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[marrec]

My LTTP Thread on the Previous Movie:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=489535

In case you can be bothered to read through four other threads, a quick primer:

I have until now somehow avoided anything to do with Harry Potter. After reading the first book and it leaving a bad taste in my mouth, I decided I wouldn't read any of the other books or watch any of the movies. A few months ago it was decided by my SO that we would go through all the movies via Netflix. Now, instead of sharing this awesome thing with her and her alone, I've decided to selfishly make LTTP threads on every Potter movie we watch together!

Lucky you!

Last week I posted my thoughts on The Goblet of Fire and this week I watched:

Luckily this movie features the return of my favorite evil people. The Dursleys! I'm hyped. Our boy wizard is back in the care of this despicable family and somehow makes it an entire off school season without getting killed by Voldemort. Is there some kind of hibernation period for Wizards or something? Harry seems like he's pretty fucking safe anytime he's not in Hogwarts...

UNTIL! A dementor attacks Harry in the middle of a deserted playground and the fat Dursley is caught in the crossfire. In order to save them both, Harry is forced to cast a patronus charm. But not before the fat kid is rendered virtually catatonic. Harry is rescued from a rather haggard and tired looking evil family by a group of Wizards I can only assume is the titular 'Order of the Phoenix'. This group includes many old faces, and one new face!

I'm glad to see that Osha's getting gigs in the past. Beyond the fact that she's the weirdly hot Wildling from Game of Thrones, nothing else is known about her character for the rest of the movie. She is a creepy flirt and makes her hair change colors.

They arrive at the secret headquarters of the Order (Harry stands stupid as the building reveals it secret... you've been a fucking wizard in training for 5 years now Harry, try not to be astonished anytime anyone actually uses spells.) and we learn that Harry is being kicked out of Hogwarts for casting the petronus.

If you've read any of my previous threads, you probably know that this pisses me off. In Prisoner of Azkaban Harry is able to blow his Aunt up to the size of a balloon in a vicious attack and the wizard leadership have to make multiple normal people forget they saw anything to do with a floating woman. What happens? Nothing! The minister of magic yucks it up with Harry for a few minutes and tells him to be careful. Now, he uses a spell in front of a dude who knows full well about wizards and he's being threatened with expulsion. I know that in the context of the overall story this is supposed to make sense, but it fails even then. Why the fuck would the minister of magic decide to target Harry NOW of all times? Politically it'll be seen as a witch hunt considering the previous transgressions he's been cleared of. Obviously this minister of magic is a complete idiot.

*deep breath*

It's explained to Harry that the Minister is trying to hush up the fact that Voldemort is back. Or that he doesn't believe that Voldy's back. Which is another completely idiotic stance to take considering his Death-Eaters burned the Quidditch World Cup to the fucking ground a year ago. So Harry has to go to trial and we see him in an appropriately intimidating hall surrounded by what I assume are some kind of elected Wizarding body. Their individual roles escape me, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that they are like a wizard congress. Or a wizard house of lords, as the case may be. It look bad for Harry until Dumbledore makes a grand entrance and seems like quite the hero. Harry is cleared! YAY! We've got a movie folks!

So far, I'm enjoying the movie despite the plot induced idiocy of the Minister of Magic.

Harry's school year is plagued this year by a puppet of the minister of Magic who decides that things are just too dangerous at Hogwarts. I can't say I disagree with her. Instead of maybe instituting policies of progressive change, however, she goes total Stalin on their asses and (with the authority of the Minister) enacts quite a few rather fascist rules. In addition to this, she decides to not teach any practical defense of the dark arts. Harry's friends blackmail him into teaching a group of kids and more plot induced stupidity is seen as Harry decides to name this group of people 'Dumbledore's Army'. Great way to shift the blame there Potter.

Eventually this secret class is discovered and Dumbledore is removed as the head of Hogwarts. Not before Harry screams at him though. (I'll talk later about what an idiot Dumbledore is.) All of this really is just the side story though, the main action is taking place in Harry's brain as he's having visions of some kind of snow-globe. Dumbledore puts Snape in charge of trying to defend Harry's mind against attacks from Voldemort and we're treated to a rather powerful scene of Papa Potter bullying Chibi-Snape. What Ms. Potter ever saw in that asshole is beyond me.

After finals are disrupted by the Weasley twins in a surprisingly epic fashion, Harry gets a final vision of Sirius being beaten in the snow-globe factory. Not one to let his only tie to family be killed in such an incongruous place, Harry mobilizes a rescue squad and goes to the factory in order to save 'Pad-foot'. Little does he know that it's a trap!

It's such an obvious trap too.

Harry, once again playing directly into the hands of Voldemort and crew, shows up and gets the snow-globe which happens to be a prophecy that can ONLY be removed by Harry. Voldemort seems to think that this Prophecy will win him the day and Harry has politely retrieved it for him. I can't blame Harry though... since Dumbledore KNEW Voldemort wanted the Prophecy and KNEW that Harry is the only one who could get it for him. So instead of just telling Harry 'Don't fucking go there and get that thing you keep seeing, cause its central to Noseless's evil plans.' He completely ignores Harry's pleas for help.

Who's running this fucking army?!

Oh...

The final battle between the Order of the Phoenix and the Death-Eaters is great. Lucius Malfoy is deliciously evil and a great Numbah 1 to Voldemort and Helena Bonham Carter is perfect as a mad witch. This is just a prelude to the main event though, because the battle between Harry and Voldemort and latter Dumbledore and Voldemort does not disappoint.

It's just as awesome as I would have wanted it to be and hope there's more of THIS kind of magic. The two wizards battle to a stalemate, Voldemort invades Harry's head and makes Harry feel sorry for him, and the Order of the Phoenix comes in at the same time as the Minister of Magic to see Voldemort disappear. Great job Minister, your denial is as epic as it was unfathomable.

Dumbledore explains to Harry why he was such a stupid ass, and I don't care because he was a stupid ass.

...

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The motivations of some of the characters (Dumbledore in particular) are fucking stupid but the consequences of that stupidity really make up for it. Seeing the paper army of the wizard bureaucracy was refreshing and I'd LOVE to read more about the organization of their government.

The music stepped up, and the direction was a bit darker and more real. Not quite Azkaban, but closer to that than Chamber of Secrets. I'm excited for the next movies.

 

[Rentahamster]

Last battle was badass. Wish there was more of that instead of shooting zingers and taking cover.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I hate being The Book Was Better Guy, but most of the complaints you're making are in fact explained in the book, i.e. why Harry doesn't just get murdered at his family's house.

 

[Viewt]

Order of the Phoenix was decent, but I remember liking Half-Blood Prince a lot more. And then you've got my personal favorite in the series, Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 right afterwards.

I know naming DH1 as a favorite isn't a very popular opinion since most people idolize Prisoner of Azkaban, but while I like PoA a hell of a lot, DH1 was just a better viewing experience. It felt like the culmination of all of the films before it, and you got tons and tons of character moments. It never felt slow or meandering for me at all. I loved it.

DH2 was a lot of fun. If DH1 is the calm before the storm, DH2 is the fucking storm.

 

[marrec]

I hate being The Book Was Better Guy, but most of the complaints you're making are in fact explained in the book, i.e. why Harry doesn't just get murdered at his family's house.

I assume they have to be for anybody to enjoy them as much as they are revered, but some of the plot fuzziness in the movies is unforgivable. Watching them purely cinematically makes me REALLY question the quality of JK Rowlings writing, but I know that the books have to be better if only because they can have more stuff in them.

 

[Makoto]

My favorite HP film. I lost interest in the Harry Potter books at Order of the Phoenix. Just couldn't finish it. Then the movie came out and I thought it was amazing. When people pose the question, "If there's any fictional world you could live, what would it be?" OotP is the reason why I choose Harry Potter. The Dumbledore's Army piece from the soundtrack just absolutely encapsulates the joy and wonder of learning and discovering something new. I could watch OotP a hundred times and I don't think it would get old. It eventually led me to finish the book and become a fan of the text series once again.

 

[ivysaur12]

Probably one of the poorer books, but one of the better HP movies.

Imelda Staunton is unbelievable.

 

[TacticalFox88]

I found the trailer more entertaining than the movie.

 

[marrec]

Probably one of the poorer books, but one of the better HP movies.

Imelda Staunton is unbelievable.

I completely agree, she was SOOO hateable but never a caricature of herself like most of the Potter villains become eventually. Just fantastic all around.

 

[Nlroh]

I found the trailer more entertaining than the movie.

That's exactly how I felt. One of the worst HP movies, the pacing was awful.

 

[marrec]

That's exactly how I felt. One of the worst HP movies, the pacing was awful.

Its easily the second best pacing of the first five movies.

 

[kharma45]

Probably one of the poorer books, but one of the better HP movies.

Imelda Staunton is unbelievable.

Yeah she was the best part of the movie, never thought I could hate a Potter movie character so much but she was cast perfectly.

 

[Psychoward]

Hated the adaptation, loved the book, the actual movie by itself was decent.

 

[Jarmel]

The book is probably the worst of the series for the fact that Dumbledore doesn't explain jackshit all year and sends Harry to Snape for training which of course doesn't work out.

 

[Cheerilee]

Harry, once again playing directly into the hands of Voldemort and crew, shows up and gets the snow-globe which happens to be a prophecy that can ONLY be removed by Harry. Voldemort seems to think that this Prophecy will win him the day and Harry has politely retrieved it for him.

Technically, the prophecy could be accessed by three different people.

Harry, the one who did it.
Voldemort, who preferred not to go get it personally because he didn't want to be seen.
And

Spoiler

Neville Longbottom

. (Note: It's not really a spoiler, I'm just being dramatic.)

 

[Bo-Locks]

Could have done with adding the scene at the end where Harry straight up smashes Dumbledore's office to pieces whilst Dumbledore just sits there, completely ambivalent. The whole movie should have had more angry Harry in it.

HBC is the worst casting decision of the entire series. She hams it up way too much.

I'm glad that you're realising how much of a dick Dumbledore is by now.

The book was too long, but still one of the better ones in the series. Simply too much filler.

 

[Altazor]

Probably one of the poorer books, but one of the better HP movies.

Imelda Staunton is unbelievable.

exactly, it's so fun to hate her!

The book, on the other hand, is overlong and padded with shit and boring for the most part and you get to suffer TEENAGE ANGST HARRY THAT SHOUTS IN EVERY PAGE AT SOMEONE JUST BECAUSE NO ONE UNDERSTANDS HIM. Ugh.

 

[Lkr]

Worst of the movies by far

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

Second favorite movie of the series.

 

[marrec]

Worst of the movies by far

Second favorite movie of the series.

It seems this movie is a bit divisive.

So far it's my second Favorite, but there's three to go.

Could have done with adding the scene at the end where Harry straight up smashes Dumbledore's office to pieces whilst Dumbledore just sits there, completely ambivalent. The whole movie should have had more angry Harry in it.

HBC is the worst casting decision of the entire series. She hams it up way too much.

I'm glad that you're realising how much of a dick Dumbledore is by now.

The book was too long, but still one of the better ones in the series. Simply too much filler.

I liked HBC cause she brings the crazy. Who else do you cast to play a crazy witch?

The book is probably the worst of the series for the fact that Dumbledore doesn't explain jackshit all year and sends Harry to Snape for training which of course doesn't work out.

Dumbledore is the worst headmaster of all time, and Harry can eat it if he doesn't agree with me. The old fart has no clue how to stop Voldemort.

 

[Harry Potter]

Worst of the movies by far

I've heard a lot about the movies. First time I've ever heard this.

 

[Verdre]

Bellatrix in the book, I think, isn't really a character that would translate well to the movies. So HBC was a good choice for the direction they chose to take her in.

 

[marrec]

Bellatrix in the book, I think, isn't really a character that would translate well to the movies. So HBC was a good choice for the direction they chose to take her in.

What makes her character so unfilmable? Or would that be too spoilery?

 

[Eggplant Wizard]

You didn't mention the best character.

It's all right, definitely where the series finally finds solid footing.

 

[Verdre]

What makes her character so unfilmable? Or would that be too spoilery?

Most of her dialogue in OotP is spoken in a fake baby voice, which would just come off goofy as hell and she's over the top in a way entirely different way from HBC's performance.

It was a bit of hyperbole for me to say she's unfilmable, but I just can't see it coming off well the way she's portrayed in the books. And the way I just described it makes it seem entirely filmable. (Except for the baby voice. That is unfilmable.) I guess it's just mostly that it works in my head when I'm reading the book, but if I try to imagine someone actually acting that way it would just be hilarious.

 

[ScreenSplitter]

Eeeeeeuuuuggggghhh this is where the Harry Potter films went rapidly down hill in my personal opinion. My favourite book of the series save for the last too, so very disappointing for me personally.

- Confusing characterisation of Harry, doesn't play too much on the "teen rage" angle, then it all comes out in an awkward and out of place scene at the end
- Completely fucks up the backstory of

Spoiler

a certain Potions master

, which Yates never sets right. This will start a trend in Yates's tenure of directorship where he fails to tell the vital back stories of three main characters.

Spoiler

Snape & Lily "mudblood" omission, i.e. the whole reason why she ended her friendship with him and pushed him over the edge into Death Eater-ship, the origins of Voldemort which is the entire point of Harry & Dumbledore's sessions in HBP, and Dumbledore's own chequered past, which was the icing on the shit cake for me. Beyond me how after casting for a young Dumbledore, they cut those parts out, after so heavily foreshadowing it. Terrible.

- Removes several brilliant scenes from the book, such as Fred & George erecting their own irremovable mini-swamp in the Great Hall
- Very, very poor explanation of the prophecy, of who made it, and why it's so important to Voldemort in the first place
- Takes the "dark" thematics that Prisoner and Goblet were leaning towards, and plunges it into a grey mess for no particular reason
- Generally terrible writing

Only thing that redeems it for me is the continuing awesomeness of Ralph Fiennes, but yeah the directorial change here was very noticeable, and I'm amazed after playing hot potato with the series' creative control that they let Yates stay for four films.

EDIT: OH. And Luna. The casting is constantly excellent throughout, I have to admit.

 

[King of the Potato People]

Umbridge steals this movie and is easily the best Harry Potter villain.

I will not tell lies.

 

[melichrous]

Most of her dialogue in OotP is spoken in a fake baby voice, which would just come off goofy as hell and she's over the top in a way entirely different way from HBC's performance.

It was a bit of hyperbole for me to say she's unfilmable, but I just can't see it coming off well the way she's portrayed in the books. And the way I just described it makes it seem entirely filmable. (Except for the baby voice. That is unfilmable.) I guess it's just mostly that it works in my head when I'm reading the book, but if I try to imagine someone actually acting that way it would just be hilarious.

Basically this. And if I remember correctly, in the films she's more on the quirky side of crazy. In the books, I think she's set up as more completely batshit, waaaay off the deep end insane. Like, more twisted than good ol' Voldy in some ways.

Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though

 

[Draconian]

I thought the movies got progressively worse past Askaban. Only exception is the complete Deathly Hallows, which I enjoyed, despite Harry and Hermione dancing.

 

[ScreenSplitter]

Basically this. And if I remember correctly, in the films she's more on the quirky side of crazy. In the books, I think she's set up as more completely batshit, waaaay off the deep end insane. Like, more twisted than good ol' Voldy in some ways.

Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though

No, you're right. It's not all Bonham-Carter's fault though, some of the main scenes she's in were obviously directed very badly. Her taunting of Harry come to mind, as does the omission of any recognition on her part towards Neville, which was a very powerful scene in the book. Film 7 spoilers:

Spoiler

Two parts where she fell completely flat were Hermionie's torture, which in the end amounted to her humorously mocking Dobby, and her death scene, which was so, SO underplayed and boring.

I thought the movies got progressively worse past Askaban. Only exception is the complete Deathly Hallows, which I enjoyed, despite Harry and Hermione dancing.

The last two films were redeemable, if only because they were the last two films. Harry and Hermionie dancing is exactly the kind of cinematographic masturbation that I really, really hate Yates for. It's completely and utterly unneccesary to create tension between Harry/Hermionie when you've been building up for the past five films that Ron and her are clearly going to get together.

 

[marrec]

You didn't mention the best character.

It's all right, definitely where the series finally finds solid footing.

So what's up with her anyway? Seems like a weird inclusion to the main group.

Also:

Very, very poor explanation of the prophecy, of who made it, and why it's so important to Voldemort in the first place

I thought about mentioning this in the OP, but WTF?! That stupid Prophecy wouldn't have gotten Voldemort shit. Knowing fantasy tropes like I do, there is of course some secret to the Prophecy that has yet to be revealed, but in the movie it just seems pretty cut and dry and boring.

 

[ScreenSplitter]

So what's up with her anyway? Seems like a weird inclusion to the main group.

Also:



I thought about mentioning this in the OP, but WTF?! That stupid Prophecy wouldn't have gotten Voldemort shit. Knowing fantasy tropes like I do, there is of course some secret to the Prophecy that has yet to be revealed, but in the movie it just seems pretty cut and dry and boring.

It sets up the final film in a very loose way that you could have probably guessed anyway. It was badly done in the books, but in the films they respond to it by pretty much ignoring it completely.

 

[Verdre]

So what's up with her anyway? Seems like a weird inclusion to the main group.

Also:



I thought about mentioning this in the OP, but WTF?! That stupid Prophecy wouldn't have gotten Voldemort shit. Knowing fantasy tropes like I do, there is of course some secret to the Prophecy that has yet to be revealed, but in the movie it just seems pretty cut and dry and boring.

I actually quite like the real revelation about the prophecy that happens in Half-Blood Prince. (I hate prophecies.) I'm not sure if it happens in the movie, though, as I've only seen that once and don't remember it.

So big spoiler:

Spoiler

The prophecy is meaningless. It doesn't mean jack. The only reason any of this is happening is because Voldemort became obsessed with it.

 

[marrec]

It sets up the final film in a very loose way that you could have probably guessed anyway. It was badly done in the books, but in the films they respond to it by pretty much ignoring it completely.

I've gotten this far in these movies that are all based on the source material provided by on JK Rowling and so far EVERY ONE has been pretty badly written. The action is great in some, the characters are all interesting, but the plot is horrible.

Is it ANY better in the books?

 

[Tookay]

One of the better movies, made from the worst book. Although the teenage angst, obnoxious characters, dumb contrivances, meandering nature of plot and kind of dumb twist (the revelation of the prophecy is a major "so what?" moment) is still there in some form, the movie tones most of it down and hones in thematically on what separates Harry from Voldemort better than the novel did.

 

[dangerbyrnes]

I agree with you, this is one of the better harry potter movies. i think the next two are a little... i don't know depressing? the movies get progressively more dark and gloomy, and it kinda becomes a drag. but luckily i think they redeemed it in the deathly hallows part 2.

oh also, the reason he didn't get in trouble for blowing up his aunt was because he was underage in POA. only adult wizards get in serious trouble for using magic in the normal world. i think i'm remembering that right.

Sirius' death didn't feel as huge and emotional as it was in the book. Maybe that's just me, though.

oh yeah, i forgot about this. theres like a quick flash from bellatrix's wand and he falls into the mirror thing. and then i was just like... wait what. he's dead.... no....

 

[black_13]

I just finished watching all the movies. Personally I really didn't like The Order. Compared to Goblet it just seemed much less interesting aside from the final fight.

 

[marrec]

I just finished watching all the movies. Personally I really didn't like The Order. Compared to Goblet it just seemed much less interesting aside from the final fight.

Stuff happened in this one though. In Goblet it was a bunch of really boring challenges strung together with the subplot of Harry's dreams and the ridiculous Professor Moody. In this movie the plot movies forward in a consistent fashion.

 

[Quick]

Sirius' death didn't feel as huge and emotional as it was in the book. Maybe that's just me, though.

 

[Screaming_Gremlin]

While I don't think the movie was that great, I will say I liked it better than the book. Like Tookay said, a lot of the stupid parts of the book were still there, but they seemed toned down. In particular, I remember not being able to stand Harry in the book due to how played up his angry and angsty he was all of the time. Even if it was justified, it wasn't enjoyable to read. In the movies a lot of that was only just hinted at or just ignored which I appreciated.

 

[marrec]

Sirius' death didn't feel as huge and emotional as it was in the book. Maybe that's just me, though.

It was pretty obvious from the outset that he was going to die as well, all the screen time he was getting could only mean one thing.

Also, WTF was that arch?

 

[Max Armstrong]

My favourite from the series, 6th is kinda ... meh

 

[1138]

Love this line:

"It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom. The Aurors are on their way."

Voldemort was hyped for so many movies, and Dumbledore just casually walk in and call him Tom. Absolutely loved it!

 

[marrec]

Love this line:

"It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom. The Aurors are on their way."

Voldemort was hyped for so many movies, and Dumbledore just casually walk in and call him Tom. Absolutely loved it!

That was pretty boss ya, Dumbledore may be an ass, but he doesn't take shit from anyone especially some punk named Riddle.

Edit:

Really though, that last battle made the rest of the movie seem much better. Dragged everything else up. It was already a pretty good story so far, but the end felt so climactic and final. A great ending.

 

[dragonlife]

Terrible movie. I didn't like it at all.

 

[marrec]

Terrible movie. I didn't like it at all.

Do you not like it in the context of the book? I didn't read it so I don't really have anything to compare it to other than the previous movies. This seems to me to be far better than 2 and 4 and at least on par with 1.

I'd love to hear what you didn't like about it.

 

[beastmode]

I watched all the films recently. This one might be better than 1 or 2. Maybe. Azkaban, Goblet, Prince, and Deathly Hallows are all better movies.

Haven't read further than the first book.

 

[woolley]

The thing that I didn't like about this movie is that I didn't feel the emotional impact of Sirius dying. It didn't seem as huge of an event.

 

[marrec]

The thing that I didn't like about this movie is that I didn't feel the emotional impact of Sirius dying. It didn't seem as huge of an event.

They did kind of built it up throughout the entire film. It was predictable, but I don't think they could have done any better with the movies I think since they only had two movies to build up their relationship.

 

[ascii42]

Movie cut out most of the crap I didn't like, but it cut out a lot of really good stuff as well. Still, I thought they did a good job of squeezing a 900 page book into one movie. They often went the route of completely doing away with plotlines instead of putting bits of them in there, which was good.