Film Review: The Golden Compass

[ninety6tears]

Probably many of us can relate: You are into this really awesome book or book series, one that isn't really of household-name popularity away from literary enthusiasts, and you hold this hope in the back of your mind for years maybe, that it will eventually be made into a film. But of course when you find out that they're going to, your reaction is a mix of excitement and anxiety. The Golden Compass is a novel that is dear to my heart on more levels than one: I was captivated by the sheer level of fantasy when I read it as a kid, and now after rereading it in my adulthood am downright astonished at its unexpected facets of intellectual sophistication mixed with a mysteriously effortless depth of emotion, both of which appeal as a shot to the heart to some of the more paining questions of the human condition. I accepted early on that a film simply could not duplicate the unique sense of purity that Pullman gave his characters. I will say that the film adaptation at least tried. (warning: spoilers for the movie as well as some small aspects of the book series behind the cut.)
Overall, okay, I'm satisfied with the movie; but I have to start with what I think are the glaring fuck-ups:

-The compass = the One Ring? WTF? What is this business with the Magisterium destroying all of the alethiometers except for this one that comes into Lyra's possession? I'm pretty sure it was hinted from the beginning that while the compasses were extremely rare, Lyra's is certainly not the only one. In fact (gasp), it is later revealed that the Magisterium has their own alethiometrist, so...I just feel like they were trying to compress so much of the wow factor of the movie into the whole magical-artifact-that-may-or-may-not-be-a-good-thing concept, when there's a lot, lot more going on in the story. And anyway, they could have saved that whole "it must be destroyed" concept for the knife. And speaking of the knife...

-Intercision should not remind me of THX 1138. Lyra almost being cut from Pan is without a doubt the most terrifying moment of the novel, and even though I won't say that they screwed it up entirely, the look of the machine was so completely off. Even laying aside my dissapointment with the overly science fictional look of the entire lab, there is a huge problem with that stupid laser-drop thing: In The Subtle Knife, it specifically states that Lyra recognizes the unusual color of the knife's edge from the guillotine-like blade that almost separated her from her dæmon. Don't even try to tell me that detail is not important or at least an invaluable nuance.

Of course there are other details they did not preserve that I would have liked to see, specifically some justice to Iorek's true reason for being banished from Svalbard, but that's kind of an understandable change. And they didn't do much work on inventing interesting accents for the Gyptians, witches, etc. John Faa was kind of...intense. And Farder Coram only looked a few years older than him? I shrug.

I was pretty content with the casting before I saw the movie, and left quite happy. While the girl that played Lyra didn't look wild enough for me at first, she more than made up for it with her pouty arrogance. With the character of Lyra, it was hard for me to imagine how they would convincingly make this pretty little girl appear so fiercely manipulative rather than stupidly fearless, but her characterization was dead-on. I wish I could say the same for Pantalaimon, who was more of a trembling sidekick than Lyra's voice of reason. Even though the dæmons were a blast to watch, the fluid emotional connection between a person and their dæmon didn't quite come across in the performances, though I guess that's one of those things that will always be a stronger element in the books.

As expected, Daniel Craig was badass and gorgeous, though I wonder if they made him appear to love Lyra a little too much. I enjoyed that little smile on his face after shutting Lyra back into the cupboard; Asriel's admiration for his daughter is kind of a conundrum throughout the novels, but they just made him act...like an uncle, basically. I'm uneasy for the fact that the audience may not be prepared for the indifference he extends to Lyra later on, which leads me to believe they won't actually portray his cruelty in the next movie very fully.

Nicole Kidman was what I expected; Julianne Moore will always be my Marisa Coulter (considering she's actually beautiful *cough*), but I can buy Kidman as sort of a complicated "Um, am I supposed to sympathize with you or what?" character. Lee Scoresby was the shit, 'nuff said. I still don't like their choice for Iorek Byrnison's voice, because I would prefer he be somehow more endearing for the fact that there is no trace of warmth in his voice but he actually isn't a bad guy. Still, the movie really picked up fast once Iorek came in, and I actually liked how his attainment of his armor was kind of rushed...Yeah, he was one bad MOFO.

As for the reversal in chronology of the Svalbard/Bolvangar events, really the only big problem I have with it is that it made absolutely no sense for the Tartans to just grab Lyra and toss her on the doorstep of the Armored Bears. And then what, they were going to eat her or something if she didn't explain what she was doing there? She had an actual motive to be there in the first place in the book; without that, the whole battle probably seemed like a pointless plot tangent. However, the fight was done pretty well, I guess. All of the battle sequences were pretty exciting, which I can't argue with when after a while all of the epic-movie-action-scenes are starting to look and feel exactly the same.

Overall, I don't want to have a negative view about this movie, because I do think the writers truly cared about the source material. If I don't really think about the film too much, I think I'll be able to enjoy multiple additional viewings because of a few breathtaking sequences. Because I'm a little dissapointed that the movie is getting so many poor reviews, I suppose I liked it more than I think. Or maybe I just don't want to see the trilogy scrapped.

Comments

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

Dude. It really is not that important that the guillotine was different. A guillotine takes a second to fall. How would they build it up excitingly for a long time before Mrs. Coulter stops them at the last second? When they have not even gotten to the bridge to cross yet of figuring out a design for the knife and don't know what it's going to look like, it would be getting a little ahead of themselves to actually be concious of the fact that this thing needs to look noticeably similar. And making sure they get the knife to look right is more important than the guillotine. The knife, dammit. Otherwise you might be bitching about the guillotine saying "Of fuck. Is that what the subtle knife is going to look like? That's so cheesy."

I think it makes perfect sense for the Magisterium to want to destroy alethiometers or at the least not want others to have them since they are TRUTH. It has absolutely nothing to do with the kind of importance of the One Ring.

[ninety6tears.livejournal.com]

Well, the knife isn't supposed to be pretty, so I doubt I'll be very picky about that.
I will give you that the way they designed the machine was better for a last-minute rescue, but I still think the guillotine-like description is much more terrifying, and also visually translates the irreversibility of intercision much better. In the books, these scientific objects were kind of unexpectedly more similar to crude science than modern instruments, and that's why it felt like a fantasy novel. And I don't really buy that the high-tech aesthetic worked better for the film, because the result was somewhat campy; we haven't been scared of laser beams since the 70s, but if I see something that looks vaguely medieval it's going to unquestionably make me uneasy.

[jackthelion77.livejournal.com]

you've been hiding another journal from me.
.
.
*harumph*

[vdkapenguin.livejournal.com]

LOL. I did nothing of the sort!