Still trying to come to grips with the horrific death he witnessed at the end of the pervious term, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) returns Hogwarts for his fifth year of schooling. Wishing to quell the reports of the return of Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), the Ministry of Magic has taken a more proactive role in the school’s operations, going so far as to appoint one of its own, Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), as the new Defense Against the Dark Art teacher.

Umbridge tells her students they face no real danger, so she refuses to instruct them in the use of magic. Taking matters into their own hands, Harry and his friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) secretly bring together a group of students and begin practicing their defensive skills.

CRITIQUE

I was a little baffled by critics’ reactions to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It received some of the most glowing reviews of any installment so far, yet some who had championed all of the previous films came down hard on it.

Personally, I cannot fathom how anyone could prefer Sorcerer’s Stone or Chamber of Secrets over this movie. Phoenix doesn’t reach the same heights as its immediate predecessors (it’s not as masterfully cinematic as Alfonso Cuarón’s Prisoner of Azkaban or as emotionally charged as Mike Newell’s Goblet of Fire), but it’s by no means worse than the two awful entries helmed by Chris Columbus. No, I think this one rests somewhere in the middle; it excels in some areas, but it fails in others.

As far as J.K. Rowling’s books go, Order of the Phoenix is something of a transitional tale. The ending of Goblet of Fire represented a turning point in the lives of the main characters, and Phoenix builds upon this, introducing new characters and setting up the major conflicts that will play out over the course of the final two books. It’s a very long tale (even Rowling admits it’s too long), and there are times when you wonder if it’s ever going to go anywhere.

The movie, on the other hand, is the shortest entry in the series so far, ruthlessly discarding subplots and characters. And therein lies the problem. Not much happens here, and at the end you have to wonder if any of it was really necessary. Aside from the introduction of one character, the death of another, and an important realization by a third, most of which occurs in the last twenty minutes, there’s nothing of real consequence here.

In stripping down the narrative to its barest, screenwriter Michael Goldenberg (co-writer of Contact and the 2003 version of Peter Pan), who took over for Steve Kloves for this installment, has in a way stripped away almost everything that mattered. The new characters are give short shrift (as are some of the returning ones), and the plot basically follows the same path throughout: something is briefly introduced early on, then is quickly wrapped up in the second hour (Hagrid’s brother is little more than deus ex machina device here). It’s almost as if they filmed the treatment instead of the script, or they adapted the Reader’s Digest version of the book.     

It’s certainly possible to accomplish what the movie needs to do in its running time. Look at The Empire Strikes Back; there’s a movie in which--at first glance--not much really seems to happen in terms of plot, but when you look back on it you realize everything happened. Here I get the feeling people will look back and wish the movie had been longer, taking time to flesh out the characters and plot. I know fans have complained about missing bits from each movie, but this is the first time it’s really been detrimental to the series as a whole.

I think we all know (or suspect) that there are things down the road that won’t have the necessary weight, impact, or force because certain characters and story threads haven’t been properly amplified. I know I’m looking at this from the perspective of having read all of the books (although I felt the same when I saw the movie opening day, which was before I read the final book), a luxury the filmmakers didn’t have, but Order of the Phoenix too often feels like an ordinary sequel, not a chapter in a larger tale, and that was the wrong way to go.

The change in screenwriters didn’t work out so well, but the rotating door of directors certainly didn’t hurt. David Yates, who up until now had worked primarily in British television, acquits him quite nicely. There are some rough edges here and there (like Columbus, there are moments where Yates lingers on the effects too much), but it’s hard to believe this is his first big feature, much less his first big-scale fantasy feature.

Moreover, the pacing is relentless, the action set-pieces are handled with great skill (the final sequence at the Ministry of Magic is fantastic), and he’s able to add some resonance to the quieter moments. And even if there were no other reason to pat him on the back, Yates deserves enormous praise for bringing Imelda Staunton into the fold. She’s fantastic here, and by that I mean I wanted to choke the life out of her with my bare hands, which is exactly the way it should be. I can’t wait to see...never mind. Don’t want to spoil anything.

THE VIDEO

I can remember sitting in the theater and thinking this movie would look fantastic in high definition. Was I ever right. The 2.40:1/1080p transfer on this HD-30 disc is absolutely flawless. Cinematographer Slawomir Idziak (who also shot Black Hawk Down) imbues the movie with a look to match its tone; there’s hardly a bright scene here, with most of the movie bathed in deep blacks (the walls in the bowels of the Ministry look as if they’ve been carved from obsidian).

There are some primary colors on display, and they’re vibrantly saturated; when they appear they provide a nice contrast against the dominant blacks and grays (as usual, the manifestations of the various spells are strikingly colorful). The level of detail is often staggering, even in the darkest scenes. This is easily one of the year’s best next-gen transfers.

THE AUDIO

Warner has outfitted this release with a superb English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround track. Incredibly active (not to mention loud) from the opening titles to the end credits, the audio provides a fantastically immersive experience. Surround action, from ambient sounds and directional effects on down to the channeling of the score, is perfect.

Bass is often thunderous (there is one moment where you expect it to be but it’s not, but this is a feint that pays off later), and dialogue, which smartly shifts sonic quality depending on setting, is always clear and intelligible. And if you’re looking for new demo sequences, just jump to either the Azkaban breakout or the final battle.

Other audio formats include English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Optional subtitles include English SDH, French and Spanish. Due to space limitations, the HD DVD does not offer the additional dozen foreign language soundtracks and subtitles available on the Blu-ray edition.

THE EXTRAS

Several deleted scenes (11 minutes total) are also included. Most are extended rather than deleted scenes, and there’s really nothing of substance contained within them, although a couple do shine the spotlight on Emma Thompson, which isn’t a bad thing. 

Trailing Tonks (20 minutes) is an extended set tour conducted by costar Natalia Tena (who plays Nymphadora Tonks), who is followed by a camera crew as she wanders around the movie’s massive soundstages at England’s famed Leavesden Studios.  

The interactive featurette Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing opens with an introduction from director David Yates and editor Mark Day, then segues into an option that allows the viewer to re-edit a scene from the movie.

High-Def Exclusives:

A series of twenty-eight short featurettes, collectively called Focus Points, presented in high definition, cover various aspects of the movie, including the cast, visual effects, costuming, sets, etc. Taken as a whole, these featurettes run slightly more than an hour and add up to a fairly comprehensive look at the production. There are three viewing options: in one lump, as individual featurettes, or you can chose to watch the movie itself and branch off into an individual Focus Point at the appropriate juncture. (These Focus Points also make up the bulk of the video material in the In-Movie Experience.)

In-Movie Experience: This picture-in-picture commentary features comments from the younger cast members, trivia bits, and branching to “Focus Points” segments.

Also featured on this HD DVD are three Web-enabled features that sport true next-gen interactivity: Live Community Screening allows people to host and participate in scheduled screenings with their players and also chat while watching the film, Sharing Your Favorite Scenes gives owners of the disc the ability to assemble and share bookmarked scenes with registered online users, and Downloads presents consumers with stuff to buy Harry Potter related products,

FINAL THOUGHTS

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a slight disappointment, but this disc certainly isn’t. Even if the movie were a total failure, the technical quality here would be enough to make this one worth picking up, so I have absolutely no qualms recommending it.