Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix ---- Good, but not without problems

The boy wizard from Britain has returned for the fifth installment of the Harry Potter film franchise. At the age of fifteen, Harry Potter is about to enter his fifth year at Hogwart's Academy of Magic when circumstances force him to draw his wand in a public area. As such, he is witnessed by a non-magic person using his wand; a violation of rules that the Ministry of Magic does not look at kindly. Now Harry is faced with expulsion from his school and familiar surroundings, and soon finds himself at a controversy about the ending sequences of the fourth film. In The Goblet of Fire, Harry came face to face with the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, and additionally witnessed the death of new friend Cedric Diggory. Though we know Harry went through the ordeal as the audience, many people within the story refuse to believe that Voldemort could be returning to reek havoc on the world.

With Harry getting blasted by those in power, Hogwart's stops teaching defenses to the dark arts, thus leaving anyone who might be attacked vulnerable to those that might attack them. Finding this unacceptable, Harry along with friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley decide to teach those who are interested spells that can help them in grave situations. Harry starts to develop into a leader within the story, and soon we get to see what his character is really all about. Simultaneously, the audience is introduced to The Order of the Phoenix, a group of outcasts and do-gooders who want to fight should Voldemort and his forces try to undertake any further evil deeds. With the prospect of the evil side of magic gaining strength, and the Ministry refusing to realize the consequences of such, Harry and his group of friends must make a stand in order to defend what is right.

Where the past films have all been about Harry Potter's development as a wizard and skills that he gained along the way, this story really shines the light on him as the one person that needs to lead the "good" side of things. As such, the focal-points of the story start to focus on how he can share his knowledge, and help to develop the powers of those who will fight with him. It is a rebellion of sorts as well, as many kids at Hogwart's buck the authority being thrust upon them, and try to learn all of this in secret. We all know that there is a fight coming, but the main drama of the story is whether Harry and his friends will be ready in time. From this standpoint, The Order of The Phoenix was able to build up a high level of excitement, and as a viewer you knew that all of the tools they were learning would come in handy one fateful day. Along those lines, this is one of those films that does a lot of building in order to have a pretty climatic conclusion.

From the perspective of just reviewing what was on the screen, I think that there were a lot of flaws within this film. Having not read the novel, there were characters that I didn't recognize or know anything about, and the film didn't explain who they were or what they were doing in certain scenes. There was no real explanation of who was in The Order, and there were times where it seemed like there were big plot-holes that were probably glossed over by readers of the novel as common knowledge. For me though, these holes really put a crimp on some of the enjoyment of the story, and led to a few moments of head-scratching when the final credits had been rolled. That being said, and even though I thought the editing could have used a little improvement, I really did enjoy myself watching Order of The Phoenix. The film was exciting, dramatic, and there were many scenes I would want to see again, which is really what a film like this is all about. Compared to other Potter films though, I felt this one was a little lacking. I think in the end, even though there were some holes in the telling of the story, that it was still enjoyable enough to garner my recommendation.