Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ::
by William the Bloody
If you are totally unfamiliar with the Harry Potter franchise... too bad. I'm NOT summing it all up again. Blah, blah orphan... blah evil wizard... et cetera. Buy the books and watch the first four movies before the rest of us murder you, okay?
This is Harry's fifth year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and one of the most important as it's the year students take their O.W.L. exams, which are key in assisting in future job placement in the wizarding world. However, the fifth year students fear that they will be at a disadvantage for these tests (and in the world abroad) due to the fact that the increasingly paranoid and ignorant Minister of Magic administration has started to interfere at Hogwarts for fear that Headmaster Dumbledore will seek to take the Minister position by force with an army of combat trained students. Dumbledore's concerns couldn't be father from such a thing, what with newly restored evil wizard Voldemort at large, but the Ministry has nonetheless infiltrated the teaching staff with one of its own as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor and a series of increasingly hindering Educational Decrees in place to make certain no student will be able to assist Dumbledore in a coup. Desperate not only for education, but also to be able to fend for their own lives if faced with Voldemort or one of his devoted followers, Harry and his friends start a study group in order to learn Dark Arts defense. Tensions ride high in the Hogwart's fabled halls which pits student against teacher, and the ultimate defiance of government gone mad could lead to someone losing their life.
The Good: Once again, I really love this film series because so far they have yet to fail in assembling the entirety of their increasingly MASSIVE ensemble cast, and they still delivered them all! It's so very refreshing to see all of the same faces playing the same parts for a change, you have no idea. I would also like to congratulate them on the absolutely perfect casting done on new characters Luna Lovegood, Bellatrix Lestrange, Nymphadora Tonks, and "evil" Dark Arts teacher Delores Umbridge. Really, well done. They most certainly looked and played the parts well. The acting all around was the best yet, with our core trio delivering their best performances to date. I also really liked that they found a way to work in Hogwart's elements which were introduced in the third film, like the giant clock pendulum, as it really did work to tie the movies in as a series. I appreciate little continuity grabs like that. Once again they did manage to work in actual bits of dialogue from the novel ("just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon...") which is always lovely in adapted works like this. They also had some neat little on the side bits for book fans, such as a moment when Hermione tells Harry that Cho, a girl he likes, couldn't keep her eyes off him, you can see in the background Ginny's not-so-pleased reaction to this news, as novel fans know Ginny's still got a crush on old Harry. The special effects keep on getting better, and the wizard battle at the end looks terrific.
The Bad: It felt to me as though the makers of this particular installment were taking for granted that their audience had indeed read the novels, which would leave film viewers in the lurch on some counts. Such as, Harry is attacked by Dementors, but in the film we never learn why. Also, at the end Dumbledore's expository speech to Harry was practically nonexistent and as a result left many threads hanging and questions unanswered, when it's usually such a handy device to let us muggles at home in on some behind the scenes wizard world policy and facts. Bellatrix Lestrange was brilliantly played, but drastically underused. A big star like Helena Bonham-Carter and she has hardly any lines at all! Also, her "fight" with Sirius Black was much less than was established in the book. And while I'm on it, the "passing through the veil" bit, didn't quite play out well for me. The book depicted it as he fell behind the veil and didn't come back out, which made it sound quite like their was some doubt as to whether or not the character in question was dead, but in the film, the way he flies back, midair, feet off the ground and all, there was really no question at all. The aftermath with Remus and Harry was spot on, though.
All in all, I enjoyed it, but unfortunately this film, like the book on which it was based, is my least favourite in the series so far. It's really quite impressive, the stuff from the book they managed to keep in, much of which I was so sure they'd have to cut (re: Fred and George's snack boxes, young Severus Snape, Grawp) but surprisingly didn't. It's probably the most accurate translation of the book you could ask for and still clock in at a reasonable theater experience, but as with the book, is actually fairly dull. There's so much exam stuff, studying, and educational decrees going on, that you don't get any real action until just about the very end, which kind of makes it a tedious film if you're not wholeheartedly into Harry Potter.
B+
