Apart from his old pals, about the only support Harry gets is from a clandestine cabal of wizards —among them his godfather, Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), and “Mad-Eye” Moody (Brendan Gleeson) — who help our boy make his way through the treacherous ways of wizardly deceit.

Harry has his first kiss with the lovely Cho Chang (played by Katie Leung), but this love interest is barely an afterthought; Harry's little romance is dispensed with in three waves of a wand.

Yates and Goldenberg have brought a fresh perspective to settings and characters, releasing to the masses a Harry Potter that is the darkest and most character-focused chapter yet. Based on the longest of the Potter books, "Phoenix" is also the shortest of the series, clocking in at two hours and 15 minutes. Rowling's sly wit is still in evidence, and there are plenty of clever, magical effects in the film. The "Potter" sage has ever so subtly matured, making this one disturbingly bleak and occasionally brilliant.