Welcome to the summer of J.K. Rowling. This week, fans of the Harry Potter movie franchise experience the wizard’s fifth and most precarious year at Hogwarts, and in 9 days, Rowling’s faithful readers will be rewarded for their vigor with the terminal chapters in her seven-book series. For those of us who are interested in both media—and honestly, the cross section is humongous—it’s a ten-day festival of bewitching anticipation and, if Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is as good as the movie adaptation of …and the Order of the Phoenix, satisfying payoff.

Following his showdown with Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) at the end of the last movie, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) spends his school year trying to convince his classmates and the magical administration that the evil lord is mounting an attack. His fervor is measured by the Order of the Phoenix, a group of his closest adult allies, who don’t want to see him harmed, and made out to be a lie by the Ministry of Magic, the Big Brother of the wizarding community.

The Ministry sends Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) to Hogwarts to spy on Harry; eventually, she replaces Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) as the school’s headmaster, instituting a military state at Hogwards. With the help of his friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), Harry teaches a rouge group of classmates how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts should Voldemort attack. Vulnerable to a mental connection between himself and the dark lord, Harry sees Voldemort’s strikes on good wizards, setting up yet another magical duel between the two.

As has become standard practice in the Potter franchise, the veteran actors outshine the young cast, specifically the three central actors in Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint. Staunton is a delight as Umbridge, her saccharine-coated malice on full blast at all times, making Rowling’s written character seem like just a stick in the mud. Alan Rickman, getting a smaller turn than usual as Professor Snape, still manages to elicit the heebie jeebies and even give a few moments of human emotion. As Harry’s erstwhile “uncle” Sirius Black, Gary Oldman feasts on scenery. But the gap is closing. Grint hams it up for the camera less than before, Watson hones her comic timing and adds depth to the character, and Radcliffe manages to command attention in several scenes; not surprisingly, this coincides with Harry’s own growth of confidence among his peers.

Adapted by Michael Goldenberg and directed by David Yates, Order of the Phoenix is the tightest, most exciting movie of the franchise so far. There is quite a bit of material cut from the book; for the first time, very little of it is missed. Even so, Harry’s mental state when Voldemort makes a move still seem more like headaches than really worrisome premonition, and that softens the tension between Harry and his friends, played up more in the book because of the greater deal of attention paid to the student’s OWL standardized testing and the general annoyances of puberty (Harry gets his first kiss in this chapter). But these distractions are treated in the movie enough so that you can understand Harry’s frustration and set aside at the right times to ratchet up the action.

With stunning effects and near perfect pacing, Order of the Phoenix is an action-packed treat for Potter fans. More importantly, it’s the best movie in the series and a perfect way to whet your appetite for next year’s Half-Blood Prince (also directed by Yates) and next week’s conclusion to the book series.

Rating: * * * * 1/2 of 5

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