Muted magic
'Order of the Phoenix' favors emotions over effects
"I just feel so angry all the time."
That familiar adolescent outcry is spoken by our young hero in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," and he has more reason than most teenagers to feel frustrated.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Running time: 128 minutes
Rated: PG-13 (violence, scary situations)
Carrying guilt over a friend's death, conspired against by the Ministry of Magic, kept at a distance by his mentor Professor Dumbledore and afraid of another confrontation with the evil wizard Voldemort, Harry (a suddenly grown Daniel Radcliffe) is afraid, paranoid and lonely.
You wouldn't be surprised if he slammed his bedroom door at Hogwarts and starting blaring music.
If the Harry Potter films have often worked as otherworldly echoes of childhood and adolescence - by mythologizing the wonders and fears of those years - "Order of the Phoenix" does so in a more introspective way.
New director David Yates spends much of the movie inside Harry's tortured head, forgoing the visual pyrotechnics that dominated the last outing, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."
This time, the magic mostly takes place around the edges. When Harry's friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) - still delightfully on the precipice of their own romance - eavesdrop on a conversation in another room, they conjure up a floating ear that sneaks near the open doorway. Later, a mistletoe magically appears just when Harry needs it.
The series hardly needs new characters - the last film introduced so many it began to feel like a parade - but "Order of the Phoenix" gives us a magnificent one: Professor Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who slowly takes over at Hogwarts.
Staunton, a British veteran who was nominated for an Oscar for 2004's "Vera Drake," is a sweetly sinister presence. Her Umbridge delivers threats in a honey-coated voice and issues strict decrees from a pink-tinged office that is decorated with portraits of meowing cats.
She takes her tea with about four spoonfuls of sugar, then drinks it while causing castigating words to literally burn on her pupils' skin.
With Umbridge in charge at Hogwarts, Harry's entire world seems to be crumbling, and that's the feeling "Order of the Phoenix" gives. Even though crises are averted in the climax - another showdown with Voldemort - you're left with the impression that only a temporary peace has been restored.
As a result, you leave the theater with a sense of anticipation for the next Harry Potter installment, something I haven't felt in quite some time.
"Goblet of Fire," particularly, left me exhausted. The effects were overwhelming and the narrative was beginning to slip beyond my grasp.
Yet "Order of the Phoenix" - streamlined, psychological, dare I say reserved? - wooed me back. It's as if the series has paused to rest, lay off the magic a bit and prepare for its final, two-film push.
It's just the breather we all needed.
Read more by Josh Larsen at LarsenOnFilm.com. Contact him at jplarsen@scn1.com or 630-416-5206.