urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:jag_bjg As we dance with the devil tonight.. jag_bjg 2007-08-01T16:08:12Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:jag_bjg:87927 2007-08-01T10:37:46Z 2007-08-01T16:08:12Z Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix<br /><br />OK, so I saw it at IMAX a week ago and today finally sat down to write down some thoughts on the movie and book. The book rant was turning into a mammoth writing exercise, and sadly in my marked out state, it wasn’t making much sense.<br /><br />So I present you with this, which probably makes even less sense, really. Total stream of consciousness thoughts, but hey, I needed something in writing. I feel weird posting this, because I like my reviews or thoughts to be well written for the most part, and this really isn’t. But I want my thoughts posted, so I guess I’ll just wait for the DVD before giving coherent thoughts.<br /><br /><a name="cutid1"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix</b><br /><br />Well, what can I say? It was always the lower quality book (purely because of length, shave off about 350 pages and it’d be win), but it also had the most potential for a movie, because they’re quite talented at cutting out the crap.<br /><br />And it did so, to a fair degree. Now, I’m a massive, massive fan of Harry Potter, so I’m not going to pretend for a second that I did anything but love this movie. But thinking about it afterwards, holy shit would it have been hard to follow for the casual movie fan with no knowledge of the books.<br /><br />Of course, they’re staying fairly true, and indeed making these movies to appeal to fans, not general public, so it’s all good, but anybody with no advance knowledge must’ve had a damn hard time following it. Specifically, the Prophecy. <br /><br />How would Average Movie Fan know what it was about? How would they know its importance and meaning? The Prophecy isn’t even heard in its entirety! It’s basically boiled down from a minute long prediction to “Neither can live while the other survives”. Sure, that’s the essence of it, but shit, it’s a fairly important piece of information, and they cut out the whole body of it, and the back story of how Voldemort found out about it, what it meant, why he wanted it now, everything.<br /><br />Average Movie Fan is given the impression that Voldemort had never heard it. Which of course leaves Average Movie Fan still wondering why Voldemort tried to kill Harry as a child! They don’t bother to explain that Voldemort HAD heard the Prophecy before, but only half of it, and he wanted it now because he believed the second half may contain information on how to end Harry Potter.<br /><br />Average Movie Fan is probably also still wondering who sent the Dementors, but I guess assumptions are enough in that case.<br /><br />As a fan I have a single major gripe. Room of Requirement. Ah, hello guys, I’m Room of Requirement, big part player in Half Blood Prince, which in turn makes me a MAJOR player of importance in Deathly Hallows. Care to explain why I was BLOWN THE FUCK UP? Care to give some reasons for why my hidden door got smashed in? <br /><br />See, Harry spends forever in Half Blood Prince trying to get in that room, but it’s impenetrable for various reasons at the time. Of course, if the movie is anything to go by, he could have just blown up the door and strolled right in. Director of Half Blood Prince has a nice job ahead of them making the room true to book form.<br /><br />But that’s enough whining, because fact is, I loved it. Likes and Dislikes list coming up, with various reasons underneath…<br /><br /><b>LIKES</b><br /><br />- Continuity. <br /><br />Room of Requirement killing aside, David Yates clearly reads the books and likes them, because there’s nice, subtle foreshadowing in this one. Hermione mentions Cho eyeing off Harry, and there’s Ginny in the background scowling. Harry is waiting for everyone to leave him alone in the Room of Requirement with Cho, Ginny walks past to the background looking saddened about it. Not made obvious, but nice little bits there for fans to pick up. There’s a couple more I think in that category.<br /><br /><br />- Umbridge.<br /><br />Bitch. Great at it, too.<br /><br /><br />- Filch gets screen time.<br /><br />He was always the pathetic, castle loving guy who gets laughed at. I enjoyed finally getting to laugh at him.<br /><br /><br />- Fred and George.<br /><br />Success in the comedy department again.<br /><br /><br />- “Cos You-Know-Who’s back ya tosspot”<br /><br />Laughed almost as hard as at Borat.<br /><br /><br />- “But you can’t deny… Dumbledore’s got STYLE”<br /><br />Kingsley is so awesome.<br /><br /><br />- Grimmauld Place<br /><br />The outside? Not quite what I’d always envisioned. The inside? Spot on. Dirty, grimy, clearly owned for years by people into Dark Arts and with a sick affinity for darkness. Kreacher gets shunted and moved too slow, but he was ugly, so they got that right.<br /><br /><br />- Alan Rickman<br /><br />I don’t care what anyone says, he gets extra screen time finally, and owns with it. From his great big “Meh” at Harry’s warning about Sirius, to general child beating of Ron. Snape’s just a character with so much <i>character</i>, and Alan Rickman’s and actor so good at <i>acting</i>, that it’s just the most perfect of all casting jobs.<br /><br /><br />- Luna Lovegood.<br /><br />No need for me to say any more, really. Perfection, and glorious whenever she’s on screen.<br /><br /><br />- The Ministry of Magic<br /><br />Beautiful to look at, yet so eerily depressing and political. They truly nailed this one, just as with Grimmauld Place. The scope of the place is just enormous, it has a feeling of immense space and openness, yet at the same time, feels enclosed and empty. A fantastic job by the set designers once again.<br /><br /><br />- The Hall of Prophecy<br /><br />Repeat what I said above. What HAPPENS in there is just as awesome. Bellatrix Lestrange really was brought to life by Helena Bonham Carter, and she just knows how to play the sick, twisted bitch to perfection. Lucius Malfoy of course is perfect whenever he’s on screen. His tone of voice just gives his words so much more meaning, and his gestures give an imposing impression that defines his character. <br /><br /><br />- The Death Chamber<br /><br />They didn’t quite get the point of the room’s space and setup, but the Veil was extremely cool. Looked nothing like what I imagined, but it was creepy yet inviting, and I think it fit the scene well. The Order taking down the Death Eaters was fantastic from a visual standpoint. The special effects were insanely good, and it’s a great final payoff to the mass wizard duel everyone’s been on the edge of their seat for. The black/white streaks of smoke for when someone was apparating/disapparating/moving by disapparition were very nicely done.<br /><br /><br />- Death of Sirius<br /><br />Better than I could ever have hoped for. So sad and brutal in execution. He accidentally calls Harry “James”, and they look at each other as if they’re the best friends now. They’re ecstatic, they’ve vanquished some bad guys… and then the crazy bitch pops up and OWNS him, right in the middle of their moment of happiness. The silence that followed was used to great effect. It gave a sense of true loss, something I thought it may not achieve.<br /><br /><br />- Dumbledore vs. Voldemort<br /><br />Ownage. Sophisticated, visually stunning, breath taking to watch, and an amazing portrayal of a battle between two equally talented wizards. This one lived up to the hype without a doubt, and really captures the nature of both characters, and emphasizes the mixture of hatred/fear/understanding they have for each other. Voldemort enveloping Dumbledore’s spell for moment before blasting it out as a scream to shatter all the glass in the Ministry is possibly my favourite part of the movie. Totally awe-inspiring.<br /><br /><br />- Possession of Harry<br /><br />Moves away from how it’s described in the book a little, but very, very well done. Voldemort inside the prism of sand and dust taunting Harry with “You will lose everything” is truly a great character moment for Voldemort, and the look on his face when he’s seen is great. Ralph Fiennes delivers big time again.<br /><br /><br />- The Prophecy/Veil/Ministry battles in 3D<br /><br />Visually stunning. Malfoy certainly cuts an imposing figure when appearing out of thin air in a whisp of black smoke, but the bit that looked best to me was the shot of Dumbledore conjuring and directing his spell with the blue light in his hand. The glass falling in the Hall of Prophecy AND Ministry foyer were scarily lifelike. Simply put, a fucking wicked experience, and something I hope they do again for the next movie.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>DISLIKES</b><br /><br />- Not enough Dobby. Again.<br /><br />- Lupin is left to be “that guy looking over Sirius’s shoulder” for the whole movie.<br /><br />- The Department of Mysteries, while awesome, was only two of the many rooms.<br /><br />- No mirror from Sirius, no locket in the drawing room. Just like the Room of Requirement door I guess.<br /><br /><br />While not the best movie of the series so far, definitely a whole lot of fun and finds a nice grounding between light-heart and darkly depressing. The 3D version is what so many other movies claim to be: A powerful cinematic experience.