Potterhead fix

>> Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
is a dark but solid entry in the series

by MARK SLUTSKY

Folks, our little wizard’s growing up. Watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the latest installment in the series of wildly popular films based on the wildly popular novels of J.K. Rowling, it really strikes you how these kids have turned into full-fledged, gangly teenagers. Considering how, as of the last book/film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the whole saga has taken a decidedly darker turn, the kids’ visible signs of aging seem appropriate.

The movie begins, as always, in the world of the Muggles, where our hero (Daniel Radcliffe) spends his time between terms at Hogwarts. In an opening action scene more Children of Men than Goblet of Fire, Harry’s beset by creepy “Death Eaters”; after defending himself with his powers, he’s censured by magical authorities, and comes to realize that some in high places want to get him out of the way—and are denying the re-emergence of ace baddie Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). Meanwhile, he learns of the titular Order, a secret society formed to combat ol’ Voldy in the old days, and at Hogwarts, bad changes are afoot as a new teacher (Imelda Staunton) shows up to institute a sinister new regime.

The basic structure of the movie is probably comfortingly familiar to Potterheads. Something strange is going down at Hogwarts; Harry and his friends fret about it; the adults are all off doing their own thing and won’t tell the kids what they want to know; everything gets forced to a head and Harry confronts an incarnation of Voldemort. No wonder kids like these books so much—it’s basically adolescence in a nutshell, except for the final confrontation with the evil wizard thing.

I’d found the previous film to be distractingly jumpy and elliptical; it didn’t seem like director Mike Newell felt he had to tell the story coherently, assuming the audience to be intimately familiar with the source (probably correctly). Order of the Phoenix, directed by David Yates, is more solid, more satisfying, and maintains the last few movies’ streak of darkness. The ball is now rolling to whatever big jump-up conclusion Rowling has planned.

Harry Potter and the Order of
the Phoenix is now in theatres

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