“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” finally premieres
One can almost feel waves of fan hysteria rising, as the screen version of the fifth installment of the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” arrives at local cinemas this week. The author of the bestselling series, British writer J.K. Rowling, is about to release the seventh and probably last book devoted to the popular boy wizard, yet she continues to tease readers all over the world, suggesting she might, after all, write an eighth book.
The fifth “Harry Potter” premiered on June 28 in Tokyo and caused a riot. Now, Warner Bros. studios, who has purchased the rights to all the novels, are preparing to film the sixth book, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” and will surely make a quick fortune.
While the first novel, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” was intended for children, it grew to become a bestseller among adults as well. The story moved in a darker direction with the release of each new volume, so that the last few novels can hardly be advised to read by small children. The fifth installment, in fact, is the gloomiest so far. The plot revolves around the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which by its design resembles the gothic universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Once again, the main intrigue twists the lives of Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends Ron and Hermione (played by Rupert Grint and Emma Watson), with those of the teachers and magicians at Hogwarts, who all have their secrets and intrigues. At the end of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” Harry informed the wizard world that Lord Voldemort had returned. However, most refuse to believe him and the official version is that Potter is either crazy or a liar, or both. A group of wizards, including the Hogwarts teachers and headmaster Dumbledore, who know that he tells the truth, create a secret organization called the Order of the Phoenix to withstand Voldemort and his evil Death Eaters together.
As with all Harry Potter flicks, the movie is extremely stylized and when watching it you plunge into a world of gothic castles with dark stairways leading to secret chambers, studded with speaking portraits and statues, all shown against the background of emerald-green Scottish landscapes. Life at Hogwarts resembles life at modern universities, with dazzling balls, competitive sports championships, ceremonial traditions, and of course the eternal trouble with exams that all students go through.
As has already become a norm with Potter films, some parts of the novel were left behind, but taking into account that the director (David Yates) and screenwriters had to cram 870 pages into a movie that lasts two and a half hours, it seems quite understandable. Such omissions, while not harming the basic plot too much, make it a fast-paced action movie, where everything happens so quickly that you don’t have a chance to savor the details. The fans already compare wizard battles shown in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” to those in “Star Wars” and predict that by the end of the seventh volume, Potter is doomed to repeat the destiny of Anakin Skywalker and transform into some kind of Darth Vader, the new Dark Lord. Well, you never know…
Various cinemas. See movies for details.
