Soundtrack Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Posted by Jon Blough

July 14, 2009

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This is a review of the motion picture score Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by Nicholas Hooper.

“Too situational to be strong but also too competent to thrash”

I am not one to say “well, I’ve never heard of that composer, so forget that score.” There are too many fine breakthrough examples, even recently, to find merit in thoughts like that. I am also not one to say, “well, that composer I like won’t be returning for the next film, so that score will suck,” due mostly to four composers writing great scores for the Star Trek films and Patrick Doyle writing what I consider to be the finest Harry Potter score. So while certainly wary about Nicholas Hooper’s assignment to the fifth Potter film, I did not abandon all hope. And…well…I wasn’t rewarded nor punished for such cautious, minimal optimism. Few, if any, will attest that the composer penned a score comparable to its predecessors, but there are numerous likeable moments throughout, and the score does play a bit better if one rearranges the cues in chronological order.

Pleasant

I suppose the best complements one can throw towards this score are that it is …um …pleasant …and cute. It is certainly the lightest of the Potter scores. Almost every “nice” cue is dominated either by woodwinds or chiming percussion, which is a stark shift from the decidedly dark approach for the last two films. Now, there’s nothing wrong with exploring playful music in a genre, and the score does provide extended whimsical enjoyment in “The Room of Requirement” and “Dumbledore’s Army”. But for this kind of writing to be strong (at least for me, and certainly for many others) it has to have thematic personality or an innovative approach (preferably both), and Hooper’s writing lacks neither. There is no new Potter theme or any references to previous themes, and such passages, while likable, could have been pulled from a more minimalist drama. Cues like “The Kiss” beg for Doyle’s theme for Harry to be interpreted.

I suppose even with those above quibbles the score could have still worked with fine themes in its other sections. Alas, Umbridge’s Theme, while bouncy enough to suffice, feels a bit too much like Hook lite, and it lacks a convincing subdued menace that would be both more appropriate for the character and a better injection of personality. The new seduction theme for Voldemort, slow, anonymous, and infrequent on album, also suffers from a lack of an assertive identity. No performance really stands out over the other. Even the theme is competent, you never feel that it is trying hard enough to grab you, or Harry for that matter. That the series has already featured two thoroughly menacing motifs for the character does this theme no favors. A prominent action or Death Eaters motif for the Ministry of Magic climax is sorely absent; the driving strings just don’t have enough behind them to hold up to the rest of the saga’s often-sensational action, save for a wee bit of percussive rumbling in the middle of “Death of Sirius”.

Lacks Emotion

And that’s the major issue with Hooper’s score: it is far, FAR below the level of quality of any of the previous Potter scores. It lacks the technicality and emotion of any of John Williams’ efforts, and its reinvention of the wheel lacks the bombastic addictiveness and superb thematic additions of Doyle’s work. Both of those complements for Goblet of Fire were, for most, enough to atone for its few references to Williams’ themes. In this score’s case, the thematic nods that could have been its saving grace are just too weak. “Dementors in the Underpass” is unimpressively basic, boiling the dense swirling strings and menacing choir of Azkaban down to simple, synth-like levels at times. The dual performances of Hedwig’s Theme pass by without much notice.

Conclusion

I realize I’ve spent most of this review griping, which seems a bit unfair. While Hooper did drop the ball in most areas, he still managed to produce a likeable work that is serviceable on film. Perhaps more cues with the reckless exuberance of “Fireworks” could have helped. Maybe a larger sampling of the grace and energy in the brief but fun “Flight of the Order of the Phoenix” could have improved the finished product. Still, the score lacks an overarching purpose. Williams understood how to do that by kicking out the fanfares for Azkaban, and Doyle similarly achieved a darker approach by centering the score on his new Voldemort motif. Hooper’s score is too situational to be strong but is also too competent to thrash. It is a shame that the series has descended into pleasant anonymity with this venture (especially with James Hannigan’s boisterous score for the film’s companion video game), but the drop is not as precipitous as, say, Star Trek 6 to Star Trek 7. A backhanded complement indeed, but a complement nonetheless.

Album (52:57)
1. Fireworks (1:51)
2. Professor Umbridge (2:37)
3. Another Story (2:43)
4. Dementors in the Underpass (1:47)
5. Dumbledore’s Army (2:44)
6. The Hall of Prophecies (4:29)
7. Possession (3:22)
8. The Room of Requirements (6:11)
9. The Kiss (1:58)
10. A Journey to Hogwarts (2:56)
11. The Sirius Deception (2:38)
12. The Death of Sirius (4:00)
13. Umbridge Spoils a Beautiful Morning (2:42)
14. Darkness Takes Over (3:00)
15. The Ministry of Magic (2:50)
16. The Sacking of Trelawney (2:17)
17. Flight of the Order of the Phoenix (1:36)
18. Loved Ones & Leaving (3:16)
Chronological Order : 3,4,17,15,10,2,8,5,9,13,16,1,11,6,14,12,7,18