You've seen the book, now read the movie. Oh, I'm all confused, what with Pottermania on the boil yet again this sultry summer, not only spilling between freshly printed pages but also oozing on up to the big screen. A new tome is imminent, and this new flick is here. Yep, that Potter lad is back with a vengeance and, in his cinematic guise at least, he's up to his usual evil-battling tricks. However, growing ever deeper into those teenage hell years, the lad does come with a different wrinkle this time – and a rather suggestive wrinkle it is. Prepubescents take heed: When you see Harry et al. taking furtive pleasure in playing with their glowing wands, do not look beyond the literal. The rest of us should feel gleefully free to interpret at will.
The narrative arc, in this Order of the Phoenix instalment, is standard J.K. Rowling fare – yet another descent from the Muggles' plebian world into the far, far better place of mystery and magic plied for good or for ill. But here, under the direction of David Yates (imported from British TV for the occasion), there's much less action and barely a scare in sight. What's more (or less), the only real villain in the piece is your Mommy – well, if Mom happens to be a smiling, rotund, middle-aged woman in a pink box-suit.
In lieu of fights and frights, we get a lonesome Harry (yes, Daniel Radcliffe, growing with the role) singing a familiar mid-teen lament: “I just feel so angry all the time. What if I'm going bad?” What if, indeed. In the very first frames, he stoops to pulling out his glow-stick in the presence of a Muggle, an indiscretion that earns him a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic, before a humourless committee perched high in a vast and ponderous chamber that would be the envy of any Soviet commissar. The set is gloriously absurd and so is the comic effect – a bespectacled kid hauled onto the carpet for his “illicit” behaviour. And in better hands than these (Rowling's and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg's), Harry's interior woes, along with his sexual tensions, might have opened the door to some interesting character development. Instead, there's no trouble with Harry that another semester at Hogwarts can't cure.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
The narrative arc, in this Order of the Phoenix instalment, is standard J.K. Rowling fare – yet another descent from the Muggles' plebian world into the far, far better place of mystery and magic plied for good or for ill. But here, under the direction of David Yates (imported from British TV for the occasion), there's much less action and barely a scare in sight. What's more (or less), the only real villain in the piece is your Mommy – well, if Mom happens to be a smiling, rotund, middle-aged woman in a pink box-suit.
In lieu of fights and frights, we get a lonesome Harry (yes, Daniel Radcliffe, growing with the role) singing a familiar mid-teen lament: “I just feel so angry all the time. What if I'm going bad?” What if, indeed. In the very first frames, he stoops to pulling out his glow-stick in the presence of a Muggle, an indiscretion that earns him a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic, before a humourless committee perched high in a vast and ponderous chamber that would be the envy of any Soviet commissar. The set is gloriously absurd and so is the comic effect – a bespectacled kid hauled onto the carpet for his “illicit” behaviour. And in better hands than these (Rowling's and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg's), Harry's interior woes, along with his sexual tensions, might have opened the door to some interesting character development. Instead, there's no trouble with Harry that another semester at Hogwarts can't cure.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
LinksMarker is a Web 2.0 content management system
Comments