Two things happened as the Harry Potter books entered the clubhouse turn, post-the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Only one of these made the job of moviemaking easier.
First, the books got very, very fat.
Whether it's because the sheer weight of Harry's growing mythology demanded it, or because nobody dares edit J. K. Rowling anymore, books like the 900-page Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix are so loaded with detours and subplots, each one rates a mini-series rather than a movie.
Second, the plot began to pick up speed.
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (I guess we can call him Voldemort now) is reborn, Harry's a young man, and their shared "death curse" is propelling the narrative with the kind of energy movie moviemakers salivate over.
So it is with the movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix -- a story that can be boiled down to this: Harry turns soldier and organizes his friends into a magic "militia" to take on Voldemort's Death Eaters.
It's an ideal template for a movie, with a light-show last-act battle against the Dark Lord's forces that will keep kids and adults alike glued to their seats.
But then there's all that other stuff. Rowling's control over the films is such that even minor characters are retained, with the result that all characters -- even our old friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson -- suffer from the same paucity of development and screen time.
All, that is, save one.
Imelda Staunton is chilling as Dolores Umbridge, a black-hearted functionary from the Ministry of Magic who becomes Harry's bete noir.
She enters the plot shortly after the movie's opening scene -- when two dementors attack Harry and his piggish muggle cousin Dudley Dursley. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) narrowly dispatches them, but is soon charged with unauthorized use of magic, and it becomes clear that his claims of having fought Voldemort are disbelieved by both the "wizard media" and authorities.
Publicly villified, Harry becomes a symbol of everything that is presumed wrong with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Ms. Umbridge is assigned to "calm things down."
Her methods include torture and various proclamations banning the use of magic, of assembly and of uttering "lies."
Through it all, Staunton plays Umbridge with the cold smile that often adorns the face of the hysterically righteous and judgmental.
David Yates, a career TV-movie director, is uniquely qualified to squeeze in everything-but-the-kitchen-sink. Harry's first kiss, the mass-escape from Azkaban (a shrieking Helena Bonham Carter makes the most of her role as the evil Bellatrix Lestrange), the introduction of the death-conscious student/space-cadet Luna Lovegood, the first appearance of the resistance-fighter Order of the Phoenix.
They all fly by without the drama and nuance of the book (and minus many salient details).
With no one but Umbridge taking centre stage, this is truly Harry's movie (ironic, since it's about how Harry learns that he doesn't have to go it alone).
It's the "angry Harry" movie, and Radcliffe doesn't waste the opportunity to apply some of the acting lessons he's absorbed lately.
It's his best performance, to date by far.
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