Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Not bad, in fact quite enjoyable considering that for half the film I really had to go to the toilet (a fact which ruined Casino Royale for me the first time around). I would dare to say that this film was actually 'very good' and a worthwhile 30 mile journey to the halfway house cinema that serves as the regular review den for myself and Cheshire Puss (the third reviewer for this site who has yet to bother his arse signing up).

**SPOILER ALERT**

I can't point out what I perceive to have been faults with this film without giving away certain elements of the plot, so please be sure that you want to read further before you do, and afterwards don't say that you weren't warned.

Ok, Sirius Black, the very last remnant of Harry Potter's family dies quite suddenly in battle. Fair enough. There's a bit of anger from Harry and then a short confrontation with Voldemort then the entire thing is essentially glossed over. WTF. The last remnant of his family gone and at the end all they have to show for it is a conversation with Dumbledore that lasts less than a minute, somewhat anti climactic and this conversation also fails to acknowledge another serious plot point from the novel series (read it yourself). To be honest the ending feels very rushed, but nowhere near as much as Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith, I should stress this. Harry Potter 5's ending was rushed but at least it made sense. I could say that Helena Bohnam Carter deserved more screen time but it is clear from this film that she will have a much larger role in the sequel, much like 'The Prisoner of Azkeban' was Gary Oldman's introductory piece so too was this for HBC (Oh God I sooooo wanted Gary Oldman to do something evil, even just some little thing so that I could remember that he is GARY OLDMAN, THE MAN TO WHOM EVIL IS BUT A PLAYTHING). I also thought that the Voldemort/Harry mental link could be done have been a bit darker, but that really was more personal preference and probably would have raised the BBFC rating of the show. The 'who sent the Dementors thing' at the start of the movie is completely glossed over with an 'Oh it must have been Voldemort', if you haven't read the book I'll tell you now, it wasn't. And the involvement of Lucius Malfoy and the other Death Eaters was woefully under-explained, for all intents and purposes they were just hanging out there for the craic. Kudos for the Miss Umbridge part though, they really, really did make me hate her.

Wow, I found more wrong there than I thought I would, and I'm not even a fan of the books.

Rating: A not undeserved B