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Directed by: David Yates Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Gint, Emma Watson I was fortunate enough to see a midnight premiere with my wife and boy was it worth it. In typical movie fashion, a movie adaptation is not typically 100% true to the book it is based on, but this is definitely one of the better out there. The cuts that were made were understandable and did little to detract from the story. The movie paced really well and there was never a moment that I regretted watching it, despite it being midnight. Overall, the movie is excellent. Casting decisions were very good. The character portraying Dolores Umbridge, whom I had serious misgivings about from promotional stills, performed beautifully as the pink-loving autocrat. Luna Lovegood was adorably off-center and Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange was awesomely crazy. Visually, the movie is a vast improvement over the previous films in the series. The Dementors receive a face-lift (or face-off rather) which I thought was very well done. The magical battles were beautifully done, in contrast with another of this summer's blockbusters, which had shaky-cam syndrome. Rating: 5/5 Pros: Visually stunning, excellent adaptation Cons: I hate Hermione. Ron needs more lines. Additional Information: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0946734/
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Jul 11, 2007 08:08
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To be honest, I was extremely disappointed in this film. I've been a fan of the books for the past 6 years and eagerly awaited this movie, just as I do the final book. To sum it up, it's like they hired a screenwriter who was so out of his league that he just cut and pasted random parts of the story, changed a few key elements to make it "his own" and then turned it in 2 hours before the deadline. And either director hasn't ever read the book, or he was so pressed for time he was stuck using this hack's screenplay. Or maybe they were so worried that Dan Radcliffe would look even more like a 20 year old instead of the 15 he is supposed to be in the book. Who knows - either way, it was a train wreck. A few of my problems with the movie: 1. Cho Chang gives up the DA to Umbridge and no one ever talks to her again? I get that they threw the little bit about Veritaserum in at the end, but really - how hard is it to just make it a random extra that gave them up, like in the book 2. Neville - probably has become one of my favorite characters after the fourth book. They did such a poor job of expressing that in this movie, deciding instead for a "RECAP" scene with him and Harry in front of a mirror. 3. The flow of the movie. I'm reminded of Eddie Izzard's joke about British films being so calm and understated in comparison to American ones. "What is it Sebastian? I'm arranging matches." The film never highlighted high or low points in the film with a proper musical score, change in energy of the cast, or pace of the movie. It ran at a flatline the entire time, with a small blip at the end. 4. 80% of the Department of Mysteries was not in the movie. 5. Michael Gambon may be the single worst casting decision in movie history. Now, I realize that David Yates inherited him and that Richard Harris made the bad decision of dying in the middle of a movie series, but seriously...when Dumbledore says "I care for you too much, Harry" at the end, I couldn't even begin to believe a word of it. 6. Occlumency was seemingly ham-fisted into the movie because some poor person who actually read the book managed to get a word in at a script meeting. It was barely explained and poorly implemented. I can't imagine that people who haven't read the book had a clue why it was in there and what importance it could possibly have. 7. Why have the rest of the DA make the Inquisitorial Squad eat Puking Pastiles instead of having them jynx the hell out of them? It makes no sense. 8. They hosed UP Fred and George's exit. Big time. Now, a few positives: 1. The girl that played Luna was pretty good. As was Umbridge. 2. The special effects were well done, especially the black and white "smoke fighting" of the Order and the Death Eaters. 3. Dan Radcliffe may actually become an actor one day. Now, I do understand that the book is ridiculously long and isn't the best in the series, and I really liked the third and fourth movies, which were hardly verbatim, but at least were written by someone with an eye for understanding the important parts of the storyline and how to implement them. There should have been a disclaimer - "Based loosely on characters created by JK Rowling." Rating:1/5 Pros:Nice graphics, some good casting decisions, acting overall is better than previous movies. Cons:Worst book adaptation I've seen. See above...oh, and They hosed UP Fred and George's exit.
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Jul 11, 2007 08:27
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I got the chance to see this at the midnight premiere and I have to say it was well worth it. The 5th book was probably the hardest to read with it's heavy angst from Harry and the completely unlikable Umbridge. However, the movie ended up being one of my favorites. Given the running time, the bits of the book that were added were very well chosen, and the parts that ended up on the cutting room floor were acceptable. The things that surprised me the most were the portrayal of Luna Lovegood, which ended up being one of my favorite performances of the movie. She was lovably airheaded and matter-of-fact, which translated from the book spot-on. Helena Bohnam Carter was also a surprise to me, playing the completely insane with Bellatric Lestrange Umbridge was done exactly right as well, meaning I hated the hell out of her. Snape, while underused, was again brilliantly acted and portrayed by Alan Rickman. Speaking of underusage, I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of Hermione and Ron, as well as Cho and Neville. However, given the breadth of material that the director had to cover, I'm ok with the lack of screen time of these characters. I was actually quite happy at the almost complete lack of Draco Malfoy, whom I loathe both as a character and the actor who plays him. There were also parts of the movie that were poorly placed. In serious moments, there would be unintentionally funny dialouge, or poorly placed shots of other unintentionally funny things. You'll see them when they show up on screen, trust me. Rating: 4.5/5 Pros: Well paced, surprisingly good acting, got the good elements of the novel to the screen. Cons: Lack of character development in secondary characters, unintentionally funny sections. --- One last thing: Did anyone thing that Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) was pretty drat cute?
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Jul 11, 2007 08:55
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Dull. Dull dull dull dull dull. I'm a fan of the Harry Potter series, I honestly am, but this movie was just boring. The source material was a 1000+ page book, and it really showed in this movie. It scurried around frantically, jumping from plot point to plot point but never slowing down to actually elaborate on any single one. Information is either thrown at you in what is obviously the scriptwriters thinking 'loving Christ, that bitch Rowling wrote so many drat words. Let's just pile everything in willy-nilly and gently caress off to the pub for a pint' or assumed to be pre-known. While for most of the audience this may indeed be the case, people who've not read the books will ask 'how the gently caress did that guy know that/get there?' Unfortunately, the fast non-stop in-your-face extravaganza of plot points doesn't stimulate or tittilate as one expects non-stop in-your-face extravaganzas to do. In fact, it merely dulls and deadens, the rocky crests of excitement and the yawning crevasses of sadness evened out by the Harry Potter steamroller. If you've read the books you'll feel underwhelmed at the crests and bored at the crevasses, and if you haven't, well you won't miss what you never had. Think of this movie as the cinematic equivalent of 6-pack of beer - although at more than $15 a ticket, it's a drat sight more expensive. Another issue I had with this movie was the acting. There wasn't any. I mean, my expectations for the young actors has been rather low since Dan Radcliffe had a bowl cut and some glasses plastered on and instructed to read off the teleprompter, but good lord considering he makes a million+ a movie it would be nice if he could buy some lessons. The other two main actors aren't that flash hot either. Watson's only style of delivery is 'bossy boots reading off script' while Grint manages to have less inflection than a door. The actress who plays Luna Lovegood does a decent job, and quite a few of the laughs in my cinema were from people reacting to her lines. The adult actors are good, with Britain's best hamming it up for far too short a screen time. There's also some fat-fisted attempts in this movie to hint towards future relationships between characters (or as one delightful wit shouted out [LOVE INTEREST'S] A JEALOUS BITCH'), but as with all other aspects of this film it falls flat. Rating 2/5 Pros: A 3 hour read turned into a 2 hour movie thanks to judicious editing Cons: More emotional impact could have been mustered up by a 2 hour documentary about carburettors edit: One more thing - the end fight reminded me of star wars only with longer curving lightsabres. puchu fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Jul 11, 2007 |
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Jul 11, 2007 09:08
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This is a movie that will displease that portion of fandom who can go to a 2.5 hour movie that comes from an 870 page book (not quite 1,000+ but your point is made) and be disappointed that their favorite parts are changed or left out. It's completely understandable that you will have things you are looking forward to seeing in a movie, but if you can't push beyond that the rest of the Potter series are going to leave you feeling as "meh" as this one did. I'm a gigantic Harry Potter fan myself, and I went with two other fans and someone who could care less. Overall, the film was done well. There were some bits that were hit and miss for me but at the end I enjoyed it more than I had done with my first viewing of Goblet of Fire. I expect this movie will grow on me in repeat viewings as much or more than Goblet did. I was actually impressed with the confidence most of the younger actors displayed. The massive pool of older talents is still going underused, but when they are utilized it's generally very good. Gambon's portrayal of Dumbledore is still too stormy and hard-edged for my likes, if he could find a medium between that and Harris' original too softspoken choice I think he would be just right. Rickman is still my favorite choice as professor and regrettably he still doesn't get much action. The score is lacking for my ears. There's nothing noteworthy about it, nothing memorable. It's up, it's down, it's hard, it's soft, but there's nothing more to it than something going on in the background. It's forgettable when compared to the likes of Goblet's sweeping and romantic or Azkaban's frantic and playful scores. Overall, I enjoyed it. My girlfriend now claims it as her favorite yet. My buddy thought it was good but had some problems with choices they made for example Bellatrix shooting the A.K. at Sirius in fitting all the important stuff in. His girlfriend who has never read a Harry Potter book or been a particular fan of the movies said that she liked it, she didn't fall asleep once and it didn't leave her with any particular questions of anything unexplained. Rating 4.5/5 Pros: Growth from the trio, less eyebrow acting from Watson. Cons: Forgettable score, some goofy dialogue decisions.
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Jul 11, 2007 09:39
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The best of the HP films so far, it both contributes greatly to the overall story, and has a very enjoyable stand-alone adventure. It's funny, with a few good bits of action. You can't ask for much more. 4/5
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Jul 11, 2007 10:39
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Not enough Tonks is my main gripe. She's my favourite character in the book, and has maybe 3 lines in the movie. Visually it was pretty drat good, but some of the acting was very corny, and not just with the child actors. I only just realised it now, but Malfoy didn't seem to be in it that much either. Still, much better than the last 4. 4/5.
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Jul 11, 2007 13:18
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I'm fairly torn on the movie. On the one hand, I thought it was stylistically fantastic. The introductory scenes in particular reminded me a lot of "City of Lost Children," as if the movie was gleefully embracing the warped alternate universe that it took place in. However as the movie went on, it became painfully clear that the book series is translating less well to film with each installment. The last hour and a half of the movie is hardcore plot development all the way, and it was truly painful to lose out on Rickman, Oldman, Bonham Carter, etc. in order to crunch all the necessary information into one movie. Also, events that were very impactful in the book (such as Harry's discovery that his father was a dick to Snape) aren't nearly as moving in the film. Overall it wasn't a bad or unentertaining film, and did some interesting work for the aesthetic aspects of the series. However, it probably could have stood to be broken up into two films, or at least simplified a little bit more so as to allow for some actual, you know, character development or details. (This isn't to say that those didn't exist - there are some awesome little things that sneak in here or there - but overall the movie would have benefited from a lot more). 3/5
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Jul 11, 2007 16:01
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I loved this movie. I had been really doubting this installment since I read the book, just wondering how they would fit all of that information into a 2 and a half hour movie. The reviews I was hearing weren't great either. But this movie moves right in as a wonderful addition to the Potter series. This movie holds true to the book and does, in my opinion, the best job possible in relating all of its events. It also has a couple of really good wand fighting scenes in it. The cast is amazing and for having read the book, I loved the introduction of the new characters and the progress made on the already existing cast. My complaints are minor and just involve plot detail in relation to the book. But I will say that if you are expecting the most action packed of the series or in depth introductions into new plots, you've come to the wrong place. As it has been stated before, this movie is a necessary installment to transition into the remaining movies and for avid Potter fans, I'm sure you will love it just as much as the other movies, but those just looking for the excitement of the first 4, I'd recommend waiting. 4/5
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Jul 11, 2007 16:10
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Half the goddamn movie was spinning newspapers and flashbacks with a camera going crazy. One of the most key scenes in the series, showing how much of a prick James and Sirius were to Snape, is down to about 30 seconds in length, 30 seconds of the screen going wild. Even simple things like Umbridge interrogating the teachers had to have a camera soaring all over the room like an epileptic bird. 1/5
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Jul 11, 2007 22:46
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I loved it, but then again I like pretty much everything Harry Potter. It's just a great movie overall, I'd recommend seeing it if you any interest in the HP universe. It does become obvious though that it's just loving hard to translate a 900 page book into a 2.5 hour movie, and if you've read the book, you will be able to tell. Some things could have been more developed, but again, I actually thought the movie may have been a wee bit too long so what can you do? It's still pretty drat good. 4.5 / 5 Pros: it's loving harry potter, awesome scenery, great special effects, and just a ton of interesting things to keep you entertained Cons: not enough Ron and Malfoy for sure - definitely lacking in terms of the interaction between just the kids IMO. And like others said, it's hard to translate a huge book into a movie. That said, see this movie. The shortcomings in no way weigh this movie down compared to all of the awesome stuff in it. I thought the style of the movie was spot-on.
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Jul 11, 2007 23:50
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1/5 - I agree that visually the movie is awesome (though not on a par with Prisoner of Azkaban, in my view), but that's the only goog thing about it. Not only did the movie fail to convey the emotional depth of many key scenes, but they flat out made things up that were not in the book. Improvising like that either works just barely (if done artfully) or is a disaster. This was a disaster. Examples: when Umbrage is carried off by the centaurs, the whole scene is such a hurried muddle that one cannot really feel a sense of triumph after all of her bullshit. It's about as rewarding as watching a tweaker get dragged out of his El Camino on COPS. Similarly, the much-hyped wizarding duel in the room of the veil is more like a ten second whirlwind of cgi, and why in the sweet blood of jebus does Sirius PUNCH Lucius? They don't even fight each other in the book, but in the film it seemed as if GAry Oldman was going to stare right into the camers and say, "Yippee-ki-yay, mugglefucker!" At least book 7 is almost here.
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Jul 12, 2007 01:42
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2/5. I was really disappointed with this movie. Although some of the stuff was really cool to see how they implemented it I liked the first scene, it just got me really excited, but boy was I let down. I've only read the book once, but I remember a good deal of what happened. At various times during the film I wondered why they didn't include 60 percent of what happened in the book. I mean granted a lot of poo poo happened in the book, but the entire movie just seemed really rushed. They didn't develop the characters at all or show anything that wasn't absolutely vital to the plot. The whole thing seemed really scattered. Instead of things progressing like, well, a movie should, it just went from one key aspect of the plot to another, with absolutely nothing linking the disparate scenes. It was like watching a very incomplete Cliff's Notes version of the book. I can't imagine why anyone who hasn't read the book would enjoy it at all, because they don't explain or place emphasis on so many important details. All in all, it's not something to walk out on and certainly see it if you enjoy the series in general, just don't expect the movie to live up to any high expectations. And maybe Harry is too old to play Quidditch anymore because it's not in the film at all (unless I was peeing when they snuck in a 10 second plot driven Quidditch comment, which seemed to happen a lot with everything else). StabMastaArson fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Jul 12, 2007 |
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Jul 12, 2007 02:37
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If you aren't some Harry Potter nerd and/or haven't yet read the books, the movie is awesome. It progresses with the rest of the movies nicely and since you haven't read the book, you won't get all pissy about the poo poo they left out. Didn't ruin anything. Though having said that, I wonder why the longest book has been the shortest movie. 5/5 - Because we all know the book is always better than the movie, but when you don't read the books...
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Jul 12, 2007 07:09
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Not a Review
Somebody fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Jul 13, 2007 |
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Jul 12, 2007 07:19
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I watched the previous four movies over the last couple days and, while I may be biased by the freshness of a new movie, I still think it is my favorite so far. It was paced quickly but it didn't feel nearly as rushed as the fourth movie. I think this book translates into movie form a lot better than the last. A lot of the scenes are reimagined rather than recreated but I think most are done justice. Contrary to what I've heard elsewhere, I enjoyed both the twins' exit and the Ministry fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort. The only let down was the centaurs and Umbridge. I remembered that being more violent in the book. Speaking of violence, it's all there. I have high hopes for all the blood and gore that the next movie should provide now that OotP has shown that they're not afraid of it. It's obviously not a horror flick but I got the same gleeful feeling watching the movie as I did when I first read the book. It's the sort of thing you don't expect from a Harry Potter story. 4.5/5
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Jul 12, 2007 08:40
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This movie was horribly directed and edited. Just horrible. I just wanted to walk out after the first half hour or so, but then it became a little more bearable. Still, I didn't like it. It was completely formulaic and predictable. I haven't read any of the books and didn't know anything about the story, but I had it figured out halfway through. I definitely felt like a movie for kids, more so than the other ones I've seen. I also think it was a pretty good example of how NOT to adapt a book. Everything was just really disjointed, the pacing was bad, and many of the characters were completely useless and should have just been left out. About the characters: Am I alone in thinking that they're just really boring? I'm going to get poo poo for this I know, but there was little development, and nothing made me want to care or know more about them. Honestly, the only exceptions I can think of are Snape and Luna. Possibly Neville. They were kinda intriguing. I'm no HP hater either. I loved the Cuaron movie and liked the others I've seen. But this just wasn't good. 2/5
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Jul 12, 2007 23:55
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Potzblitz! posted:
Disjointed: Yes, that's the word for it, it did have that feel. As for the characters, Hermione and Ron seemed like big zeroes in this film. I really felt like nothing happened with their characters, and Hermione in particular just seemed flat, inert. Snape, and maybe Black, is about the only character that is intriguing to me. Disclosure: I haven't read the books. I am disappointed to learn from this thread that Snape's big scene with Harry in the film, which is one of the things I really liked, was actually much better and more involved in the book.
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Jul 13, 2007 01:21
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I enjoyed the movie overall, but boy was it paced terribly. Sure, lots of stuff happened, but the movie never made it seem like anything was any more important than whatever happened before it. The visuals were great, and Radcliffe's acting has improved immensely. Helena Bonham Carter was fantastic as Lestrange, and the whole film could have used a lot more of Neville. And for gods sake I never want to see another newspaper, spinning newspaper, any kind of newspaper anything being used to reveal part of the story ever again. 3/5 Pros: Satisfying battle scene at the end, some good performances from actors you both expect and don't. Cons: The entire movie drags on like you wouldn't believe
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Jul 13, 2007 03:34
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This movie very much surprised me. It took the book that I personally felt was the weakest of the series, and made its largest failings into its greatest strengths. I hated Harry's whiny, angsty, overdone self-centeredness in the book, almost as much as I hated Umbridge. Being as this was a large portion of the book, I had a hard time pushing through it. However, the dark tone of the movie along with Radcliff's much improved acting allowed the movie to capture what the book could not. In the movie Umbridge also served as an excellent machine to allow everyone to rage against, and while she was easy to hate it didn't detract from my enjoyment of it. Rather, she gave the whole middle of the movie the feeling of pressure building that explodes wonderfully towards the end. I thought the showdown was one of the best realizations of wizard dueling I've ever seen. Fast paced yet capable of being followed, the scene really felt like a proper climax. The spells seemed like they had some force behind them, and the CG was seamless. This movie gives me hope for the last two - I think HP is going to go out with an ever-improving bang. Also Luna stole the show. Pros: Excellent pacing, much better acting, the most complete package yet. Cons: Some of the best characters don't get the screentime they deserve. It was also somewhat short. 4.5/5
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Jul 13, 2007 04:04
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My major gripes with this movie: Everybody except Umbridge (Staunton) and the big three (i.e. Grint, Radcliffe and Watson) basically has a cameo role. Rickman and his fantastically snarling Snape is severely underused, but he does what he can with a "if you're not giving me any more lines, I'm gonna be ANGRY about it the entire movie" attitude. They follow what is basically the main plot line of the book, leaving out stuff left and right. The inclusion of the Potter/Chang romance was heavy-handed and unneccessary; I abridged that script for you: CHANG: I like y-- POTTER: Say no more, let's snog (moments pass) POTTER: I hate you go away The reason for this hatred is explained though and it differs from the book. Big time. At the very beginning, when the advance guard comes to pick up Harry - which is not a spoiler, because that's in the trailer - they have to do so in utmost secrecy, as Moody is even worried that people might get killed on the way. They proceed to do so in the only logical way: taking a detour across London's most popular sights, even mooning a cruise ship on the loving Thames on the way. Potter has just been slapped with an underage wizarding ticket! He shouldn't be showing off his flight skills to muggles! He also is to be heard in front of the ministry - a plot subpoint which does not, in any way, advance the plot. It does establish that nobody believes Dumbledore and Potter, which is hammered in by various new-age versions of the good old spinning newspaper later on anyway. Oh, Dumbledore. I second Michael Gambon as a terrible choice. He plays Dumbledore as an irate, visibly aging magician whose only fleeting moments of the calmness he displays in the book are during the flight from his office, in which Kingsley Shacklebolt - "token black wizard" - acts as comic relief with the one line they gave him, which, in relation, is about as much as Tonks has. There is a scene in the common room with the big three that people will find utterly needless, even though it's alluded to later on in the movie - here's a hint: watch out for Emma Watson's forced, "hearty" laugh. Also, they do have an old-time radio in this movie, mainly, I suspect, so they could get a rock song onto the soundtrack. The inclusion of Grawp feels like they want to sell toys based on him, because apart from that, he is useless, even plotwise. People disappear right before the final fight and the reason for this is never explained. If they weren't cut at the very last minute, that's some sloppy editing right there. There is some impressive effects work towards the very end, when we're treated to an Indiana-Jonesian hide-and-seek-and-run-away sequence, followed by a very abridged version of the final fight that will strike most viewers, especially those not familiar with the books, as overly hammy and  .As an avid reader of the books, my opinion is twofold. It comes in at 3/5 on the "adventure movie that people who have not read the books might want to see" scoreboard and rates 2/5 on the "what did they do to the BOOK" scale. Perry fucked around with this message at 13:08 on Jul 14, 2007 |
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Jul 14, 2007 13:04
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The movie moves so fast and crams so many important plot points into so such a small timeframe that it's utterly impossible to care about characters or the story, especially because most characters other than Harry, Ron and Hermione have less than 60 seconds of screentime total. Even ignoring the book entirely, I don't see how you could possibly follow the plot. The best example would be the prophecy - I'm pretty sure nobody even identifies the prophecy as a prophecy (or gives any reason that Harry should care about it) until he's already holding it. 1/5. bucketmouse fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Jul 15, 2007 |
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Jul 15, 2007 01:42
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I guess I'm in the minority of the reviewers in that I haven't read the book. Since I had no idea what to expect and how it ends, I sat there enjoying myself, and then all of a sudden it was over... What? That's the end? That's it? The movie was all build up and no pay off. Nothing happened. Nothing progressed. I guess it's more of a problem I have with the book (if I had read it) but everything that was resolved in the course of the movie was introduced inside the very movie, meaning overall everything remained at square 1. What's the point of that whole thing? What's the point of this movie? In general I enjoyed the visuals and the new casting. Some nice effects. But overall, while the previous movies have advanced the overall story and introduced new exciting concepts, this one is completely self-contained, and therefore completely unnecessary in the grand scale of things. I guess it's the curse of being stuck in the middle of a long series. If this was a stand-alone movie, everyone would be going WTF at the end. So they danced around each other for a bit and then made a tactical withdrawal and went on vacation? Just a waste of 2.5 hours. Rating: 2/5 Pros: Good visuals, some exciting action scenes. Cons: Absolutely pointless waste of time.
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Jul 15, 2007 07:28
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Absolutely boring. The actors have out grown the roles and the acting just felt forced. The film itself just doesn't have any gusto to it and it feels corny watching the movie. I couldn't help but laugh during some of the more dramatic scenes and still have no idea how they could manage to cram so much boring into the movie while leaving so much out at the same time. The movie just felt amateurish and like it was made by an inexperienced cast. I realize the book itself isn't exactly the best but I think they could have managed to etch out of the book a movie that was worth watching. Like others have said, Luna and Umbridge were pretty good but whenever Radcliffe (Potter) talked, it was about as interesting as would be listening to an E/N thread from GBS. You just don't care. Grint (Ron) looks like he should be smoking pot and Watson was cringeworthy at the best of times. Snape and Dumbledore (2 of the more intriguing characters) probably had the collective screentime of ten minutes as the final cherry on the cake. And Hagrids only role in film was to introduce the giant. Yippy? In short: Don't see the movie if you don't have to but don't write off the series just yet. 2/5
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Jul 20, 2007 08:31
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3.5/5 Considering that this is the shortest of the films yet, it seemed to feel longer than the rest. Saying that, I think more should have been cut, and some scenes should have been given longer to breathe. I'm sure it'll become more enjoyable on repeated viewings, too. Pros: -Sirius was fleshed out very nicely, and the character was captured nicely. I think I cared about him a little more than I did in the books, actually. -Umbridge and Luna were excellent. -I thought using the Daily Prophet to illustrate what was happening outside Hogwarts was a nice touch. -Harry, Ron and Hermione are become better and better at this acting stuff. Cons: -Fred, George & Neville still can't act. -Fred & George's exit - bit of a let down really. -Grawp. What was the point of him? How bloody big, dumb and ugly is he too? Definitely made me question the logistics of a half-giant... -Cho: Totally pointless. The film was utterly driven along by the plot, and this is the only time we stop for some "character development"? Wasn't justified. I know it had to happen or the fans would scream, it was just meaningless. Also, regarding the use of fire & water at the end, with Dumbledore extinguishing Voldemort's firey snake... Now this is just me being a geek and making an incredibly pedantic point, but Gryffindor is supposed to be fire and Slytherin is supposed to be water! Pfft.
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Jul 20, 2007 14:06
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I took my mother to see this for her birthday, and we were both stunned with the graphics/animation and the setting/scenery of the film. As for the storyline, this is not one of my favorite books because it reminds me of Orwell, and if I wanted to read Orwell I'd read 1984 or Animal Farm or something. However, the buildup of "something extremely sinister is going on" is crucial and the movie really portrayed it. The director definitely understood the concepts of Rowling's book. gently caress Chris Columbus. PROS: Visually stunning, very fun to watch, has a happy ending (insert Cho joke here) CONS: Not the best plot, but that's not really the movie's fault...this is really a transitional book into the next one. RATING: 3/5
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Jul 20, 2007 20:46
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Props to Daniel Radcliffe for actually being able to act this time around. There was a big improvement here, and this time I actually believed him as Harry. PROS: Casting (Umbridge and Luna in particular) Great visual effects Good adaptation of the book CONS: Not enough Tonks The cheesey crap about love tacked in for the kids I enjoyed it immensely, and it's my favorite one so far. 4.5/5 Also, I notice a lot of people complaining about Fred & George's departure. What did they "gently caress up" about it? I thought it was exciting, well-done, and fit in with the movie pretty well. I haven't read the fifth book in a while, but what did they do so horribly to mangle that scene like you say they did? Anyway, I know the theater full of people I watched it with definitely loved that part.
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Jul 21, 2007 14:08
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I am another person who has seen all the movies, but not read the books. I felt this was the worst of the movies that I had seen. I really enjoyed the rest of the movies, but this one jumped around from scene to scene I got bored. Also I really didn't get the whole going from kissing to never talking to Cho Chang ever again, without even a confrontation anyway, it might have been a good movie for people who know the entire book, but without I also didn't see the purpose of a lot of things they brought up. All the other Potter movies I would probably give a 4/5, but this one was a 2/5 at best.
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Jul 22, 2007 19:16
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This movie was like the Empire Strikes Back of the Harry Potter series, the best acted, directed, and emotionally deep of the series. The only gripe I have with it is that they didn't make the movie intesnse enough, as many people are saying. Still, after watching Goblet of Fire today, I think it's good to have a breather in the action, though there wasn't as many awesome fights as I would have liked from the book. It lagged once it got to the Umbridge part, though there were plenty of good laughs and interesting effects. Overall I think that it will probably become an underrated film in the Harry Potter series, but it is still a superb movie in it's own right. I've also read all the book and seen all the movies. 4.5/5
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Jul 23, 2007 10:33
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My major complaint about the film is that the final fight is pretty much nothing like what's in the book...I went in to the movie just waiting to see this scene: The Voldemort vs Dumbledore fight is supposed to have conjured creatures fighting statues that Dumbledore animates and one of the statues is shielding Harry during the fight, none of it is shown in the movie...only anime-style one person fending off other person's 'massive attack' only to hurl it back at them. Disappointing. Pros: Umbridge and Luna - excellent casting Dark Arts Training scene Cons: Too many jump cuts Skipped good pertinant sections from the book Weak action at the end 3/5
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Jul 28, 2007 18:20
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I thought the movie was alright but, as Ebert said, the Harry Potter movies are losing their touch. I loved how it started off with the Harry and Dudley dementor chase scene and the cinematography for that was amazing but afterwards it just became a run 'o the mill book adaptation. Lots of cameo/useless characters and the plot wasn't fleshed out or explained properly. And they REALLY need to do something about Michael Gambon. It's just odd to picture him as a Dumbledore while reading the books since Dumbledore does not seem to be such an angry old man. A little bit more lively version of Richard Harris' portrayal would be alot better.
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Jul 28, 2007 23:50
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Started out okay (Dementor scene was awesome), started descending a bit in the middle, then took a major dive at the end. Needs more serious treatment. Montage depicting Umbridge's reign of terror presented her more as prude uptight meanie that won't let those Hogwarts kids have any fun! rather than a very real threat to the school. (the bloody quill scenes are an exception, but that idea came straight from the book) PROS: Luna (great actress and very cute) Umbridge (although I wish they'd treated her more seriously, I couldn't bring myself to loathe her like I had in the book) Bellatrix Depiction of Azkaban breakout was awesome CONS: Many of the previous complaints, especially the Cho stuff and how it was impossible to care about most of the characters Dumbledore Voldemort's appearance--at least make his eyes completely red; as it is he looks like a burn victim, his appearance arousing more pity than fear Twins' exit Sirius's exit (could have been handled much better and more dramatically) Apparently the director has no idea how Stun spells work (supposed to be a jet of red light that causes unconsciousness--in the movie it's simply telekinesis that throws the victim back, like the guns in the factory scene in Minority Report) The ending battle pretty much sucked, especially the duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore--come on, given the state of CG today, how hard would it have been to animate the drat statues? In general the fight was way too slow. Also his attempt at fighting Bellatrix was completely mishandled. In the book he succumbed to the very human desire for revenge and attempted to curse her, only to find he really wasn't evil enough to do it properly. This was changed to Voldemort playing Emperor Palpatine and encouraging him to kill her (as if he was even capable) while he oh-so-valiantly resisted the urge. Oh and his little anti-bully speech to Voldemort while being possessed made me want to rip out my eardrums. Voldemort didn't leave because Harry fought him off (again, as if he could), he left because he just couldn't stand it, having ripped his soul up all over the place. I'd love to see the uncut, >3 hour version, but the main problem with these scenes (and much of the rest of the movie) was that they could have been vastly improved without lengthening them much or at all. Nominating John Woo for some akimbo wand action in the next two movies. Seriously though, bring Cuaron back! 2.5/5 Oh and did anyone else get a slight child molester vibe when Lupin was holding Harry back after Sirius died? It was just such a weird shot... rockopete fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Jul 30, 2007 |
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Jul 30, 2007 16:30
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I felt it was just as good as Goblet of Fire. But some of the plot with the new headmaster/rebelling was disposable, and it only started to really pick up in the last 40 minutes. I saw this in the Imax so bonus points for having great 3D visuals in the last 20 minutes of the movie. 4/5
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Aug 4, 2007 08:11
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I saw this at the IMAX and I'm pretty glad I did. Only the last 20 mintues or so were in 3D, but it was very nicely done. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. It's right up there with the 3rd one for me. I have to say that I havn't read the book since it first came out so a lot of the original details are sort of fuzzy to me. Thats probably a good thing and allowed me to enjoy the movie more instead of me nitpicking at every inaccurate thing. My mother saw the movie with me and had a hard time understanding what was going on. She never read the books, so I think the fact that I had a background with the books made me question less since I already knew what was going on. Also, wanted to add that the woman who played Umbridge did an absolutely amazing job. A bad thing about this movie..well I feel they really left out any development of anyone besides Harry. Anyhow, I am now pretty interested to see how they are going to make a story out of the mess that the 6th book was. 4/5 ZhaoRi fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Aug 6, 2007 |
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Aug 6, 2007 05:24
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I'm not a hardcore Potter fan, but I will admit to having read the whole series of books. I found the first four to be genuinely entertaining and the movie adaptations to them to be surprisingly well done. That said, I found books 5 and 7 to be pretty poor and the movie definitely didn't save that. It has all the effects and well thought vision of the previous movies, but the story is really lacking and pretty drawn out and dull. If you enjoy the books or movies, it is still worth seeing, but it really is the weakest in the bunch and could have you yawning by the end. 3/5
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Aug 13, 2007 07:52
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Had not read the book when I initially saw this movie. I've since started the book (only <100 pages in so no side-by-side comparison nerdrage). I walked in to this movie prepared to be disappointed, because Goblet of Fire left me bewildered and extremely dissatisfied. Both Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix I saw without having read the book previously, but the difference between the experiences was night and day. Goblet of Fire felt like a poorly done hackjob, and by comparison Order of the Phoenix felt like a maturing Empire Strikes Back transition. I'm not going to pretend to speak to the violated Harry Potter nerds who bemoan the poor translation, but as a general movie-goer I felt satisfied by the film. The pacing was a big step up from the last film, the acting was acceptable and in some scenes a picture is really worth a thousand words. Seeing Snape's true reason for hating Harry Potter in the film was a clear case of that, and I eagerly anticipate having that fleshed out in the novel. The casting for Umbridge and Luna was very well done, but Dumbledore seemed to struggle with the role. I can't help but feel like he just was never cast properly in the first place. I wish there was a better way for them to show the *magic.* The duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort felt a little much like Star Wars. I'm content to accept their visual interpretation of it, however. 4/5 Devil's advocate: I saw it with my fiancee who had read the the book (and the rest of the series or whatever) and she was a little upset over the adaptation, moreso because she said that it was a bad sign for the rest of the series. I think she meant that if they've edited out crucial foreshadowing moments it will diminish the next 2 movies.
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Aug 14, 2007 23:12
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