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Movie Review: Harry Potter and The Traffic Jam
Last night I got a ticket at the last minute to go see Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix, because my rabid Potter fan of a friend had discovered the release was bumped up from the 13th, (although the posters everywhere had not been changed). And while I'm not quite rabid, I did want to see it. It was a 10:30 showing at Grauman's Chinese Theater and I was still blissfully lounging on the couch at 9, when I got a call from my friend saying she was already there and there was no parking anywhere. Something was going on at the Bowl (found out later it was Queen Latifah), and word had clearly gotten out about the release date change, because the Hollywood & Highland structure was full and the surrounding area was jam-packed.
I headed out to meet her with a sinking heart, because, sadly, I was born with no sense of direction. Sometimes all it takes is a few turns to get me completely lost, pissed off, and heading back home. (Assuming I can find it.) This time, I ended up floating along on a wave of traffic, bewildered, desperately looking for Sycamore so I could park in the Knitting Factory structure, missing it, finding myself back on Franklin, and driving back towards home, wishing the Cruciatus Curse on everyone in Hollywood.
After a very patient explanation from my friend, I eventually made a wide circle around the mess and found Sycamore at last. Once parked, I had to skirt the massive line and pick up my ticket from automated machines I couldn't locate, which turned out to be over to the right of all the foot and hand-prints in the cement (which I didn't even glance at - when did I become so grumpy and jaded?). Then my friend in line explained that she wanted to actually run inside to get good seats, so I never truly relaxed until I finally managed to sit down in the theater. Shortly after which, I was thankfully inundated with a series of uplifting, if slightly hokey, fantasy movie previews. Ahhh, escapism.
The Order of The Phoenix had a slightly rocky start (this time the Dursleys seemed a bit too slapstick, although Dudley's UK thug get-up was pretty funny), but once Harry took off with The Order for their gloomy headquarters, things picked up much better. I was a bit sad to see the Weasley twins had cut their hair short, (does anyone else inappropriately think they're hot?) but everyone else looked in great shape, and Dolores Umbridge was picture perfect. Naturally for such a long book, they breezed over a whole lot of things (Kreacher was also perfect, but slimmed down to a nothing little role, and Snape's memory of James Potter tormenting him was seriously underplayed). The script also invents a few things, which are odd, like Cho Chang turning in Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge, under the influence of veritaserum, (love her Scottish accent), or Umbridge forcing all the students to write lines that cut marks into their hands (surely parents would've broken the doors down).
Despite these things, it's still probably my favorite Harry Potter movie. The scenes of Dumbledore's Army learning to defend themselves under Harry's guidance are pretty great, and the chemistry between Hermione and Ron is good fun to watch. (Although it sometimes irritates me that Hermione has to say everything breathlessly.) Luna Lovegood is dead-on, and watching her, Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley take on the Deatheaters at the Ministry of Magic is pretty exhilarating. Even non-Harry Potter fans could probably appreciate that scene, just to see frightened young folks kicking ass.
It was very enjoyable. And afterwards, I managed to get my car and get home in about 1/8 the time it took me to get there. Truly magical.