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Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix
is strong on special effects but the plot is poor,
SO the Pottering goes on and on and one seems to have lost count of them but the latest J.K.Rowling novel-turned-film is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. If Werner Herzog tried to humanise Dracula in Nosferatu, here Rowling makes the witches less fearsome which is commendable. But at least, an absorbing drama should have been strung together. No wonder Emma Watson, one of the three leading players in this Harry Potter series, thought she’d had enough. So do we. Our hero Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is really low after he is accused of lying when he uses magic outside class to deal with an attack by two dementors. He is expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry and he hasn’t heard from his two close friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermoine Granger (Emma Watson).That they turn up later is not surprising or else there would be no film. There’s a new teacher appointed at the School, Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) and she is planted there by the evil Lord Voldermont (Ralph Fiennes). There are other villains too like the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) which means that Harry’s friend the venerable headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) is forced into a tight corner and so is Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane). It is a long-winded story, all 150 minutes of it, and Michael Goldenberg’s screenplay crawls in the first half. Poor establishing shots. It is only in the latter half that director David Yates infuses new blood with a variety of gags. There are flying dragons, pestros, midgets and all sorts of weird creatures coming out of the wood. What they do or why is, however, quite inexplicable. "You are so weak, so vulnerable," Harry is told by his detractors who cast aspersions on his parents but it is not easy to follow the story. But the special-effects team works wonders and Slawomir Idziak’s camerawork is sweeping. When Hermoine is held in the palm by a Caliban-like monster (shades of King Kong) she screams "put me down, right now" and the monster obeys. Hurrah for women’s lib. But that raises the biggest laugh in this big, long damp squib. Of course, Harry Potter has a legion of readers and let’s not try and detract from this "marketing miracle." Apart from two Indian girls they have an Oriental Cho Chand (Katty Lasund) who has a crush on Harry. But to describe the film in one word, it would be ...exhausting.
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