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‘Golden Compass’: Lyra, witches and bears, oh my
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
New Line Cinema’s “The Golden Compass” has but one purpose — be the same kind of multi-film juggernaut as the studio’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which earned a worldwide box office approaching $3 billion.
That’s a hard feat to match, especially since Hollywood’s been drunk with the fantasy genre for the last few years. We’ve been overloaded with films like “The Chronicles of Narnia,” “Stardust” and, most recently, “Enchanted.”
“Golden Compass,” opening nationwide on Friday with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig and sporting a Victorian veneer, is full of talking animals, flying witches, mechanical bugs, a dining hall that looks a little like something out of “Harry Potter” and supporting actor Simon McBurney’s unfortunate combover. It also roars with big, fighting polar bears who face off in battle armor.
The story, based on the first book in Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy, involves an alternate, fanciful universe where a little girl, Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards), must act to save other children snatched away by the evil, mind-control-happy, ruling Magisterium.
In Pullman’s book the church is the evil entity. But in the film it’s been completely altered with the Magisterium being only a kind of “Star Wars”-y evil empire.
At just under two hours in length, the movie propels itself ever forward, rarely lingering long enough to get to know many of the characters. But there is a lot to see: gyro-powered carriages, a massive Zeppelin, mysterious, sparkling Dust and, of course, a golden compass that allows a lucky seer peeks at the truth.
The movie is rated PG-13 and there is violence — a lot of death by arrows, gunfire and the occasional bad guy getting stomped by a polar bear.
Here are some of the major aspects of “Compass” moviegoers will likely be talking about:
The big bear fight — The film’s centerpiece, it’s a big, honking brawl between two massive, roaring polar bears sporting armor.
Nicole Kidman’s hair — As Marisa Coulter, a kind of S.S. officer with a soft veneer, the actress has gone blond. Her locks seem to change with every scene. One moment she’s got monstrous curls framing her face; the next, her hair’s twisted here and there into some sort of gently flowing rope.
What’s your Daemon? — Every character has an ever-present animal companion representing his or her soul. Kidman’s, for example, is a monkey. This makes for severe crowding in big fight scenes or moments requiring a lot of cast extras.
The rescues — Over and over again, just when someone is about to be harmed, a flying witch or a gunshot, or, say … a bear … shows up to, well, save the day.
Sam Elliott — He plays cowboy Lee Scoresby and gets to turn his drawl on high, using phrases like “well, lookee here” and words like “fellers” and “turkey shoot.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Bob Longino
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By John C. Snider
December 3, 2007 11:26 AM | Link to this
Bob, I can’t disagree with most of your assessment - while reasonably faithful to the book, The Golden Compass film felt a wee-bit rushed. Usually I’m all for movies being SHORTER, but in this case, had the film been 20 or 30 minutes longer, it would have allowed the audience time to savor and absorb the various plot twists and their ramifications.
As to your assertion that “…in the film [the Church has] been completely altered with the Magisterium being only a kind of “Star Wars”-y evil empire.” I wouldn’t say “completely altered” - perhaps tweaked a bit would be more accurate. While it’s true the book uses the words Church and Magisterium interchangeable, while the film simply doesn’t use the word Church, the essential nature of the institution is virtually unchanged.
Finally, I find it interesting that so much was said in the media about the film watering down the book so as not to be blatantly anti-religion, yet in the end the film was, if anything, MORE blatant than the book. In the book the Magisterium was a faceless, never-seen shadow, but in the film we see actual members of the Magisterium plotting and scheming. Granted, some of these are characters are introduced in the 2nd book, but the overall effect, in my opinion, is to offer a sharper criticism of religion (and of the Catholic Church specifically).
Thanks, John C. Snider www.americanfreethought.com