Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Movie) [Archive]

ghall

Jul 11, 2007, 04:12 PM

Turkish

Jul 11, 2007, 04:14 PM

Who's seen it? What did you think?

Just saw it and I though it was okay. Didn't really leave out anything significant (oh my god, Goblet of Fire was a disaster :D), but they changed a lot of major things.

If you want, you can read my complete review here (http://homepage.mac.com/graham_hall/ghall/page0/files/7719e4bad42494e06f799122021d9faa-40.html).

Going to see it Friday night.

I think Prisoner of Azkaban was the best-done Potter film to date. The whole thing just felt like you were there.

OnceUGoMac

Jul 11, 2007, 04:47 PM

Who's seen it? What did you think?

Just saw it and I though it was okay. Didn't really leave out anything significant (oh my god, Goblet of Fire was a disaster :D), but they changed a lot of major things.

If you want, you can read my complete review here (http://homepage.mac.com/graham_hall/ghall/page0/files/7719e4bad42494e06f799122021d9faa-40.html).

Edit: I added a poll. I thought it would be good for people who don't want to post in a Harry Potter thread. :p

You should consider studying film adaptation. Perhaps, you'll understand more clearly why fitting 900 pages of text into a 180 page screenplay won't work or why making two separate films isn't viable commercially.

ghall

Jul 11, 2007, 05:55 PM

You should consider studying film adaptation. Perhaps, you'll understand more clearly why fitting 900 pages of text into a 180 page screenplay won't work or why making two separate films isn't viable commercially.

I totally understand that fitting the WHOLE book into a 2 1/2 hour block is difficult, but some changes were quite unnecessary. For example, Kreacher didn't play as large of a role as he did in the book. It never really became clear how Sirius and Co. knew that Harry and Co. went to the department of Mysteries, though in the book it was made quite clear that Kreacher told them (I'm pretty sure about that, it's been a while since I read book 5). I think they should have just left him out, or possibly just shown him once. I really disliked that, but it wasn't quite as horrid as Goblet of Fire (don't even get me started on that).

jellz

Jul 11, 2007, 06:59 PM

I saw the midnight showing...it was alright. Those 2hrs+passed by really fast, so I guess I kind of wanted more.

christall109

Jul 11, 2007, 09:41 PM

Well my question is plain in simple.

I just had the privilege of seeing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, so did you like it?

I loved it. I think it is the best one they've made since. I would however think it could have been longer. This whole thing of making Harry Potter movies under 2 hours and 30 minutes really annoys me. People sat through Lord of the Rings (3 and 1/2 hours long) and Pirates of the Caribbean (almost 3 hours long). So we all love HP and we all will definately sit through it.

For the most part it felt rushed, but they did put a 825 page book into a bout 2 hours and 20 minutes.

What are your thoughts?

jng

Jul 11, 2007, 09:51 PM

I saw the midnight showing...it was alright. Those 2hrs+passed by really fast, so I guess I kind of wanted more.

Agreed.

I totally understand that fitting the WHOLE book into a 2 1/2 hour block is difficult, but some changes were quite unnecessary. For example, Kreacher didn't play as large of a role as he did in the book. It never really became clear how Sirius and Co. knew that Harry and Co. went to the department of Mysteries, though in the book it was made quite clear that Kreacher told them (I'm pretty sure about that, it's been a while since I read book 5). I think they should have just left him out, or possibly just shown him once. I really disliked that, but it wasn't quite as horrid as Goblet of Fire (don't even get me started on that).

I don't think many of things you mentioned were significant ghall. The film runs smoothly without those details and I don't think they add to the storyline. In fact, I think I prefer the film to the book. The 5th one is the only one that I can't stomach to do a reread of.

Books and films are different. In the book, had that info been left out people would have wondered. But I think the movie had a quick pace and it was just clear.

I thought the Globlet of Fire was fine.

There was somethings about this movie that bothered me:
- Harry et al didn't patch things up with Cho at the end
- Too much Umbridge. Not enough Voldemort
- Neville's role/fate downplayed
- Luna too looney for me
- Not enough Hagrid
- Ending/Resolution too quick

But none of it ruined the movie.
And to be fair, this was the shortest of all Potter movies and they managed to get alot in.

I also think they're rushing the films more to keep in line with the books and also because the actors are growing up quickly.

Half blood prince is due next year, no?

samh004

Jul 11, 2007, 10:12 PM

I saw it last night with my mum and sister and quite liked it, having not read the firth book too, I was completely in the dark for a change about what was due to happen in it.

I can't say therefore, how much it might have missed out, but I'm certain it didn't do as badly as the third (or was it second) film, where the director cut the last 3 or 4 chapters out from the book, not even finishing the school year, that pissed me off at the time.

I mentioned it in my b log, but by no means was it a film review other than I liked it, it was good, I liked that there were more special effects and more action that previous films.

Can't wait for the next one...

zblaxberg

Jul 11, 2007, 10:16 PM

I thought it was good ...umbridge was a crackhead lol...It was definitely not one of their best ones though.

zblaxberg

Jul 11, 2007, 10:18 PM

There was somethings about this movie that bothered me:
- Harry et al didn't patch things up with Cho at the end
- Too much Umbridge. Not enough Voldemort
- Neville's role/fate downplayed
- Luna too looney for me
- Not enough Hagrid
- Ending/Resolution too quick

These are the exact same things I didn't like about this movie. I don't think it was that good.

AliensAreFuzzy

Jul 11, 2007, 10:58 PM

I went to see the midnight showing last night and I have to say, I thought it was an excellent movie. The time just flew right by.
I never read any of the books, which makes me happy most of the time when seeing movies based on books. Since I have no real expectations of what should be included, etc. I'm not disappointed when they leave something "major" from the book out.
One last thing, they did an excellent job of making you hate Umbridge. I was fidgeting in my seat because I was so angry at her. I just wanted to punch her in the face and then yell at her for being an idiot.

ghall

Jul 11, 2007, 11:16 PM

I saw the midnight showing...it was alright. Those 2hrs+passed by really fast, so I guess I kind of wanted more.

Yeah, it sure did go by fast.

But none of it ruined the movie.

No, it was a very good movie as far as movies go. I'm very critical of movies that are based on books, sometimes too much. You should hear me have a go at Lord of the Rings. :)

Nayrb

Jul 11, 2007, 11:22 PM

Somewhere between liked and loved it. Books to movies never goes perfectly, but the movie turned out great. There were a few things that were dropped from the movie that was a little annoying such as the prefects status and the whole Cho relationship was different.
Umbridge was better than I was expecting, you get the whole description from the book and how much you just want to knock her in the face and then the movie trailer seemed to make her nicer. Thankfully that didn't prove true in the movie, still wanted to knock her. Overall it was good and I liked it.

kitki83

Jul 12, 2007, 01:35 AM

I think everyones opinion will change if they saw the Imax version where the las 30minutes of the film was in 3d, iam sorry that WAS SOO AWESOMEEE!!!!

I think they did a good job for a movie thats meant to cater to readers and nonereaders.

I was left with my heart pounding like crazy. Even my friend said he couldnt handle it and hes a big guy.

xfiftyfour

Jul 12, 2007, 01:39 AM

Meh, it was okay. MovieCutter and I saw it Monday night (at a screening), and I was a little disappointed. I think they could have made Sirius's death a little more dramatic, since the book made me want to cry... and the main fight scene was pretty underwhelming as well. The rest of it was done well, and I certainly wasn't bored, but.. meh.

MovieCutter

Jul 12, 2007, 03:03 PM

I think they could have made Sirius's death a little more dramatic, since the book made me want to cry...

Did I not teach you anything!!!??? GAH!!! ;):p

xfiftyfour

Jul 12, 2007, 03:10 PM

Did I not teach you anything!!!??? GAH!!! ;):p
CRAP!

Swarmlord

Jul 12, 2007, 03:52 PM

I liked it. Definitely got me pumped up for the arrival of the last book!

kretzy

Jul 13, 2007, 11:56 AM

I absolutely loved it, surprisingly. I just got back from seeing it and my expectations weren't high - I hadn't heard many good things nor did I think the previous movies were outstanding, but this one was. The acting and casting was the best yet and I think of all the movies it stayed truest to the book.

Now I REALLY can't wait until the book is launched next week!

nbs2

Jul 13, 2007, 12:07 PM

Meh. It was too dark to follow the action for most of the time, and there were little things that I'm not sure how they are going to play out in the next movie (by not even hinting at them here, they are going to take more time to explain in later movies - putting things off adds up). The dark think really bothered me. You can set a dark mood without actually making the thing too dark to see. At this pace, the last movie is going ot be so dark, it'll be a black screen.

The nice thing about the five option poll, is I just voted for where it ranks in my top five. GAA! I messed up - I need to revote! I was supposed to vote OK, not didn't like it. Everybody pretend I voted right.

rockthecasbah

Jul 13, 2007, 04:27 PM

I saw it last night and loved it. In the past i had enjoyed the first two, thought the third was "meh" and just hated the fourth, so it was nice to see they changed the style greatly. I thoroughly enjoyed how umbridge was portrayed but my only gripe would be there were maybe too many haunting dream sequences and montage type things... still quite fun though.

appletime

Jul 13, 2007, 04:56 PM

It was great! Definitely one of the best Harry Potter films (a huge improvement from the 4th movie which I thought was atrocious).

Alan Rickman as Prof. Snape is genius as is Imelda Staunton as Prof. Umbridge. Oh and did anyone else get a bit dizzy from the Daily Prophet news montage that kept zooming across the screen? That was also quite annoying.

appletime

Jul 13, 2007, 05:04 PM

I think of all the movies it stayed truest to the book.

Really? I actually think otherwise... I was surprised that Cho Chang was the one who reveals Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge and that Neville's parents were dead and not mentally incapacitated as in the books.

Swarmlord

Jul 13, 2007, 05:05 PM

nbs2

Jul 13, 2007, 05:14 PM

Really? I actually think otherwise... I was surprised that Cho Chang was the one who reveals Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge and that Neville's parents were dead and not mentally incapacitated as in the books.

No, they're alive in the movie - the difference is that rather than Harry finding out about it in the fourth (?) movie, they decided to put it off. Which meant Harry needed to be the only to know for a little while. In this, the rest of the gang was supposed to findout while at St. Mungo's. But, instead, Neville just told Harry. Maybe they'll find a way for the rest of the gang to know in the next movie. It's little things like that that worry me about the 7th movie. Something that might have taken a few seconds of movie time get cut out, but their neccesity to the story means it has to be added later. For example - suppose Book 7 reveals that RAB really is R. Black and the locket seen in passing in Book 5 is the horcrux. By passing that up in this, movie, they will have to take time to introduce it in a later movie. Thus forcing more cuts.

I don't mind condensing a book for a movie, and I often appreciate it. But, when cutting, if something seems important or may come back to being important, even making it a background item that at least establishes the fact in some way makes later points easier to swallow. The Neville thing was important to establish his relationship with Lestrange. If Dumbledore had mentioned it in passing after the trip in the pensive in Movie 4, it would have made the Neville scene shorter, less awkward and less out of place in this one.

twoodcc

Jul 14, 2007, 08:36 PM

i thought it was ok

mkrishnan

Jul 14, 2007, 08:43 PM

It had a few touching moments, particularly later in the movie. The first half or so was tiresome. Overall, pretty good.

macmama

Jul 15, 2007, 12:09 AM

I really enjoyed it. I think the adaptation for the screen was excellent. The new screenwriter had a great handle for what needed to stay and what could be trimmed.

Turkish

Jul 15, 2007, 12:53 PM

Probably my least favorite of all the HP movies so far.

Just too dark.

And yes i know it's a dark book, but it still has it's moments of humor, which the director saw fit to leave out almost completely.

I felt like I'd run over a dog after I saw this movie...

And these kids aren't kids anymore...getting harder and harder to pass them off as their character's age.

Anyway.

steamboat26

Jul 15, 2007, 01:49 PM

I liked it, but next to Transformers is wasn't that great. They just left out so much of the book. Although if they had put in more details, the movie probably would have pushed 4 hours :eek:

Loge

Jul 15, 2007, 05:17 PM

Really? I actually think otherwise... I was surprised that Cho Chang was the one who reveals Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge

I enjoyed it apart from making Cho the one who blabbed about DA. I also thought they might at least have kept some mention of the different houses.

aspro

Jul 15, 2007, 05:26 PM

It was a good movie, but I felt it left out too much of the book. I'm not sure I what exactly it would've been much better to have in the film as if you put in all the bits I wanted to see the movie would rival the Lord of the Rings extended edition in length. :)

question fear

Jul 15, 2007, 06:27 PM

QuarterSwede

Jul 15, 2007, 06:44 PM

I thought it was the best of all the movies...it flowed faster and more smoothly than the other ones. Probably because it was clearly adapted and not dragged rote from the book. If you think about it, a story needs to be developed to the medium it is in. Look at the many, many, incarnations of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". It is different as a radio play than it is as a BBC adaptation than it is as a book than it is as a full length movie adaptation. Yet the underlying story is the same. I think if more adaptations followed that concept they would be much better quality.
I completely agree. I really didn't like the book because there was too much filler (Creature & Dobby for instance). The movie really excelled because they dropped all that needless crap and got down to the meat & potatoes of the story. And the end battle in IMAX 3D was freaking amazing.

QuarterSwede

Jul 15, 2007, 06:47 PM

No, they're alive in the movie - the difference is that rather than Harry finding out about it in the fourth (?) movie, they decided to put it off. Which meant Harry needed to be the only to know for a little while. In this, the rest of the gang was supposed to findout while at St. Mungo's. But, instead, Neville just told Harry. Maybe they'll find a way for the rest of the gang to know in the next movie. It's little things like that that worry me about the 7th movie. Something that might have taken a few seconds of movie time get cut out, but their neccesity to the story means it has to be added later. For example - suppose Book 7 reveals that RAB really is R. Black and the locket seen in passing in Book 5 is the horcrux. By passing that up in this, movie, they will have to take time to introduce it in a later movie. Thus forcing more cuts.

I don't mind condensing a book for a movie, and I often appreciate it. But, when cutting, if something seems important or may come back to being important, even making it a background item that at least establishes the fact in some way makes later points easier to swallow. The Neville thing was important to establish his relationship with Lestrange. If Dumbledore had mentioned it in passing after the trip in the pensive in Movie 4, it would have made the Neville scene shorter, less awkward and less out of place in this one.
I really hope that bloody locket isn't a Horcrux because it's way too obvious (what's less is that Harry would be one himself). I really doubt Rowling would have let them cut out such an important part. For instance, the only reason Kreature is in the movie is because of what happens in Book 6. Although, it would be really annoying if they changed the story line like they did in LoTR with the gifts.

jimN

Jul 15, 2007, 08:30 PM

There was somethings about this movie that bothered me:
- Harry et al didn't patch things up with Cho at the end

The comment about the Veritas serum was enough to establish this for me without there having to be an additional scene.

- Too much Umbridge. Not enough Voldemort

No different from the book really. Umbrage is threatening Hogwarts and in many ways is the more immediate baddie, especially given that she's supposed to work for the good guys (the Ministry).

- Neville's role/fate downplayed

Was it even mentioned that he was in the Prophecy too? This could mean that it's all a bit of a Red Herring in the books as I think that that Rowling is heavily involved with the film adaptations and if this was going to be essential towards the plotting of book 7 she would have said something - we'll know in less than a week.

- Luna too looney for me

Not really, she didn't even mention her dad's mag the Quibbler, she's just shown reading it upside down when she's first introduced.

- Not enough Hagrid

Again, not dissimilar to the book. To be honest I find him one of the more dull characters. I have to admit that I thought that the CGI on Grawp was weak and that he was too big.

- Ending/Resolution too quick

A little but better than the usual 10 minutes of exposition from Dumbledore.

I certainly enjoyed the film, not it just remains to be seen if JK can tie it all together next weekend.