Harry Potter Marathon Part 5: Dolores Jane Umbridge
HP5: The Order of the Phoenix
Look it's no secret. I love Umbridge. As far as fantasy genre fiction goes, Umbridge and Voldemort are two of the most believable and, dare I say, relate-able villains I've ever encountered. So as soon as I saw the early pictures of Imelda Staunton in costume, I knew I would NOT be disappointed in her portrayal of one of the most despised characters of the whole series. This is my favorite movie.
Look it's no secret. I love Umbridge. As far as fantasy genre fiction goes, Umbridge and Voldemort are two of the most believable and, dare I say, relate-able villains I've ever encountered. So as soon as I saw the early pictures of Imelda Staunton in costume, I knew I would NOT be disappointed in her portrayal of one of the most despised characters of the whole series. This is my favorite movie.
- Dudley Demented. So this whole thing is pretty well done. Although I feel like Uncle Vernon gets more and more ridiculous looking each year.
- TONKS. Natalie Tena was a great choice. I like Kingsley too, he's got a great voice. Also what the hell kind of hat is that dude on the end wearing it looks like a fin.
- Flyin' through London. Because nobody would see you flying on broomsticks along the Thames.
- Okay, the Black House is a fantastic set. But I actually wish we had gotten more Kreacher
- And Finally, we get to see the acting chops of Daniel Radcliffe. He makes this movie - and he was great. Hahaha Crookshanks eats the extendable ears.
- I like Gary Oldman here, trying to tell Harry everything without telling him.
- I love this quirky music that Nicholas Hooper uses for the intro to the Ministry of magic. It's a great mood setter. And I love Mark Williams in this sequence, not knowing how to get through the subway gates.
- The Ministry set. Wow. This took my breath away. The fountain, the lifts. The Department of Mysteries. It's all fantastic and so perfect.
- Percy Weasley. Is right there. WHY was none of that ever explained? Like, for the casual viewer who doesn't necessarily know the books - they won't understand the significance of that character's siding with the Ministry. I wish they'd explained that.
- OH THERE SHE IS. GOD she is so perfect. "So sorry, Professor, but..." Even her TONE is spot on.
- Incontrovertible. Who uses that word.
- And again, we have a total change of palette here. Blues and grays dominate, broken up by magentas and pinks. It's a very cool palette, whereas even with POA there was a lot of warmth to the color.
- Mimbulus Mimbletonia. Ha, i love Neville. LUNA. Oh Luna. What a great voice. She's fantastic. And she was just a fan off the street really. She's so great. "Hungry? I hope there's pudding."
- Oh that coat. I'm sure her costumer had SO MUCH FUN. "I need a million yards of pink boucle. NOW."
- haha, Seamus is such a bad actor.
- My god i love the cover of that DADA book.
- Oh the office. the Pink. The cat plates. The sugar. It's fabulous. And then he starts to write with that awful quill and your blood just CHILLS.
- More amazing music. and Luna. The thestrals are gorgeous.
- Oh I love the interaction here between McGonagall and Umbridge. The stairs. Trying to stand taller than the other. It's genius.
- Umbridge Montage! "Obviously." Oh Trelawney. She went from comical and dislikeable to sympathetic. I think I remember crying a little in this sequence. Emma Thompson is SO GOOD here. And the significance of McGonagall being the one to comfort her, well it's in the books even if it's not here.
- The Hog's Head scene is great. And the kids all act it well. All of them, actually, even the supporting. I think as far as the kids go, this is some of the best acting for the cast as a whole, in this film.
- I love that they started sowing the seeds of Ginny in the scenes with Cho.
- DA montage! "I let her do that." Aww yeah badass Ginny. and YAY Neville.
- I remember there was SO MUCH BUZZ about this kiss sequence. And it was...pretty lame actually. Cho and Harry don't have much chemistry - it was better in the last movie actually.
- The emotional range of a teaspoon.
- I remember being DEVASTATED in the book because I thought Arthur Weasley was dead. Especially knowing now that she MEANT for him to die here.
- I wish we'd gotten a little more occlumency.
- I love that Ginny's costuming has the same sort of handmade feel as her mother's, without the same level of oddity. I love her little crocheted vest here.
- I love Sirius's line here. "The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We've all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the path we choose to act on. That's who we really are." This to me is the heart of the series - where we start getting into the real depth of the issues the books deal with. So much has happened to these characters already, but they haven't lost who they are.
- Oh Helena Bonham Carter, you so crazy. Really, who else was there to play this role. Nobody. Really.
- I like Matthew Lewis in the scene talking about his parents. I wish we'd seen them in the hospital wing. Lockhart too, I love that whole sequence in the books. But we do get everyone making patronoses. If I remember correctly, they consulted with JK Rowling to find out what Luna, Hermione, Ron and Ginny's patronuses were, because we hadn't yet seen them in the books.
- It works perfect that they had Cho be the betrayer here. This sequence was well done. "You can't deny, Dumbledore's got style." The whole theater cheered at that line.
- Filch removing the portraits from the grand staircase was way more emotional than I expected it to be.
- Occlumency, I loved they inserted Snape in that scene from Sorceror's stone. That was perfect.
- I also wonder if Rickman knew. If Rowling at least gave him some cues about his story. It'd be interesting to know.
- I wish we'd gotten a better sequence of the school fighting back against Umbridge. There was so much great material there. The other teachers supporting the Weasleys and Peeves, who's unfortunately left out of all of the movies.
- Oh I love how the cats in the plates start to go crazy when she's about to curse him. Watson acts this whole sequence well.
- The Department of Mysteries. Again, the whole sequence is simplified, missing out on some of the great moments, but it's still a great sequence. I kind of like that the death eaters disapparate and move as black smoke and the Order is white, but at the same time, it's a little bit of a trope.
- "Nice one, James!" Oh that line was brilliant. And I love that they turned off the dialogue track for that brief moment.
- The fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort is great. I love the moment when Voldemort breaks all the glass. The effect is just incredible.
- Possession. Oh this was so well done. Voldemort is trying to isolate Harry. To break him. But Harry knows who he is now, his strength comes from his ability to love, which Voldemort can't touch.
- At first, I hated these scenes. I wanted Harry to rage, to be as angry as he was in the books. But that's not how Daniel plays Harry, and it wouldn't have worked I think. Just that little moment, of Harry picking the glass out of this sweater, is enough to put us in Harry's place, to somehow feel his pain. It's such a small thing, but it works. Somehow. And his conversations with Dumbledore, and Luna bring us back to the point where we're feeling that glimmer of hope, that maybe these three - and their friends - can beat these odds.