hands. Meeting secretly with a small group of students who name themselves "Dumbledore's Army," Harry teaches them how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts, preparing the courageous young wizards for the extraordinary battle that lies ahead.
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007) DVD Review:
EXPELLIARMUS!
Yeah, that pretty much sums up my feelings on the new Harry Potter movie. For those of you that don’t know what that is, I’ll explain. Expelliarmus is the spell used to disarm another witch or wizard of their wand. And I think it’s safe to say that I found Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to be quite disarming. As a matter of fact, each of the five films in this franchise have gotten progressively better.
One of the things that the franchise has going for it is that Rowling draws from the heroic epic quite liberally. But the series retains a freshness and charm that others often fail to achieve. The depth of her world is fascinating, and is almost Tolkien in its detail. The characters are very archetypal, and that allows these stories to be accessible to both children and adults. That accessibility is very apparent for this fifth installment of the series.
With the death of Cedric Diggory at the end of Goblet of Fire, the stage has been set for a much darker series. Order of the Phoenix picks up on that darker bent, particulary in the color palette. Of late, the Harry Potter films have all had a somewhat muted color palette, but this film is almost drab. But that really seems to work well. It makes things like the undersecretary’s over use of pink such a stark contrast, and definitely marks her as not belonging. Another contrast is in that of the Luna Lovegood character. Like Harry, she is markedly different, and that difference is visually represented in her ice blue eyes and nearly white blonde hair.
Luna is great for several reasons. She offers these cryptically blunt remarks that are often prophetic in nature. She understands that seeing death often changes a person, and in a sense is able to help Harry to understand this as well. And this understanding of self and difference becomes a key aspect to Harry’s arc in Order of the Phoenix. Harry is starting the approach to the inmost cave with this film, which basically means the hero travels to the innermost parts of himself, and in a metaphoric sense, hell itself. At first, Harry tries to push his friends away, hoping to protect them, and himself. He is afraid that by caring about things, he will have more to lose. But in the end Harry discovers that it is precisely that love and friendship that separates him from Voldemort, and allows him to force the dark wizard from his mind.
Rowling and the film makers do a great job creating Harry’s sense of isolation. In order to protect Harry, Dumbledore has shut him out. There is that distinct separation from his friends because Harry has witnessed Cedric Diggory’s death. And the other students are unsure of Harry because of the smear campaign the minister of magic is running against him in the Daily Prophet newspaper. This isolation is magnified by Voldemort, who has infiltrated Harry’s mind and is causing Harry to have nightmares wherein he relives some of his more painful memories.
All in all, Order of the Phoenix is a great movie, and a great addition to the franchise. Definitely worth picking up if you’re a Harry Potter fan.
The cover art is pretty cool if somewhat basic. And it’s definitely better than the cover art for the books.
As for the special features, well, unfortunately all I have is the single disc release which didn’t have anything on it. It’s a great looking transfer with 5.1 surround. Eventually, I’ll probably get the two-disc and I’ll throw up a review of the features. But my advice is: Always get the two disc when you can, but find it on sale.
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007) DVD review written by: Joe Burns
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