Double Feature

June 2009 - In recent weeks, Wolverine clawed his way to the top of the box office only to be transported right on outta there by Captain Kirk and crew. The summer blockbuster season is here. But, since I haven't seen any of the new films yet, I'm reduced to writing about the blockbusters of summers gone by.

Think back to July 2007 when Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix magically appeared. In this PG-13 film, the boy wizard and friends band together to fight the forces of the dark lord, Voldemort.

The movie begins with Harry on summer break and being attacked by evil creatures. He uses a magic spell to defeat them, which promptly gets him expelled from Hogwarts. Thanks to Dumbledore, he's let back in, but that's hardly the end of his troubles.

Harry is haunted by visions of Voldemort. But, the folks at the Ministry of Magic are not immediately inclined to believe Harry's contention that Voldemort has returned. Harry and company fend off Voldemort with help from the Order of the Phoenix, the group that helped defeat Voldemort the first time around.

Overall review: Ehhh, it was OK. Not a terrible movie, but it seemed a bit disjointed, which may be due to its position in the series. This one seemed to be mostly a bridge between the fourth film and the upcoming sixth film. New characters tend to show up without much introduction or background. That's OK if you've read the books and know who they are. But, if you're like me, you wonder who they are and what their purpose is in the overall scheme of things.

This past summer, The Dark Knight ruled the box office. The PG-13 film clocks in at roughly 2.5 hours. I'm not convinced that it needs to be that long, but when a movie is a sequel to a prequel, I guess it deserves some extra time to tell its story.

Heath Ledger, as the Joker, and Aaron Eckhart, as Harvey Dent/Two-Face, both do well as villains to Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne/Batman hero. Maggie Gyllenhaal, as Rachel Dawes, provides a welcome upgrade over Katie Holmes.

The plot is a little hard to follow at times. Basically, it involves the Joker going after mob money as a way to get Batman's attention. Bodies pile up and the morals of just about everyone are compromised. That's the real joke here, I think, as the good guys try to stay true, but it's the villains who know the real truth. As the Joker says to Batman (in the only line that got a laugh from the audience), "You complete me."

Overall review: Liked it. Because of the film's length and the messy plot, I can't see my way to saying that I loved this film. But, the action is good, the performances are good, and there are plenty of avenues left open to pursue in the next film. It really is sad that Ledger isn't here to be part of it.