Post by EGBFan on Jul 12, 2007 11:20:25 GMT -4
And now for my thoughts on the movie version of Order of the Phoenix, which my brother and I have just been to see. I've had a few disappointments in terms of the media recently: Pirates 2, Doctor Who, the new Ash album I was so looking forward to... but not this time. This one was, in my opinion, better than Goblet of Fire - but that would be because of the standard of novels. Book four remains, I think, the weakest.
I accept no excuses from anyone who watches these movies without first reading the novels, but I suppose I must include a SPOILER WARNING here.
There can be no denying that it glossed over a few things. It just had to - the book is absolutely vast. For example, the Room of Requirement was completely rushed, and my brother tells me that he read that JK made them include the house-elf Kreacher because he's so important - but Kreacher doesn't even do anything. He's just sort of... there. He's well done, though.
Disappointing was an early scene with Harry and Luna, and the creatures called thestrals. I thought Luna was well cast, and the scene was a good one - but it inevitably meant that Hagrid's lesson in which he explains that thestrals can only be seen by those who have witnessed death* would be cut. That's a shame, because in the book it is a very funny scene - it's one of the lessons Umbridge inspects.
*Now, this has always bothered me: Harry only comes to be able to see the thestrals after witnessing Cedric Diggory's death. But he has already seen death before this. His parents died in front of him when he was a year old. Ok, so he wouldn't remember, but I hardly think that should matter.
Anyway, they cut the scene where Harry and chums accidentally end up in the closed ward at St. Mungo's hospital, where a lot about Neville's parents is revealed - but they do still reveal this, in a brief scene with Harry and Neville. Neville just tells Harry what happened, and I happen to think it's a very powerful scene, and better than the way Harry finds out in the book i.e. Dumbledore tells him. I don't know why Dumbledore would do this - it's none of Harry's business, and Dumbledore's always on about how Neville will tell people when he's ready etc. For Neville to tell Harry himself is, I think, better.
I'm glad they kept in the Weasley twins' dramatic exit. They did have to splice it with Harry having his funny turn and his vision about Sirius, which means that Fred and George did actually interrupt an OWL exam. Not sure about that... but it's ok, really, and there are only a couple of things that I would say they actually did wrong:
One is the whole DA-getting-found-out thing. They spliced together the characters of Cho and Marietta, so that it was Cho who told Umbrdige, which is fine - but the significance of the list of names is lost (in the book it's enchanted, Marietta ends up with "SNEAK" written across her face in pimples), and it's later implied that Cho confessed after being given Veritaserum. That is Veritaserum that Snape has been giving to Umbridge - in the book, it is made clear that what Snape gives to Umbridge to interrogate Harry (and, in the book, no one else) is not real Veritaserum. And that's a pretty huge difference, really.
The other thing that doesn't sit well with me, is Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter! - most unexpected) killing Sirius with Avada Kedavra. That is just wrong. The death sequence is wrong, for a start - Avada Kedavra (I think it's great, how that sounds like Abracadabra) is supposed to kill you outright; Sirius stands there, looking a bit shocked and exchanging a despairing look with Harry, and then floats away through the veil. Anyone who has read the book - as anybody watching this movie should have done - will know that this veil is what kills Sirius. Not Avada Kedavra. That is the whole point.
As ever, some wonderful performances. It's a shame that McGonagall, Hagrid and Snape to a lesser extent, are in these films less and less. Hagrid has a relatively brief appearance in this one, but in the scene with his half-brother, the giant Grawp, he really excels himself. But the kids do ok.
They don't play this one for laughs as much as Goblet of Fire, but there are some amusing bits - and I'm glad to see that they've started building up the Harry/Ginny ship a bit. The way it's done in the book, so sudden like that, it's very difficult to actually care. I had hoped the films would do it better, and it looks as though they are.
And speaking of ship, everything I've read about this movie contains a long passage about the kiss between Harry and Cho. Honestly, it was just a kiss. The chat the core three have about it afterwards is a very funny scene, Rupert Grint plays it beautifully - but the kiss itself... what's the fuss all about?
I accept no excuses from anyone who watches these movies without first reading the novels, but I suppose I must include a SPOILER WARNING here.
There can be no denying that it glossed over a few things. It just had to - the book is absolutely vast. For example, the Room of Requirement was completely rushed, and my brother tells me that he read that JK made them include the house-elf Kreacher because he's so important - but Kreacher doesn't even do anything. He's just sort of... there. He's well done, though.
Disappointing was an early scene with Harry and Luna, and the creatures called thestrals. I thought Luna was well cast, and the scene was a good one - but it inevitably meant that Hagrid's lesson in which he explains that thestrals can only be seen by those who have witnessed death* would be cut. That's a shame, because in the book it is a very funny scene - it's one of the lessons Umbridge inspects.
*Now, this has always bothered me: Harry only comes to be able to see the thestrals after witnessing Cedric Diggory's death. But he has already seen death before this. His parents died in front of him when he was a year old. Ok, so he wouldn't remember, but I hardly think that should matter.
Anyway, they cut the scene where Harry and chums accidentally end up in the closed ward at St. Mungo's hospital, where a lot about Neville's parents is revealed - but they do still reveal this, in a brief scene with Harry and Neville. Neville just tells Harry what happened, and I happen to think it's a very powerful scene, and better than the way Harry finds out in the book i.e. Dumbledore tells him. I don't know why Dumbledore would do this - it's none of Harry's business, and Dumbledore's always on about how Neville will tell people when he's ready etc. For Neville to tell Harry himself is, I think, better.
I'm glad they kept in the Weasley twins' dramatic exit. They did have to splice it with Harry having his funny turn and his vision about Sirius, which means that Fred and George did actually interrupt an OWL exam. Not sure about that... but it's ok, really, and there are only a couple of things that I would say they actually did wrong:
One is the whole DA-getting-found-out thing. They spliced together the characters of Cho and Marietta, so that it was Cho who told Umbrdige, which is fine - but the significance of the list of names is lost (in the book it's enchanted, Marietta ends up with "SNEAK" written across her face in pimples), and it's later implied that Cho confessed after being given Veritaserum. That is Veritaserum that Snape has been giving to Umbridge - in the book, it is made clear that what Snape gives to Umbridge to interrogate Harry (and, in the book, no one else) is not real Veritaserum. And that's a pretty huge difference, really.
The other thing that doesn't sit well with me, is Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter! - most unexpected) killing Sirius with Avada Kedavra. That is just wrong. The death sequence is wrong, for a start - Avada Kedavra (I think it's great, how that sounds like Abracadabra) is supposed to kill you outright; Sirius stands there, looking a bit shocked and exchanging a despairing look with Harry, and then floats away through the veil. Anyone who has read the book - as anybody watching this movie should have done - will know that this veil is what kills Sirius. Not Avada Kedavra. That is the whole point.
As ever, some wonderful performances. It's a shame that McGonagall, Hagrid and Snape to a lesser extent, are in these films less and less. Hagrid has a relatively brief appearance in this one, but in the scene with his half-brother, the giant Grawp, he really excels himself. But the kids do ok.
They don't play this one for laughs as much as Goblet of Fire, but there are some amusing bits - and I'm glad to see that they've started building up the Harry/Ginny ship a bit. The way it's done in the book, so sudden like that, it's very difficult to actually care. I had hoped the films would do it better, and it looks as though they are.
And speaking of ship, everything I've read about this movie contains a long passage about the kiss between Harry and Cho. Honestly, it was just a kiss. The chat the core three have about it afterwards is a very funny scene, Rupert Grint plays it beautifully - but the kiss itself... what's the fuss all about?