'Phoenix' rising: Harry Potter and the abridged tome
A trim film version of 'The Order of the Phoenix' boasts a fine performance by Daniel Radcliffe.
By Peter Rainer | Film critic of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the July 13, 2007 edition
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If you are a Pottermaniac, this is the month for you. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" opens today, and on July 21 the seventh and final Potter tome lands with a thud at your local bookstore.
Since the new movie is based on book No. 5, one wonders whether the reputedly dark book No. 7 will cast a pall over movie No. 6. On the other hand, if it's darkness you're looking for, "Order of the Phoenix" is the perfect pall. Unlike the other movies, which owned their share of the dark side, "Order of the Phoenix" downplays the festive classmate hubbub at Hogwarts in favor of a decidedly more sinister tone. This means no Quidditch matches.
Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) returned at the end of the last film, "Goblet of Fire," and so the stakes are considerably higher for Harry, who dodges repeated attempts on his life and, perhaps even scarier, has his first kiss.
Since Harry, Hermione, and Ron are still being played by the same actors – Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, respectively – the series has its own built-in subtext: We are watching children grow into adolescents.
A case could be made that the series is one long encoded adolescent rite of passage, with all the authority-defying, hormone-raging storminess that comes with the territory. As in many a teenage fantasy, it is the young people who must teach their doddering elders the score. Specifically, Harry must convince the wizards that he really did encounter Voldemort and then, leading his secret band of students, do battle with the bad guy.
The film begins at the close of summer as Harry awaits his fifth year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Because he illegally used magic outside school, Harry is in danger of being expelled. Although headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) intervenes in what amounts to a kangaroo court engineered by Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy), Harry is beset by nightmares.
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