The Golden Compass
January 1st 2008 22:51
Category: Movies
Based on the novel Northern Lights by: Phillip Pullman.
Director: Chris Weitz.
Producers: Bill Carraro & Deborah Forte.
Screenplay by: Chris Weitz.
Starring: Daniel Craig (Lord Asriel), Nicole Kidman (Mrs Coulter), Sam Elliott (Lee Scoresby), Dakota Blue Richards (Lyra), Eva Green (Serafina Pekkala), Sir Ian McKellen (Iorek Byrnison), Derek Jacobi (Magisterial Emissary) and Christopher Lee (First High Councillor).
Produced by: 2007 New Line Cinema in association with Ingenious Films.
Running Time: 100 minutes. Rating: PG.
Anyone who saw the trailer for this film at a cinema when they were there to see some other feature would be forgiven for expecting to see and epic fantasy adventure along the line of Lord of the Rings (LOTR), certainly New Line Cinema made sure that the fact that they were involved in LOTR, was dropped into the trailer in fact its almost the first thing mentioned. Unfortunately for this film this is about the only comparison that can be made, that New Line was involved with this film and with LOTR after that there is no comparison and what at first initially seems to be a major fantasy adventure unfortunately pans out as being a drawn out and somewhat stilted in its impact. Not having read the book on which this film is based, and which is apparently only one in a series, I walked from the theatre wondering if the book might actually be better than the film itself.
It was on New Year’s Eve when I went to see the Golden Compass and as I sat there in the darkened cinema my eyes watching the unfolding drama in the back of my mind was the feeling of “When is this all going to end and let me get out of here and walk home?” Certainly the makers of this film looked as if they spared no expense in regards to cast, special effects, locations etc. They pulled out all the stops when it came to production values and cinematography but it seemed as if they just didn’t bother with story. In fact when I made my way through the wind and the brief squall of rain en route to my home the sensation I had was that their wasn’t really much of a story there at all, that it was all left very much up in the air for a forthcoming sequel. This was always going to be on the cards as apparently the book upon which this movie was based, Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman, is the first in a series and it looks as if New Line has bought the film options to the other works in the series. So it is likely that their will be a sequel, a Golden Compass II if you will.
Of course if you’re a big fan of these works and you enjoyed the film this will be great news, but what about the average run of the mill viewer who has never read these books or even heard of them but who went along to see the flick anyway. As this was precisely the situation that I was in when I purchased my ticket it was all rather underwhelming once things got underway. If anything the movie seemed like some kind of cinematic slight of hand, a three card Monty on screen, here’s all this wonderful scenery, oh look its Nicole Kidman and look some really funky CGI with Bears and witches oh my but please don’t notice that there’s no real story behind it all. One criticism that was levelled against LOTR was that it was a movie made for the fans, implying that LOTR had only a very narrow target audience, certainly I would say that this is the case with this film it seems more aimed at those that have read Northern Lights rather than the general cinema going public.
But what in the end is it all about? That’s a very good question as there is numerous elements and plotlines involved in the film but none of it really comes together as a cohesive whole. There are alternate universes, a mysterious mystical element called Dust (of all things), a tyrannical organisation, mysterious kidnappings of children from the poor and outsider elements of society, intrigue, a prophecy, rampaging Samoyeds and a mysterious laboratory located in the wilds of the Northern Polar regions and protected by an elite cadre of soldiers known as the Tartar Brigade. Throw in a Darth Vader revelation about the parentage of one of the characters and you have a whole lot to absorb in the space of a hundred minutes or so and none of it really makes much sense, especially the Vader revelation. It’s almost as if the makers are under the impression that you know what’s going on and thus don’t need any real filler to explain things or that they feel the explanation given at the start of the film is more than enough to go on so don’t worry. Frankly all that the starting monologue did was simply set the scene, pointing out that in this particular world the souls of people are actually physically manifested in animal forms called demons, that there is this element Dust that links the various alternate realities and there are Ice Bears, intelligent talking polar bears who live in the frozen lands of the north. There is also mention of alethiometers, the Golden Compass of the movies name, and the fact that most of these devices were destroyed or taken by the Magisterium though nothings actually mentioned about the rationale of this action or even what the Magisterium is.
So there are all these interesting titbits and they are thrown at you with little or no idea about how it all fits into the grand scheme of the story. Just for starters why is the character of Lord Asriel so interested in finding out about the means of entering an alternate universe? Why is at the North Pole that a mysterious gateway has managed to open and the actual phenomena of Dust settling on a man and his demon first observed? Why is the Magisterium so worried about Dust? Just what is the Magisterium? What is this prophecy of the witches that is made mention of by several characters in the film? These are but a few of the plethora of questions I found myself asking as the film wound its way across the screen and there didn’t seem to be any satisfactory answers given within the actual movie itself. Perhaps I need to read the books or wait for the sequel, if so then that is a very poor way to go about making a film – expecting the audience to already know what the heck’s going on in the first place. After all if you knew what was going to happen why bother seeing it at all?
When Fellowship of the Ring hit the big screen on Boxing Day in 2001 the bulk of the audience knew or at least had some idea that it was the first of a trilogy, yet even though it was part of a larger whole it was still a self contained movie. Star Wars was part of large epic saga, yet that first movie was an effective self contained film. The same cannot be said of Golden Compass; it is not a self contained film and leaves a heck of a lot of loose ends combined with the introduction of numerous plot elements whose existence look as if they only have any real bearing towards upcoming films. All in all my advice would be not to bother with the film even when it comes out on DVD; you’d probably be better off tracking down the novels by Phillip Pullman it would probably work out cheaper and possibly be more entertaining in the end.
Director: Chris Weitz.
Producers: Bill Carraro & Deborah Forte.
Screenplay by: Chris Weitz.
Starring: Daniel Craig (Lord Asriel), Nicole Kidman (Mrs Coulter), Sam Elliott (Lee Scoresby), Dakota Blue Richards (Lyra), Eva Green (Serafina Pekkala), Sir Ian McKellen (Iorek Byrnison), Derek Jacobi (Magisterial Emissary) and Christopher Lee (First High Councillor).
Produced by: 2007 New Line Cinema in association with Ingenious Films.
Running Time: 100 minutes. Rating: PG.
Anyone who saw the trailer for this film at a cinema when they were there to see some other feature would be forgiven for expecting to see and epic fantasy adventure along the line of Lord of the Rings (LOTR), certainly New Line Cinema made sure that the fact that they were involved in LOTR, was dropped into the trailer in fact its almost the first thing mentioned. Unfortunately for this film this is about the only comparison that can be made, that New Line was involved with this film and with LOTR after that there is no comparison and what at first initially seems to be a major fantasy adventure unfortunately pans out as being a drawn out and somewhat stilted in its impact. Not having read the book on which this film is based, and which is apparently only one in a series, I walked from the theatre wondering if the book might actually be better than the film itself.
But what in the end is it all about? That’s a very good question as there is numerous elements and plotlines involved in the film but none of it really comes together as a cohesive whole. There are alternate universes, a mysterious mystical element called Dust (of all things), a tyrannical organisation, mysterious kidnappings of children from the poor and outsider elements of society, intrigue, a prophecy, rampaging Samoyeds and a mysterious laboratory located in the wilds of the Northern Polar regions and protected by an elite cadre of soldiers known as the Tartar Brigade. Throw in a Darth Vader revelation about the parentage of one of the characters and you have a whole lot to absorb in the space of a hundred minutes or so and none of it really makes much sense, especially the Vader revelation. It’s almost as if the makers are under the impression that you know what’s going on and thus don’t need any real filler to explain things or that they feel the explanation given at the start of the film is more than enough to go on so don’t worry. Frankly all that the starting monologue did was simply set the scene, pointing out that in this particular world the souls of people are actually physically manifested in animal forms called demons, that there is this element Dust that links the various alternate realities and there are Ice Bears, intelligent talking polar bears who live in the frozen lands of the north. There is also mention of alethiometers, the Golden Compass of the movies name, and the fact that most of these devices were destroyed or taken by the Magisterium though nothings actually mentioned about the rationale of this action or even what the Magisterium is.
So there are all these interesting titbits and they are thrown at you with little or no idea about how it all fits into the grand scheme of the story. Just for starters why is the character of Lord Asriel so interested in finding out about the means of entering an alternate universe? Why is at the North Pole that a mysterious gateway has managed to open and the actual phenomena of Dust settling on a man and his demon first observed? Why is the Magisterium so worried about Dust? Just what is the Magisterium? What is this prophecy of the witches that is made mention of by several characters in the film? These are but a few of the plethora of questions I found myself asking as the film wound its way across the screen and there didn’t seem to be any satisfactory answers given within the actual movie itself. Perhaps I need to read the books or wait for the sequel, if so then that is a very poor way to go about making a film – expecting the audience to already know what the heck’s going on in the first place. After all if you knew what was going to happen why bother seeing it at all?
When Fellowship of the Ring hit the big screen on Boxing Day in 2001 the bulk of the audience knew or at least had some idea that it was the first of a trilogy, yet even though it was part of a larger whole it was still a self contained movie. Star Wars was part of large epic saga, yet that first movie was an effective self contained film. The same cannot be said of Golden Compass; it is not a self contained film and leaves a heck of a lot of loose ends combined with the introduction of numerous plot elements whose existence look as if they only have any real bearing towards upcoming films. All in all my advice would be not to bother with the film even when it comes out on DVD; you’d probably be better off tracking down the novels by Phillip Pullman it would probably work out cheaper and possibly be more entertaining in the end.
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