Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Watch First, Read Second.

I’ll admit it - I was one of those who had watched all the Harry Potter films but had never touched one of the books. I took quite a bit of criticism for this stance – Staunch book fans (fanatics) were appalled by my apathetic attitude toward diving into, chewing on and losing myself within J.K Rowling’s masterful pages.

But I think that, watching first and reading second is really the way to go. When you watch a film without first reading the book, the lack of knowledge and insight into plot, story or scene gives an immense freedom to just go with the flow, to get swept up in the action, swirl around in the intrigue and relish the epic drama without preconceived notions or impossibly high expectations pulling you back down to reality.

Then, when the film comes to an end and the sadness of having to leave the alternate world you’ve just thoroughly enjoyed creeps in, you remember that there is an insanely heavy and gloriously long book sitting on your nightstand, full to bursting with intricate details, hilarious side stories and, in typical Rowling style, an in-depth and fully completed picture of the world you’ve just begun to miss.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take my own advice and finished the impossibly (and often unnecessarily) long Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix days before opening night. Thus while the film was impressive, artistic and cinematically well done, I couldn’t shake a sneaky sadness that floated around my mind asking why so much of what I had just read, enjoyed and digested had been left out.

Sadly, beyond this self-imposed disappointment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix disappoints in other ways as well. Director Michael Yates doesn’t take many risks with story or character, keeping the kids we’ve come to know and love as heroic and flawless as ever. Faced with ever darkening times, the innocence, joy and magic inherent in earlier films is pretty much absent, inserted somewhat awkwardly and forcibly here and there. And rather than make any real forward progress, the movie simply reiterates what we have already learned – Lord Voldemort has returned - the only difference is that the whole wizarding world now believes this fact.

Solid performances, however, more than make up for this disappointing lack of story progression or cinematic innovation. Daniel Radcliffe is once again a quietly and stoically excellent Harry Potter. Polished and very much in control of himself, Radcliffe’s mature personality distances him from the teen angsty Harry of Rowling’s pages and allows him to hold his own amidst the bevy of talented and legendary British actors peppering the cast. With Ralph Fiennes, Brendan Gleeson, Gary Oldman, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, Imelda Staunton, Emma Thompson, Robbie Coltrane and Helena Bonham Carter all swirling around, you’ll be hard pressed to find a kid who can act with as much ease as Daniel Radcliffe does.

As Harry, Radcliffe continues his watertight interactions with his mates Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ronald Weasley (Rupert Grint), ultimately making the trio a group knit so tight it causes a twinge of jealousy. As the kids have grown and circumstances have changed, it is their friendship and camaraderie upon which the films must rest and fortunately, these three have enough talent, charisma and grace to handle the pressure.
 
Rather than digging into the beauty of Stuart Craig’s production design, the fluidly streamlined though sparse script of Michael Goldenberg or the awe inspiring special effects created by John Richardson and his team, it seems worth mentioning here that books and movies have two completely different sets of rules. Something may work really well in a book – it will make sense, appeal to, entertain and placate a reader – but that same something can fall unbelievably flat in a film. Example? In the book, Cho’s friend betrays Dumbledore’s army – the secret group of students meeting together to practice the dark arts. In the movie, Cho’s friend doesn’t even exist and it is instead Cho herself who betrays Harry’s confidence. Both options work – but only within their distinctive and separate worlds.

Similarly, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ultimately works . . . but only within its own separate world of cinema.  Try as it might, the film can’t seem to shake a sense of complacency resulting from little to no forward movement of story or plot. It looks like we will just have to wait until next year to see what is actually going to happen next.