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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
My thoughts on the movie can be summed up quite easily: SO Disappointing.
Now, I understand that a movie can never be an exact representation of the book. Liberties must be taken, cuts must be made. It has to be streamlined for the general public. But does it have to be boring and disjointed, as well? In the case of OotP, I suppose it does. I was horrified to find myself shifting restlessly in my seat as this lumbering, confused giant of a movie stumbled along... wondering when it was going to end and if I was EVER going to be interested in anything that was going on.
Maybe it was the directing, maybe it was the editing, maybe it was the screenwriting. I don't know enough about movies to be sure, but something was fundamentally wrong with how this film was put together. It just seemed to hop from one scene to the next with no real thought as to actually tying things together. Events happened, but they were just that, events. It was like they had to happen to keep the movie going, but no one could really tell why. I'm so glad I read the book, because I'm afraid anyone who hadn't would have no clue as to what was going on. Now, there are certain things that can be skipped, that the audience can infer. But when there are so many of those, it turns the movie into this jumbles mass of guesses and i-suppose-so's. I even found myself wondering a few times, "Wait... what?"
For example, the scene in Umbridge's office when Harry is trying to contact the Order after he's seen his vision of Sirius in the Dept of Mysteries. Umbridge catches them, but then in barges the Inquisitorial Squad with Ginny, Neville, and Luna in tow. Their explanation? "Yeah, and we caught these two trying to help the Weasley girl." Umm... help her with what? The Trio never talked to Ginny about guarding the door, as they did in the book. But, those three needed to end up in the office, so, they magically did. How convenient.
I just felt like OotP was ull of moments like that. And just as a whole moved painfully slow and more boring than I felt the source material allowed for... yet it somehow ended up that way. Alright, time for a basic pro-con list.
Cons
- Everything mentioned above.
- Could someone please explain to Emma Watson that hyperventilating and pausing between every word is not acting, nor does it built tension in a scene. It's annoying.
- Umbridge et.al. breaking down the door to the Room of Requirement. Now, from what I can remember, the door MOVES, and it being magical, there would probably be nothing behind the wall if they broke it down anyway. And why not just chase everyone down the hall like they did in the book? I don't understand change for the sake of change.
- Neville finding the RoR. Umm, again... why not just have Dobby tell Harry? Neville isn't Dobby, though I guess they are trying to make him that?
- Holding Cho responsible for Umbring finding out about the DA. Everyone hates Cho enough, do we really have to pile that onto her plate as well? I guess we were given that instead of her crazy-ass breakdown in Madame Puddifoot's. And because of that, we don't get to see Hermione's vengeful side. First they remove the entire SPEW storyline, then we don't even get to see her curse a fellow student (which was AWESOME). Yet she gets all this screen time, more than Ron, but what does she do? Wiggle her eyebrows, I guess.
- Michale Gambon's Dumbledore. Still. Why does he insist on making Dumbledore this harsh personality. I miss Richard Harris. He had the mixture of authority/eccentricity down.
- The way they handled the dreams.
- Sirius. I thought Gary Oldman was great as Sirius, but he wasn't book Sirius. Sirius hated being in that house, hated everything to do with his family. He was pissed, and frustrated, and apparently there was no room for that in the movie.
- How long was the Marauder scene? Like .5 seconds? And where was Lily?
- No hospital scene. I was really bummed about this, because it was one of my favorite parts of the book, or at least that which I remember the most. I loved the Lockhart cameo, and his connected-letter writing. But most of all I wish we had been able to see Neville and his parents. When his mom gives him that gum wrapper and he slips it into his pocket? Breaks my heart. I hate that it was simplified to a little conversation in front of a mirror with a picture of Cedric pasted to it.
- There are more, but I'll stop.
Pros (because we should end on a high note)
- Luna. Evanna was great, nuff said.
- Ron. Loved him more than ever because Rupert was so perfectly him. I only wish he was actually in the movie...
- Umbridge was good, but I could have hated her a lot more.
- Hmm, I think I wasted all my brain power on my con list because I can't think of anything else.
When I determine how much I like a movie the biggest factor is it's rewatchability. And with OoTP, I have no desire to ever watch it again. I saw it, I can move one. I'm disappointed... but I'll move on. Though I'm really not happy we're stuck with the same director for HBP. I really didn't like what he did. I wish we could bring back Alfonso Cuarón. PoA will probably always remain my favorite of all the movies (GoF coming in second, mainly because I was so pleasantly surprised, given I wasn't that big a fan of the book). I was just so pretty (which I'll admit, OoTP was shot very well), but remained interesting.
Okay, that's enough of that. Time to go finish HBP before Friday...
Now, I understand that a movie can never be an exact representation of the book. Liberties must be taken, cuts must be made. It has to be streamlined for the general public. But does it have to be boring and disjointed, as well? In the case of OotP, I suppose it does. I was horrified to find myself shifting restlessly in my seat as this lumbering, confused giant of a movie stumbled along... wondering when it was going to end and if I was EVER going to be interested in anything that was going on.
Maybe it was the directing, maybe it was the editing, maybe it was the screenwriting. I don't know enough about movies to be sure, but something was fundamentally wrong with how this film was put together. It just seemed to hop from one scene to the next with no real thought as to actually tying things together. Events happened, but they were just that, events. It was like they had to happen to keep the movie going, but no one could really tell why. I'm so glad I read the book, because I'm afraid anyone who hadn't would have no clue as to what was going on. Now, there are certain things that can be skipped, that the audience can infer. But when there are so many of those, it turns the movie into this jumbles mass of guesses and i-suppose-so's. I even found myself wondering a few times, "Wait... what?"
For example, the scene in Umbridge's office when Harry is trying to contact the Order after he's seen his vision of Sirius in the Dept of Mysteries. Umbridge catches them, but then in barges the Inquisitorial Squad with Ginny, Neville, and Luna in tow. Their explanation? "Yeah, and we caught these two trying to help the Weasley girl." Umm... help her with what? The Trio never talked to Ginny about guarding the door, as they did in the book. But, those three needed to end up in the office, so, they magically did. How convenient.
I just felt like OotP was ull of moments like that. And just as a whole moved painfully slow and more boring than I felt the source material allowed for... yet it somehow ended up that way. Alright, time for a basic pro-con list.
Cons
- Everything mentioned above.
- Could someone please explain to Emma Watson that hyperventilating and pausing between every word is not acting, nor does it built tension in a scene. It's annoying.
- Umbridge et.al. breaking down the door to the Room of Requirement. Now, from what I can remember, the door MOVES, and it being magical, there would probably be nothing behind the wall if they broke it down anyway. And why not just chase everyone down the hall like they did in the book? I don't understand change for the sake of change.
- Neville finding the RoR. Umm, again... why not just have Dobby tell Harry? Neville isn't Dobby, though I guess they are trying to make him that?
- Holding Cho responsible for Umbring finding out about the DA. Everyone hates Cho enough, do we really have to pile that onto her plate as well? I guess we were given that instead of her crazy-ass breakdown in Madame Puddifoot's. And because of that, we don't get to see Hermione's vengeful side. First they remove the entire SPEW storyline, then we don't even get to see her curse a fellow student (which was AWESOME). Yet she gets all this screen time, more than Ron, but what does she do? Wiggle her eyebrows, I guess.
- Michale Gambon's Dumbledore. Still. Why does he insist on making Dumbledore this harsh personality. I miss Richard Harris. He had the mixture of authority/eccentricity down.
- The way they handled the dreams.
- Sirius. I thought Gary Oldman was great as Sirius, but he wasn't book Sirius. Sirius hated being in that house, hated everything to do with his family. He was pissed, and frustrated, and apparently there was no room for that in the movie.
- How long was the Marauder scene? Like .5 seconds? And where was Lily?
- No hospital scene. I was really bummed about this, because it was one of my favorite parts of the book, or at least that which I remember the most. I loved the Lockhart cameo, and his connected-letter writing. But most of all I wish we had been able to see Neville and his parents. When his mom gives him that gum wrapper and he slips it into his pocket? Breaks my heart. I hate that it was simplified to a little conversation in front of a mirror with a picture of Cedric pasted to it.
- There are more, but I'll stop.
Pros (because we should end on a high note)
- Luna. Evanna was great, nuff said.
- Ron. Loved him more than ever because Rupert was so perfectly him. I only wish he was actually in the movie...
- Umbridge was good, but I could have hated her a lot more.
- Hmm, I think I wasted all my brain power on my con list because I can't think of anything else.
When I determine how much I like a movie the biggest factor is it's rewatchability. And with OoTP, I have no desire to ever watch it again. I saw it, I can move one. I'm disappointed... but I'll move on. Though I'm really not happy we're stuck with the same director for HBP. I really didn't like what he did. I wish we could bring back Alfonso Cuarón. PoA will probably always remain my favorite of all the movies (GoF coming in second, mainly because I was so pleasantly surprised, given I wasn't that big a fan of the book). I was just so pretty (which I'll admit, OoTP was shot very well), but remained interesting.
Okay, that's enough of that. Time to go finish HBP before Friday...
no subject
Ditto!