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While many movie franchises slide as they reach their later instalments, the Harry Potter films just keep getting better. The latest, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is easily the darkest of the series to date, and it’s also one of the best. For while it could easily have been little more than a holding film to set up the big encounters to come in the last two instalments of the series, it’s to the credit of British director David Yates that the end result is really very good.
It finds Harry coming under suspicion from his wizarding colleagues, who don’t believe his claims that the evil Lord Voldermort has returned. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix thus finds its title character on the backfoot for much of its running time, with a select band who firmly believe his story, and very powerful figures who don’t.
Where the movie of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix excels though is in its three trump cards. Number one is a far tighter script than we’re used to with Potter films, which, combined with trump card number two--the aforementioned David Yates behind the camera--cuts much of the slavish loyalty to the text away in favour of a film with real momentum. The third, and best, card though is the casting of Imelda Staunton as Professor Dolores Umbridge, who simply flies away with every scene she’s in. It’s a superb performance, and the film is poorer whenever she’s not on screen.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is not a film without a few problems, certainly: it’s a fair criticism that not too much actually happens, and one or two bits feel superfluous. But it overrides its problems with ease, to emerge as a compelling, highly enjoyable family film, which will leave you salivating for the Christmas 2008 release of movie number six in the series. --Simon Brew
Product Description
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play.
Prepare for the Final Battle!
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2, is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. The much-anticipated motion picture event is the second of two full-length parts.
In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort.
It all ends here.
Speacial Features
- Aberforth Dumbledore
- Deathly Hallows Costume Changes
- Harry Returns to Hogwarts
- The Hogwarts Shield
- Room of Requirement Set
- The Fiery Escape
- Final Farewells from Cast and Crew
- When Harry Left Hogwarts
- The Goblins of Gringotts
- The Women of Harry Potter
- Deleted Scenes
- Neville's Stand
- Molly Takes Down Bellatrix
- Pottermore Preview
- Warner Bros. Studio Tour London
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
553 of 623 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
When all is said and done - when the eye candy special effects of Quidditch matches and fantastical creatures has been superseded by advances in technology in Hollywood blockbusters yet to come - it is the little moments that this viewer and his wife will return to.
When a friend one time bemoaned the fact that `Half-Blood Prince' gets bogged down in pointless hormonal teen-angst instead of getting on with the story, I smiled... and shook my head.
No, I said, that IS the story and it's what I love about the Harry Potter series: it never loses track of the characters. It never forgets that, when viewed as a whole, these eight movies are a story of growing up, of the transition from childhood to adulthood. Of love and friendship and death. Because without those little funny and touching moments between the characters - if all you want is for the movies to rush from one plot element to another - then all you're left with is plot... and no story. Remember: plot is what happens TO the characters; story is what happens AS A RESULT of the characters.
That's the real gorgeous beauty of these movies, and it's what will bring viewers back repeatedly to their DVD shelves. As Frodo said to Sam in `The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers': "What are we fighting for Sam?" "That's there's still some good in this world," Sam replies, "and that it's worth fighting for."
That's why you need those little indulgent moments, because without them it's just razzle-dazzle special effects and set-pieces. Harry and Ginny's first kiss: they're in the Room of Requirement and Ginny tells Harry to close his eyes while she hides Professor Snape's copy of Advanced Potion Making. And before Harry opens his eyes Ginny leans forward, kisses him and whispers, "That can stay hidden up here too, if you like." That, my fellow Muggles, is pure movie gold. That's what the characters are fighting for. Love. Yes, the PLOT concerns itself with good triumphing over evil, but that only comes to pass as a result of the STORY which is about friendship. Because that is something worth fighting for.
It's why the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's astonishing trilogy, `His Dark Materials', is an utter failure: `The Golden Compass' movie rushes from one plot element to another: and THEN we go here, and THEN we go there. Never slowing down to allow the characters TO BE characters. What are they fighting for? Well, nothing the viewer could care less about...
Ultimately, all of this success comes about because of the brilliant way in which the author J.K. Rowling has constructed her seven-volume storyline. See, `The Chronicles of Narnia' are good - very good - but in the end don't quite fully succeed, and this is because the author, C.S. Lewis, had never envisioned them as a series: `The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' was originally intended by the writer to be a one off. As thoroughly enjoyable as the three Narnia movies are, there is no through-story like Rowling's Harry-Voldermort. Indeed, over the course of the three Narnia movies even some of the Pevensie children themselves become side characters. And although that was entirely the point - part of the plot - in the end it harms the story. It dilutes what the characters are fighting for. It weakens its forcus.
Look at the Harry Potter series: viewed in hindsight it's not just the story of teenage friendships, for it also presents an astounding portrayal of one man coming to be viewed in the end entirely differently by the viewer. Professor Snape. What an astonishing character arc - and yet Rowling had it all there, right from the beginning: Snape using a counter-curse against Professor Quirrell to save Harry during the first movie's Quidditch match. Wait, isn't Snape the bad guy?! We're made to wonder, right from that first movie all the way through to the revelations of the eighth. `Narnia' has nothing on that. It's clear that Rowling has thought her seven-volume story through like a military operation: the first four books may have come out only a year apart, but the author had begun planning them seven years before the first one was ever published.
And the friendships, that's all there too. Look at the Ron-Hermione moments seeded throughout the entire movie series. Harry and Hermione are just good friends, thus all the unself-conscious hugs she gives him. Yet there is a physical tension - a conscious awareness of each other - between her and Ron. At the end of `Chamber of Secrets' Hermione flings her arms around Harry... but, both of them equally awkward and embarrassed, Ron and Hermione only shake hands. In `Prisoner of Askaban' during Hagrid's first lesson with Harry cautiously approaching Buckbeak, Herminone grabs Ron's hand, before quickly letting go, both of them looking around uncomfortably. All, finally, converging in Hermione's emotional outburst at the end of the Yule Ball in `Goblet of Fire' where (like a soul crying out `Look at me!') she says, "Next time there's a Ball, pluck up the courage to ask me before somebody else does - and not as a last resort!" And in another moment of movie gold, Harry and Hermione comforting each other on the steps in Hogwarts, unable to be with the one they want. "How does it feel, Harry, when you see Dean with Ginny?" After Hermione sends her bird charms crashing into the wall beside Ron and Ron flees, Harry replies, "It feels like this."
It's why `Half-Blood Prince' is one of my favourite instalments: not only is it the calm before the storm of the seventh and eighth movies but it allows the characters' friendships to come to fruition. `Half-Blood Prince' does not become sidetracked, far from it. You need that, because that is the story. It's what I love about it: yes, they're wizards and witches but the film makers never lose sight of the fact that they're also young adults going through the most important transitional period of their lives. These movies aren't about fantastical magical events inconveniently interrupted by mushy teenage moments. Instead they're precisely all about those ordinary, everyday teenage moments, played against the backdrop of incredible events. Those amazing events only occur at all because of who the characters are; it's only natural that the plot should play second to the story of their lives. Because they are what truly matters. Because they, as Sam would put it, "Are worth fighting for."
As if that wasn't enough, as if the story of Harry-Ron-Hermione (and, indeed, Snape) isn't in itself reason enough to revisit this whole series, Rowling has also given us an amazing supporting cast of characters. All too often in a series, all the characters outwith the main group rarely hold a reader's/viewer's attention for long. And yet Rowling has created not one single boring character, and what an amazing supporting cast they are: the Dursley, the Weasleys, the Malfoys, Hagrid, Dobby, Sirius, Bellatrix, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, and on and on. In fact, one of Rowling's most inspired moves, and certainly a wonderful way of keeping things fresh, was to continuously have a new colourful character each year as the Professor of the Dark Arts. Glideroy Lockhart, Remus Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, Dolores Umbridge. Not to forget the delightful potions master from `Half-Blood Prince', Horace Slughorn, or the Professor of Divination, Trelawney. Then, too, you have the caretaker Argus Filch, the ghost Nearly Headless Nick. Well, you get the idea. Quidditch, the Ministry of Magic, the Dementors. The richness of the world Rowling has created is so rewarding that I can't ever imagine tiring of it.
Watching these characters - and, indeed, the actors - grow up before us is fascinating. I love the fact the first two movies are kids movies; there's no hint, really, of what lies ahead. Until, of course, you get to `Prisoner of Askaban'. Even the naysayer film critics sat up at that one and said, "Hey, hold on a minute..." From the fifth film onwards these were no longer merely kids' movies. It's what accounts for their immensely broad appeal: children will watch them for the action and special effects, teenagers and adults for the humour and the series' growing depth. Even the opening titles change as the story darkens: from bright gold in the first few movies to chipped and crumbling grey stone.
Viewed as one 1100+ minute über-movie the achievement is nothing short of remarkable.
Thank you, Rowling.
And thank you Warner Bros and the cast and crew for the ten-year visual journey of these marvellous books that you have taken my wife and I on.
When a friend one time bemoaned the fact that `Half-Blood Prince' gets bogged down in pointless hormonal teen-angst instead of getting on with the story, I smiled... and shook my head.
No, I said, that IS the story and it's what I love about the Harry Potter series: it never loses track of the characters. It never forgets that, when viewed as a whole, these eight movies are a story of growing up, of the transition from childhood to adulthood. Of love and friendship and death. Because without those little funny and touching moments between the characters - if all you want is for the movies to rush from one plot element to another - then all you're left with is plot... and no story. Remember: plot is what happens TO the characters; story is what happens AS A RESULT of the characters.
That's the real gorgeous beauty of these movies, and it's what will bring viewers back repeatedly to their DVD shelves. As Frodo said to Sam in `The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers': "What are we fighting for Sam?" "That's there's still some good in this world," Sam replies, "and that it's worth fighting for."
That's why you need those little indulgent moments, because without them it's just razzle-dazzle special effects and set-pieces. Harry and Ginny's first kiss: they're in the Room of Requirement and Ginny tells Harry to close his eyes while she hides Professor Snape's copy of Advanced Potion Making. And before Harry opens his eyes Ginny leans forward, kisses him and whispers, "That can stay hidden up here too, if you like." That, my fellow Muggles, is pure movie gold. That's what the characters are fighting for. Love. Yes, the PLOT concerns itself with good triumphing over evil, but that only comes to pass as a result of the STORY which is about friendship. Because that is something worth fighting for.
It's why the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's astonishing trilogy, `His Dark Materials', is an utter failure: `The Golden Compass' movie rushes from one plot element to another: and THEN we go here, and THEN we go there. Never slowing down to allow the characters TO BE characters. What are they fighting for? Well, nothing the viewer could care less about...
Ultimately, all of this success comes about because of the brilliant way in which the author J.K. Rowling has constructed her seven-volume storyline. See, `The Chronicles of Narnia' are good - very good - but in the end don't quite fully succeed, and this is because the author, C.S. Lewis, had never envisioned them as a series: `The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' was originally intended by the writer to be a one off. As thoroughly enjoyable as the three Narnia movies are, there is no through-story like Rowling's Harry-Voldermort. Indeed, over the course of the three Narnia movies even some of the Pevensie children themselves become side characters. And although that was entirely the point - part of the plot - in the end it harms the story. It dilutes what the characters are fighting for. It weakens its forcus.
Look at the Harry Potter series: viewed in hindsight it's not just the story of teenage friendships, for it also presents an astounding portrayal of one man coming to be viewed in the end entirely differently by the viewer. Professor Snape. What an astonishing character arc - and yet Rowling had it all there, right from the beginning: Snape using a counter-curse against Professor Quirrell to save Harry during the first movie's Quidditch match. Wait, isn't Snape the bad guy?! We're made to wonder, right from that first movie all the way through to the revelations of the eighth. `Narnia' has nothing on that. It's clear that Rowling has thought her seven-volume story through like a military operation: the first four books may have come out only a year apart, but the author had begun planning them seven years before the first one was ever published.
And the friendships, that's all there too. Look at the Ron-Hermione moments seeded throughout the entire movie series. Harry and Hermione are just good friends, thus all the unself-conscious hugs she gives him. Yet there is a physical tension - a conscious awareness of each other - between her and Ron. At the end of `Chamber of Secrets' Hermione flings her arms around Harry... but, both of them equally awkward and embarrassed, Ron and Hermione only shake hands. In `Prisoner of Askaban' during Hagrid's first lesson with Harry cautiously approaching Buckbeak, Herminone grabs Ron's hand, before quickly letting go, both of them looking around uncomfortably. All, finally, converging in Hermione's emotional outburst at the end of the Yule Ball in `Goblet of Fire' where (like a soul crying out `Look at me!') she says, "Next time there's a Ball, pluck up the courage to ask me before somebody else does - and not as a last resort!" And in another moment of movie gold, Harry and Hermione comforting each other on the steps in Hogwarts, unable to be with the one they want. "How does it feel, Harry, when you see Dean with Ginny?" After Hermione sends her bird charms crashing into the wall beside Ron and Ron flees, Harry replies, "It feels like this."
It's why `Half-Blood Prince' is one of my favourite instalments: not only is it the calm before the storm of the seventh and eighth movies but it allows the characters' friendships to come to fruition. `Half-Blood Prince' does not become sidetracked, far from it. You need that, because that is the story. It's what I love about it: yes, they're wizards and witches but the film makers never lose sight of the fact that they're also young adults going through the most important transitional period of their lives. These movies aren't about fantastical magical events inconveniently interrupted by mushy teenage moments. Instead they're precisely all about those ordinary, everyday teenage moments, played against the backdrop of incredible events. Those amazing events only occur at all because of who the characters are; it's only natural that the plot should play second to the story of their lives. Because they are what truly matters. Because they, as Sam would put it, "Are worth fighting for."
As if that wasn't enough, as if the story of Harry-Ron-Hermione (and, indeed, Snape) isn't in itself reason enough to revisit this whole series, Rowling has also given us an amazing supporting cast of characters. All too often in a series, all the characters outwith the main group rarely hold a reader's/viewer's attention for long. And yet Rowling has created not one single boring character, and what an amazing supporting cast they are: the Dursley, the Weasleys, the Malfoys, Hagrid, Dobby, Sirius, Bellatrix, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, and on and on. In fact, one of Rowling's most inspired moves, and certainly a wonderful way of keeping things fresh, was to continuously have a new colourful character each year as the Professor of the Dark Arts. Glideroy Lockhart, Remus Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, Dolores Umbridge. Not to forget the delightful potions master from `Half-Blood Prince', Horace Slughorn, or the Professor of Divination, Trelawney. Then, too, you have the caretaker Argus Filch, the ghost Nearly Headless Nick. Well, you get the idea. Quidditch, the Ministry of Magic, the Dementors. The richness of the world Rowling has created is so rewarding that I can't ever imagine tiring of it.
Watching these characters - and, indeed, the actors - grow up before us is fascinating. I love the fact the first two movies are kids movies; there's no hint, really, of what lies ahead. Until, of course, you get to `Prisoner of Askaban'. Even the naysayer film critics sat up at that one and said, "Hey, hold on a minute..." From the fifth film onwards these were no longer merely kids' movies. It's what accounts for their immensely broad appeal: children will watch them for the action and special effects, teenagers and adults for the humour and the series' growing depth. Even the opening titles change as the story darkens: from bright gold in the first few movies to chipped and crumbling grey stone.
Viewed as one 1100+ minute über-movie the achievement is nothing short of remarkable.
Thank you, Rowling.
And thank you Warner Bros and the cast and crew for the ten-year visual journey of these marvellous books that you have taken my wife and I on.
22 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By Virgi;ia
Format:DVD
After watching DH 2, I feel that in some way or the other I have to get rid of my disappointment with this movie. Having always preferred the books, I nevertheless enjoyed the movies to some extent and I was really looking forward to the last of the series.
The first 90 minutes or so, the movie is okay with a few great moments like Maggie Smith fighting Snape. Unfortunately, after that, the movie goes downhill. I will give a few examples in no particular order.
The worst thing to me is the fact that the director does not bother to explain WHY Harry comes back to life after Voldemort Avada Kedavras him. In one scene you have Dumbledore explaining that Harry MUST die and then, somehow, he survives. Nowhere is it mentioned that it is because of his sacrifice that he survives. Dumb.
Which brings me to the next issue: the short chat in a limbolike King's Cross with Dumbledore is awful. In the book, it completely reestablishes the relationship between the two friends, in the movie, you wonder whether Dumbledore really cares for the boy.
Then there's Aberforth. Aberforth? Yes, Aberforth, although you see him for like three seconds. You either introduce a character decently or not at all, but this was just a disaster.
Also there's Neville, one of my personal favourites, who kills Nagini. As previous reviews mentioned, Nagini takes a walk through the castle which is completely illogical because Voldemort would NEVER let his last crux more than three inches from his side. No Neville, in mortal danger and close to Voldemort chopping off Nagini's head. What a pity. Such a great, great scene in the book.
Truly disappointing, as mentioned in other reviews, is the final duel between Harry and Voldemort. It's a disgrace of a duel. Where in the book everyone is watching, here it's just the two of them. Harry, moreover, really finishes Voldemort off, while in the book Voldemort is killed by his own Avada Kedavra, which flies right back at him because of Harry's typical Expelliarmus. Harry wouldn't kill a soul. After the duel, you'd expect people to go ecstatic because FINALLY the great evil of the Wizard Community is destroyed, but nothing happens besides the three friends taking a little stroll.
And finally,lots of people die, but since we haven't established an emotional relationship with a single one of them in this movie (Fred, Tonks, Remus) due to them having hardly any lines, we don't care half as much as we should.
So, the aftertaste was bitter. I just don't understand why so many people seem to think this is a fantastic movie.
The first 90 minutes or so, the movie is okay with a few great moments like Maggie Smith fighting Snape. Unfortunately, after that, the movie goes downhill. I will give a few examples in no particular order.
The worst thing to me is the fact that the director does not bother to explain WHY Harry comes back to life after Voldemort Avada Kedavras him. In one scene you have Dumbledore explaining that Harry MUST die and then, somehow, he survives. Nowhere is it mentioned that it is because of his sacrifice that he survives. Dumb.
Which brings me to the next issue: the short chat in a limbolike King's Cross with Dumbledore is awful. In the book, it completely reestablishes the relationship between the two friends, in the movie, you wonder whether Dumbledore really cares for the boy.
Then there's Aberforth. Aberforth? Yes, Aberforth, although you see him for like three seconds. You either introduce a character decently or not at all, but this was just a disaster.
Also there's Neville, one of my personal favourites, who kills Nagini. As previous reviews mentioned, Nagini takes a walk through the castle which is completely illogical because Voldemort would NEVER let his last crux more than three inches from his side. No Neville, in mortal danger and close to Voldemort chopping off Nagini's head. What a pity. Such a great, great scene in the book.
Truly disappointing, as mentioned in other reviews, is the final duel between Harry and Voldemort. It's a disgrace of a duel. Where in the book everyone is watching, here it's just the two of them. Harry, moreover, really finishes Voldemort off, while in the book Voldemort is killed by his own Avada Kedavra, which flies right back at him because of Harry's typical Expelliarmus. Harry wouldn't kill a soul. After the duel, you'd expect people to go ecstatic because FINALLY the great evil of the Wizard Community is destroyed, but nothing happens besides the three friends taking a little stroll.
And finally,lots of people die, but since we haven't established an emotional relationship with a single one of them in this movie (Fred, Tonks, Remus) due to them having hardly any lines, we don't care half as much as we should.
So, the aftertaste was bitter. I just don't understand why so many people seem to think this is a fantastic movie.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Daniel slack
Format:DVD
This film is very good I brought it the day it came out after seeing it in the cinema ,after watching all eight Harry potter movies in sequence it saddened me to thing there won't be another.
However back to deathly hollows part 2 this movie is an essential buy for anyone interested in Harry potter it stands up the expectations of many and as it is the finale Warner bros went all out to make this the best yet and therefore went completely disconcered for the budget , this makes the movie a great finale for a great movie series
However back to deathly hollows part 2 this movie is an essential buy for anyone interested in Harry potter it stands up the expectations of many and as it is the finale Warner bros went all out to make this the best yet and therefore went completely disconcered for the budget , this makes the movie a great finale for a great movie series
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic film
love all the Harry Potter films, got this for my daughter to complete her set, absolutely loved it, will watch again and again
Published 15 days ago by dawn hutchison
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love it!!!
I bought this film as a present for my mum but I've borrowed it too and I love it! Buy it!
Published 16 days ago by Layna Thompson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing :)
I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, I love the books and the movies, so I got a copy for myself and my boyfriend (also a huge fan). Read more
Published 20 days ago by ellie-jo
5.0 out of 5 stars
good :)
very good , a few scratches on the disc but did not affect the viewing of the film . :)
Published 21 days ago by mary
1.0 out of 5 stars
awful 3d
bought this really to check out if the 3d is any good when the original film was not released in 3d.
Basically, the 3d is awful.... Read more
Basically, the 3d is awful.... Read more
Published 24 days ago by M. Kelly
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic - thank you
It was exactly want was wanted by my 14 year old son - delivered promptly and the cost was spot on too - thank you
Published 26 days ago by Costabomb25
5.0 out of 5 stars
harry potter film dvd
very good film my daughter had all thefilms but not this one she has enjoyed it
it arrived quickly and packageing was padded well
it arrived quickly and packageing was padded well
Published 26 days ago by denise orme
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant Film
This was a brilliant film and I can't believe it is the last one and the story has ended. It arrived very quickly.
Published 28 days ago by The Squirrels
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant
Stunning film just couldn't switch off and have had to have it ripped out of my hands such was the compulsion to watch it.
Published 29 days ago by S C Cousins/sccousins@btinternet.com
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic film!
I love all of the HP films so had to buy it as soon as it came out, but then they brought out the great big box set and my husband brought that for me! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sue
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