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Reviews Counted:230
Fresh:177
Rotten:53
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: It's not easy to take the longest Harry Potter book and streamline it into the shortest HP movie, but director David Yates does a bang up job of it, creating an Order of the Phoenix that's entertaining and action-packed.
Runtime: 2 hrs 19 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
US Box Office: $291,980,108
Synopsis: In the silver-screen adaptation of J.K. Rowling's HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, the fifth chapter in the beloved book series, everyone's favorite wizard-in-training (Daniel Radcliffe)... [More]
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane
Director: David Yates
To their credit, new director David Yates and new screenwriter Michael Goldenberg never lose the heart of the tale. Even in the midst of an incredibly thrilling magical battle of whippeting wands, flashing light and furor, they focus on Harry's inner war.
On the screen, the stories, now in their fourth set of hands, feel uncomfortably fractured. Thank heavens for books.
[T]his may be the best straight-up horror movie of the year -- I was riveted by the sinister sophistication of it.
[The filmmakers] have transformed J.K. Rowling's garrulous storytelling into something leaner, moodier and more compelling, that ticks with metronomic purpose as the story flits between psychological darkness and cartoonish slapstick.
Top CriticThere are plenty of clever, magical effects in the film, but Yates zeroes in on the real stuff: the question of whether these kids can come to understand their powers in time to battle for the future of humanity.
It would be impossible for any director to jam that much story into a 2 hour and 18 minute picture, but the elisions favored by Yates and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg are particularly unfortunate.
Continuing the increasingly darker, more adult trend of the series, the film version is swiftly paced, engrossing and often thrilling.
[The filmmakers] keep Order of the Phoenix consistently involving. But it's Radcliffe who truly shines here.
Yates lacks a steady grip on the shape and rhythm of the film.
The psychological struggle between Harry and his nemesis -- riveting on the page -- is less so on screen.
It all feels a little safe. The movie's full of spells, all right. But where's the magic?
A fruitcake-of-a-movie dense with exposition and woefully short on payoff.
While the film doesn't have the imaginative magic of The Prisoner of Azkaban or the chummy warmth of The Goblet of Fire, it's a serviceable bridge to the story's final chapters.
It's the familiar faces that help make Phoenix the best Potter movie yet. Director Yates, who is expected to return for the next installment, continues the shift away from set design and toward performance.
Unremittingly bleak, occasionally brilliant.
Yates is wise not to stuff too many characters into this yarn, and plays everybody well, if sparingly. He can't offer a sense of completion -- more movies to come, you know -- but he offers a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting transition.
The story, obviously, is darker and more mature, and the film itself understands more than the others before it what it means to be Harry Potter.
[The fans] have a lot invested in Harry Potter, and far from running out of steam it seems the series is willing to take them to new and unsettling places.
Partly due to its intensity, Order of the Phoenix is better than the first four in the series. Also credit a much tighter, meatier script and better acting.
There is a lot of story here, complex and compelling.
July 15, 2009:
RT Interview: David Yates on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
When David Yates was hired to direct Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, fans took one look at his TV-heavy resume and panicked that he wouldn't be able to bring the same... More...
July 15, 2009:
RT Interview: Daniel Radcliffe on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
19 year-old Daniel Radcliffe wants the world to know he's a grown-up now. It's tough to walk past a magazine stand on the eve of the release of the sixth Harry Potter film... More...
July 14, 2009:
RT Visits the Set of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
As RT is brought into Leavesden Studios, past a pair of workmen poring over blueprints for a large, conical tower with a tall spire roof, the sense that we're entering a... More...
December 15, 2008:
Exclusive: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - RT's Set Visit Preview
RT visited the set of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince recently to tour the studio and speak to the stars, and we thought we'd share a small teaser of our time at Hogwarts. More...
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