Order of the Kick-Ass!

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Harry Potter's one of those entities I just can't talk about reasonably. I love the books and the world too much; my fan-dom gets in the way. Even putting a grade next to my last-night screening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was incredibly difficult because I can't really divorce myself from the geek-overload I experience seeing certain things visualized that I've had bouncing around in my imagination for years now - I know in my cinephile-brain that the movie was a bit of an intermediary chapter in the Potter series, just like the book was; that it was a lot of set-up for things to come and as a movie standing on its own it maybe failed in that regard. A lot happened, but there wasn't a lot of with regards to that "beginning, middle, end" stuff that something that stands on its own usually has.

But, even while I can acknowledge such a thing, kind of if I float outside of my own body, if I drift back down into what's actually going on within my own consciousness it's all "EEEEEEE!!!!!" reverberating from ear to ear, cheek to cheeks. So I can't possibly review this movie, except in tiny sound-bites: Imelda Staunton was Dolores Umbridge and reminded me of how I had to set aside the Phoenix book several times because I wanted to crawl into the sheets of paper and throttle the life out of her. I wish there'd been more of Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix because she juiced up the screen every time she appeared. Far and away the best work done by all three main kids - Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson have really come into their own by now. I also thought Michael Gambon came into his own as Dumbledore here and I didn't think of Richard Harris at all this time, and find myself really looking forward to what Gambon will do with the stuff he's given in the next chapter. Other high points - Jason Isaacs got more to do, yay! And Evanna Lynch was magical (pardon the pun) as weird-witch Luna Lovegood.

All in all it was a great adaptation of the book and a fine film; I'd still rank it behind Azkaban and Goblet, but definitely before Chris Columbus' first two of the series (not to knock Columbus' contributions; they were just, like the books, all about getting us into the world). I think director David Yates was a completely valid choice and can't wait to see what he'll do with the next installment.

I got to see the movie on IMAX 3D as well (hence me seeing it so late; damned sold-out shows!), and man that was fun. Also, occassionally disorienting. But when it worked - like that awesome battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore - it was stand-the-hairs-on- the-back-of-your-neck good.
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