Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix


I can’t consider myself a Harry Potter fan, well, not as the ones that seem to be so passionate and know everything about the characters, the story and whatever else there is to know by fans. But let me share some basic facts starting with no I have not read one book and I will not read any in the near future, I’ve seen all the movies and finally I was able to see the last installment. The one I have enjoyed more is the one before this one where the kids became teenagers and the story was more appealing to all audiences.

This new Harry Potter is darker and according to me, deals with grownup situations that are presented as metaphors in a children story. Dialogue is more interesting, well the truth is that there is more dialogue than before and that it should have made it more appealing to me; but it was a sleeper.

For an hour or so the movie tells stories that are less interesting or maybe is that I missed all the action that previous installment had sprinkled through the movie making them easier to watch as entertainment. Yes, the rhythm in previous installments between action and story telling was better than in this one.

Here the action is left to the end and is grandiose, special effects are outstanding and the climax is very intense and have to admit that I woke up and felt all the excitement of Harry, all the gang, the villains and Dumbledore doing their thing.

Then being more a Star Wars generation, I have to say the climax had too many similarities to Star Wars than I think it should have, as the battle between Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort it was almost the same as the one between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obviously with all the new technology this one looked more spectacular, but even the color code was the same with evil in red and good in blue. For a moment I thought I was the only one thinking about this relationship but reading reviews found that others established it too.

On the good side I just loved all the British actors appearing one after the other with small but good roles. Liked the evil Helena Bonham-Carter and just loved Imelda Stauton, she is such a good actress. It made me think about all the good British actors in recurring roles and the ones that have been in previous installments and even made me think that in the next movie they should have Anthony Hopkins!!! As the story gets darker and darker, there has to be a character for the incredible Mr. Hopkins.

Well, if you fall asleep or not, this Harry Potter will totally awake you when it reaches the climax and only because the end of the movie, I say that is worth to watch it. So if you read the book you can consider just seeing the end, you’ll not miss much and you’ll not get upset like so many other book readers that are complaining about the many things the director and script writer decided to leave out in the screen.

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