Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Front and Centre for Dumbledore's Army.
Term 5 at Hogwarts for Harry and the gang and it's a deeply unsettling time. Harry faces getting expelled and finds himself shunned by many around him. This at a time when the Ministry of Magic compounds his misery by insisting to all and sundry that "you know who" is not back again.
Given that JK Rowling's fifth book is considered to be something of a door stopper, a book more of interim Potter filler than any great amount of substance, credit has to go to new to the franchise director, David Yates. For Yates and his screenwriter Michael Goldenberg have managed to craft a briskly entertaining segment in under 2 hours and 20 minutes of film. Yes it's safe to say that it ultimately does feel like an interim filler movie, one that is for fans and not newcomers to the series, but the effects are superb (except Grawp that is), the action is much and suspense is not in short supply. While it also finds Radcliffe as Potter finally hitting his acting stride.
New into the magical fray comes the wonderful Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbrage, the sort of cheery psychotic teacher we all had bad dreams about in our formative years. Also most welcome is Helena Bonham Carter as nut job harpy Bellatrix Le Strange, it's an appetiser of substance and we can't wait to see some more of her from here on in. Of course the usual problem of not enough screen time for the regulars still exists, but it's now become a figure of grumpy acceptance in the grand scheme of Potter World. Neatly keeping the story trimmed of extraneous fat, Yates doesn't disappoint in delivering a last quarter as memorable as any so far in the series. Big rewards await those who wait, because the showdown that crowns Order of Phoenix is a magical mêlée of wands and wonderment; a face off between good and evil, a free for all that joyously assaults the senses.
Roll on Half-Blood Prince, where it's great to know that Yates has been further entrusted with the Harry Potter reins. 7.5/10

"Harry" has an extra-curricular experience with a "Dementor" which draws the attention of the newly rejuvenated Ministry of Magic and after a show trial in which he is ably defended by "Prof. Dumbledore" our trio return to a school that is all but under martial law. A new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher (a rather Margaret Thatcher-esque Imelda Staunton) is taking over the school by degree, imposing strict rules that merely serve to encourage the pupils to go underground to learn the more practical skills that will be needed if they are ever to face and defeat the evil "Voldemort". All of the characters from the previous stories are now knitting together much better; I still miss Richard Harris as "Dumbledore" but Stauton is as magnificently evil as Emma Thompson is wonderfully pathetic and we have a cracking battle at the end. Our wizards are now fully cognisant of the dangers they face and have a much clearer idea of the enemy, too. David Yates does better, I think, in condensing this super-long novel into one film; again a two-parter would probably have done better justice to the detail and nuances of the JK Rowling story; but we get more than enough of the gist of the story to make do. Great stuff.