Harry Potter > 3 Hours

Having given up movie theaters a little over two years ago I am constantly tempted to break my oath every summer with some superhero or Johhny Depp movie. This time, however, it was a HP movie, and the call was almost irresistible. I was anxious to see David Yates first crack at the HP series knowing he was already signed on for HP 6. I have no problem with going to an Imax theater, with the lack of posters and trailers I see nothing wrong with them. Living in Maryland I know that the only Imax in the state is located at the Maryland Science Center. I also knew that they have never shown a feature film there, probably trying to perpetuate the snooty atmosphere that hangs over this state like a fog. Undeterred I went online and found the nearest Imax showing HP, in Harrisburg PA. With a round trip of around 3 hours and a running time of just over 2 hours, I was afraid the 5 hour commitment would yield me an unholy experience the equivalent of watching Goblet of Fire again. Luckily, my fears were unfounded.

Order of the Phoenix is, by far, my favorite book in the series and it is the longest, so I had more then a few worries about its transition to the big screen. Obviously with a book over 800 pages it is impossible to get all of the moments on screen. I think this movie comes about as close as you can in the current running time. From the very beginning it feels like a very different movie then the last four. It is difficult to describe the feeling I got from the movie. It doesn't look like a HP movie, in a good way. Order of the Phoenix is the first book where things start to get nasty, and so the movie should be darker to get that feeling across.

I also think that Yates was very smart with almost every shot. He couldn't have an entire chapter of character development like Rowling, so he had to do in seconds what she did in pages. The perfect example of this is when Harry first enters Umbridge's office. A split second before Harry comes in it shows Her adjusting one of the items on her desk to make sure everything is in place. This speaks volumes of the character to me; her need for control, perfection, and her desire to appear better than people she deems lower than herself. And the movie is filled with these little moments that tell you so much about the characters. My final thought is that this is the first movie that I felt the actors really had to act. For the first time they were given better lines, and the chance to really show emotion.

In all I loved the movie. The 3D at the end was nice, but not the best since the movie was not filmed with 3D in mind. The end result was that it just gave the movie a nice depth and made the final fight that much more enjoyable.