In exactly one week’s five days’ time, I’ll probably just be emerging from a theater after watching a midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — Part 1 of the Great July Pottergasm of 2007.

Needless to say, I can’t wait. The first reviews of the film are up on Rotten Tomatoes. If you don’t want to read any reviews, don’t follow the link (obviously) and don’t continue reading after the jump. Otherwise, click below…

I don’t always agree with movie critics, by any means, but I think the good ones usually have at least some semblance of a clue — so I was disheartened when, following a Drudge link a few days ago, I read the Hollywood Reporter review, which pans the fifth Potter movie:

[T]his book — and movie — is a watershed of backstory, revelations and plot clarifications before heading into the two remaining chapters. So while “Phoenix” is a necessary film, it’s quite possibly the least enjoyable of the lot so far. …

Funnily enough, “Phoenix” ends up with everyone realizing what we, the audience, realized at the close of the last film, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” — that the film’s great but to this point almost ephemeral villain, Lord Voldemort, has returned. Only it takes another 138 minutes for everyone, save Harry, to truly comprehend this fact. Consequently, looking back, when the series is finally completed, “Phoenix” might go down as the problematic film, full of plot but little fun.

That’s an odd criticism to hear about an adaptation of Book 5, which, while it admittedly has that “well, duh” aspect to the ultimate “revelation” of Voldemort’s return, actually has a lot of fun stuff in its plot, not least the climactic confrontation between Voldemort and Dumbledore — possibly the “coolest” scene in the whole series thus far, IMHO. If any of the Potter movies was going to suffer from being “a watershed of backstory, revelations and plot clarifications,” you’d think it would be the next one, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which (at least in my opinion) suffered from that very problem in book form.

Anyway, in light of my high hopes for Order of the Phoenix (after being bitterly disappointed by certain crucial aspects of the Goblet of Fire adapation), I was unsettled to hear it described by a respected industry publication as “full of plot but little fun.” But the good news is, that’s the only bad review it’s gotten on Rotten Tomatoes so far. Some are lukewarm but generally positive, while others are effusive in their praise. I really hope I end up agreeing with the Sunday Mirror:

This fifth instalment in the Harry Potter series is a deliciously dark affair, brimming with impressively gritty performances but still managing to balance magical wonder with breathless excitement. … Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix overflows with devious plots, plans and clever machinations, and is constantly entertaining, wonderfully condensing what was the longest of JK Rowling’s books. …

[T]he final half-hour is a truly classic piece of action-adventure. The special effects are superb, and this time round we really get some proper wizard duelling, with the wands doubling as deadly weapons and blood spilled as the young heroes slug it out with a grizzled group of baddie magicians.

There is even a Star Wars moment as Dumbledore (the Obi-Wan Kenobi in this version) goes wand-to-wand with Voldemort (Darth Vader) as they battle for the life and soul of Harry Potter.

This time the magical teens are making the difficult transition to young adults. Love, betrayal, independence and commitment all play their part. The film is a cracking piece of entertainment - it’s well over two hours long, but you simply wish it could go on.

Importantly, the Times of London — which didn’t love the film as much as the Mirror, calling it “a solid, occasionally spectacular set-piece” — says Daniel Radcliffe’s acting skills have improved… to a point: “The acting skills of Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (Hermione) have improved, but not enough to truly flesh out the characters and provide the narrative depth that this transitional, plot-advancing film needs. They have got ‘angry’ and ‘determined’ down pat at this point, but struggle somewhat on the more nuanced grimaces. Harry’s bellowing cod-psychoanalysis of Voldemort is jarringly awful.”

The Sun has this to say:

As well as Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic, much of the action takes place in London and the sets are amazing. The scene where a terrace of Victorian houses slides apart to reveal the Order Of The Phoenix HQ is truly magical. The special effects are also excellent and the battles thrilling.

Evanna Lynch joins the cast as otherworldly Luna Lovegood and Gary Oldman is back as wronged fugitive Sirius Black.

And, despite being surrounded by some of the world’s best actors including Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, Helena Bonham Carter’s mad banshee is a real scene-stealer.

And from Variety:

Dolores Umbridge is one of Rowling’s most delicious — and resonantly named — creations; a stout, toad-like woman reliably clad in shades of pink, Umbridge is a party functionary par excellence, a rules-and-regulations fanatic with a whim of iron who cloaks her proscriptive edicts in dulcet tones and manufactured smiles. Imelda Staunton was the perfect choice for the part and unsurprisingly emerges as one of the film’s greatest pleasures. …

Harry assembles an underground rebel band known as Dumbledore’s Army. The intense way these passages are staged lead one to believe they are the scenes that most engaged the interest of director Yates, who seems to relish the image of Harry and Hermione as nascent revolutionary leaders.

Similarly prominent are Harry’s renewed relationship with his beloved godfather Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), hiding away in the secret family homestead in London, and his nightmarish visions of Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), with whom he increasingly feels a disturbingly strong connection. It gets so bad that he is forced to receive private tutoring from the dreaded Professor Snape, whose distaste for the task could not be more pronounced. Until shortly before the end, Snape has very little to do, but Alan Rickman may have outdone himself; seldom has an actor done more with less than he does here.

Climactic showdown between Harry’s crew and Voldemort’s henchmen, led by Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs), is strikingly played out in a huge Ministry storeroom filled with shelved grapefruit-sized globes containing prophecies. One such sphere concerning Harry is of vital interest to Voldemort, and performing especially well on his behalf is Sirius’ malignant cousin Bellatrix Lestrange, embodied by Helena Bonham Carter with a particularly maniacal glee.

Overall, those reviews are enough to give me hope that the Hollywood Reporter reviewer is just being snobby or missing the point, and that I have a lot to look forward to next Friday Wednesday at midnight.