not exactly Taiwan related but...
Tim and I went on opening day to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on an IMAX screen, and also to see it in 3-D. While I don't necessarily discourage seeing it in this way, I don't really recommend it, either. It was cool seeing it on a big, big, big screen, but there was so much going on that I constantly had to move my head around to see it all (and we were in the back row). The 3-D part was...not as cool as it sounds. Some of it was awesome, most notably the scene with the flying thestrals and when they first enter the Department of Mysteries (the hallway seems to go on FOREVER...so cool). However, I felt that for the most part, it wasn't really that well done. It mostly just looked blurry, and the action was moving so fast that I couldn't really tell what was going on. The huge death eater battle was a huge black blur. I mean, seeing it this way was an experience, but it was pretty expensive and not really worth it (in my humble opinion.)
Anyway, about the actual movie. My opinion, in short is this: the movie is horribly paced, has tons of loose ends, and is pretty disappointing. I honestly don't even know if I liked it.
Now for the details. I realize that the book is really long, and they obviously can't fit everything in, but that's not even what was disappointing. I had high hopes for it, because I thought the opening scene with Dudley and the dementors was really well done, and the cinematography was excellent. But I didn't feel that the rest of the movie was like this at all. Actually, the look and feel of the movie and characters was so different, that it seems that the director hasn't read any of the books or seen any of the other movies. I agree with a lot of what Anthony said in his post, too. I'm not really complaining that Harry was angsty enough, but his bitchiness is kind of important to the plot. They edited out some important details about 12 Grimmauld Place, Kreacher, and the Black family lineage, also. If you've read the book, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, you probably don't care. Sirius's death is both inaccurate and cheesy, and I feel departs significantly from the book. In the book, Bellatrix hit Sirius with an unidentified *red* jet of light, and being hit knocked him through the veil. Harry simply cannot believe that he is dead because there isn't any concrete proof. JK Rowling has even been kind of non-committal about this point. We may be seeing Sirius in some form at some point in the future for all we know. But the movie killed him off with Avada Kedavra and he cheesily floated away. wtf. There was no locket, no Lily Potter, and NO denouement whatsoever (where the hell was the scene where Harry rages at Dumbledore and we find out more about the prophecy?).
What I don't like about the movies in general is that the directors either don't think about, or don't feel at liberty to make any kind of analytical leaps. For example, I believe the locket that was found while cleaning Grimmauld place is the lost Horcrux, I think that Snape was in love with Lily and this is and will be a significant plot detail. I think that editing her out of Snape's flashback sequence was a bad move. Also, all we got from the flashback was that Harry's dad was a dick to Snape, and that was that. Harry struggles with this greatly in the book, but in the movie was kind of like, "Hmm, that's weird. Moving on." I realize that these are only theories, and may not be true, so the directors don't want to lead the story in a direction it shouldn't go. But man, don't you think the movies would be SO MUCH BETTER with a little foreshadowing and some subplots? Damn!
Some additional quick points:
- While I thought Umbridge was pretty good, she wasn't nearly horrible enough.
- The scene where Fred and George rebel and leave school could have been SO MUCH COOLER. This is one of Tim's and my favorite scenes of the whole series, and it was pretty bleh in the movie. Ugh.
- The actual Order of the Phoenix is only in the movie for maybe a total of 15 minutes, and Tonks has like, one line.
- Bellatrix looked so fucking cool, and the trailers focused on her a lot, and I was excited to see her. However, she was in the movie for maybe 15 minutes, and only had about 4 lines (most of which were her cackling). Rip off!
- The first two hours of the movie were kind of...dare I say, boring. All of the action was crammed into the last few minutes, and like I said before, there was absolutely NO denouement.
- Grawp is supposed to be huge, violent, and scary. He's not supposed to be sweetly retarded. Why? Also, Hagrid disappears with no explanation.
- I'm disappointed that we didn't get to see Fawkes swallow the Avada Kedavra curse and burst into flames during the Dumbledore/Voldemort duel. Wouldn't that have been fucking sweet? Come on!
- Generally, they introduce all these different subplots, but then never speak of them again and leave them loose-ended. Why not selectively pick a few and follow through with them?
- Finally, wtf was the deal with that end-credit music? It sounded like the end of Home Alone or something.
EDIT: Tim wanted to add these points: "I thought the music as a whole was shit. What the hell was the deal with the random fake rock music?" Also, "They should stop making Snape such a likable character. It's going to be ludicrous in the next movie to try and make us believe that he's a death eater." And finally, "'Voldemort, I feel sorry for you because you don't have any friends...' (said in a mocking voice). That shit sounds like something in a kindergarten book." Okay, he says he's done.
Okay, I feel better.