Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a 2007 fantasy film directed by David Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on J. K. Rowling's 2003 novel of the same name. The fifth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, it was written by Michael Goldenberg (making this the only film in the series not to be scripted by Steve Kloves) and produced by David Heyman and David Barron. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Its story follows Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the Ministry of Magic is in denial of Lord Voldemort's return. The film is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and is followed by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009).

The film's budget was reportedly between £75 and 100 million ($150–200 million). Warner Bros. released the film in North America on 11 July 2007 and in the United Kingdom on 12 July, both in conventional and IMAX theatres; it is the first Potter film to be released in IMAX 3D.

Order of the Phoenix opened to a worldwide five-day opening of $333 million and grossed $942 million total, making it the second highest-grossing film of 2007. The film was nominated for two BAFTA Film Awards in 2008. It has been noted as a case of Hollywood accounting, as Warner Bros. claimed the film lost $167 million, despite its total gross.

Plot
Now in his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) learns that many in the wizarding community do not know the truth of his encounter with Lord Voldemort. Cornelius Fudge, minister of Magic, appoints his toady, Dolores Umbridge, as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, for he fears that professor Dumbledore will take his job. But her teaching is deficient and her methods, cruel, so Harry prepares a group of students to defend the school against a rising tide of evil.

Why It Gets to the Order of the Phoenix

 * 1) Awesome direction from David Yates, who will then become the main director of the rest of the franchise. Mainly in the action sequences.
 * 2) Despite the tone being darker than in previous films, there are still plenty of lighthearted, heartfelt, and funny moments.
 * 3) Great performances from the cast; especially Daniel Radcliffe, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, and Imelda Stauton.
 * 4) The soundtrack is excellent.
 * 5) Beautiful cinematography.
 * 6) Great editing.
 * 7) A bunch of memorable characters are introduced here, especially Luna Lovegood.
 * 8) We get to see some of Snape's past, which explains why he seems to have some kind of bias towards Harry and especially his father.
 * 9) Many memorable quotes, such as:
 * 10) * "Nice one James!"
 * 11) * "It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom"
 * 12) * "I must not tell lies"
 * 13) The battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort towards the end is downright epic, and is considered to be one of the best sequences in the saga.
 * 14) The battle between Dumbledore's army and the Death Eaters is also pretty intense, and gives a glimpse at what magical warfare looks like.
 * 15) Sirius' death is heartbreaking and the reaction Harry has along with the fact that there's no noise other then snippets of Harry sobbing doesn't help. In fact, they decided to mute his scream because they thought it was too harrowing to heard.
 * 16) A great setting for the visual construction of Hogwarts castle, the Room of Requirement, and the Ministry of Magic.
 * 17) The new locations are very well designed and memorable, such as the Ministry of Magic or the Hall of Prophecy.
 * 18) One of the two main antagonists, Dolores Umbridge, was designed to be as absolutely detestable as possible, and the film does a good job at fulfilling that. Imelda Staunton also does a great job at bringing the character to life.
 * 19) The scene where Harry remembers each of his best and worst moments of his life is very emotional.
 * 20) The film explores the theme of union and friendship well: While training the Dumbledore's army, Harry begins to trust and gain more friends like Neville, Luna and Ginny and not just Ron and Hermione, and begins to realize that he's not alone in the fight and can count on them.
 * 21) Like the previous film, this film is rated PG-13, and its still handled very well for the most part.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The pacing can be slow at times.
 * 2) A lot of stuff from the book was excluded from the movie; although it makes sense when you consider that Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series.
 * 3) A bunch of characters are rather underutilized, most notably Hagrid, Kreacher, and Draco Malfoy.
 * 4) The ending is pretty underwhelming and depressing, since Harry has lost his only paternal figure and Voldemort's return is now official.
 * 5) Some movie effects like Thestral creatures, Grawp (Harry's brother) and the broomstick flight scenes, have aged badly.
 * 6) Mean-spirited moments like Dudley and his gang mocking and laughing at Harry about his dead mother, and the deceased Cedric Diggory from Goblet of Fire. Although, this is accurate to the book.
 * 7) Even if Imelda Staunton did a very good job playing her, Dolores Umbridge is still widely-considered to be the worst and most hated character in the entire saga due to how mean-spirited, hypocrite, and downright evil she is. Not to mention that all of the scenes featuring her are extremely infuriating (And she's even worse in the book).
 * 8) Just like in the original novels which the film's based on, it's was revealed that Mad-Eye Moody was actually Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise for most of the fourth school year. When he's properly introduced in this film, not much is done with him. And despite Moody's development in Goblet of Fire, keep in mind that wasn't the real Moody. Sadly, the real Mad-Eye Moody remained very undeveloped, never coming into his own. As a result, it can be hard for some viewers to care about him.
 * 9) The dementors and death eaters have changed two years later after the third and fourth films.

Reception
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was met with positive reception, with many praising the darker story and the performances of the new characters. On Rotten Tomatoes, The film has a critic approval rating of 78%, and an audience approval rating of 81%. The site's critical consensus reads, "It's not easy to take the longest Harry Potter book and streamline it into the shortest HP movie, but director David Yates does a bang up job of it, creating an Order of the Phoenix that's entertaining and action-packed.". On Metacritic, the film has an average critic rating of 71/100, and an average user score of 7.3/10. On IMDb, the film has a rating of 7.5/10.

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