The Golden Compass: it could have been good.
Sometimes, what is worse than a movie that just sucks, is a movie that has a good movie inside its frames, but it's stuck there, screaming to get out, held back by lack-luster direction, bad editing, and sloppy story-telling.
welcome to the the Golden Compass. I want to believe the book is better. The book is always better. believe it or not, after seeing this movie, it makes me want to read the book more.
First, the good stuff about the movie: There are some killer ideas in this thing. The concept of the daemons (our souls live outside our bodies in the form of animals) is brilliant. I really like how they were used metaphorically to accent and project the character of the person that they represented. Our big noble, fierce good guy, lord asrial, has a massive snow leopard (tiger?) daemon, and all the main lackeys of the Magisteriam (sp) have insects. When a person is killed, their daemons go up in a puff of sparkles (which, isn't really said in the story, but i assume is Dust...more on that in a moment). Visually, it's a cool effect, especially during a battle. There is also a certain chaotic richness and satisfaction to seeing people and animals everywhere at all times.
I appreciated the steamer-punkish aspects of the world design as well. Steamer punk is one of my favourite genres and it's really under used in cinema (but thank you for City of Lost Children msr. jeunet!). And the panserbjorn, aka ice bears, aka giant polar bears in freaking armour? perfect. exactly what i wanted from the idea of such creatures, even if the concept of intelligent bears wishing to be more human (and possess daemons) is a tad under-developed (again, i bet the book fleshes that out better), and the main bear, yorick, is the typical "once noble, proud warrior, down on his luck, doing mindless work getting drunk all day" stereotype, but i can live with that.
in fact, i can live with a lot of the cliches and stereotypes in this movie. but, i can't get past the gaping, bleeding plot holes and just plain sloppy story-telling that really brings the movie down for me.
ahead be spoilers, so i will cut it.
first, the nitpicky stuff that i might have been able to over-look had the rest of the movie been alright...the editing.
it's awful. the movie clocks in at 2hr, maybe it was longer and got spliced all up? i dunno. a chief example of how jarring the editing was sometimes is the scene where lyra is crossing the ice bridge by herself because it's too fragile for her and yorick (never mind, i was left wondering why sam elliot's character wasn't just there to pick him up in his airship like he and the bear had discussed a few minutes previously). of course, the ice starts to crack and give way when he is at its thinniest point, half-way. yorick yells at her to run. cut, next frame is lyra crawling up the ice on the other side. i guess it's supposed to be implied that she ran to the other side, barely making it...but you don't even see her run at all, and it's like "wtf?" no sense of tension there.
but that's, as i said, nitpicky film 101 one stuff (as is the horribly cliche sinister "mu-hoo hahah" lighting on the Magisterium's evil cabal of derek jacobi, chris lee, and that other guy, or the rasputin-esque lighting on the Gyptian king).
the story, what? my head hurt half way through as i noticed the inconsistencies, contradictions, and just plain stupid, nonsensical moments in the movie.
first, lord asrial. at the beginning of the movie, he wants to talk to the scholars at Jordan about Dust, and what it is. The representative of the Magisterium doesn't want him to do it, one main reason is that he (among many others in the Authority) don't want knowledge of Dust to get out in the general public. So, like any good sinister ne'er do-well, he pours that plain white poisonous powder that all movie assassins get at "generic moviepoison.com" into the wine, hoping to kill asrial, and any other poor sap that would drink the wine, i guess. of course, tragedy is averted and Lord Asrial gives his little power point about Dust and alterate realities and what not to many "oohs and ahss" from the scholars. He then asks for money to set up and mount an expedition to the north to get more info.
the problems with all that? let's start with the assassination: you find out at the end of the movie that it was the Magisterium's plan all along to let asrial find out more info about alternate realities so they could move in and conquer them! so, to kill him would be a big mistake. so what was that all about. also, did nobody, not even the would be assassin notice the shattered glass and split wine/brandy/spirits all over the ground (lyra has been hiding in a wardrobe watching the poison get poured in, and rushed out and knocked it out of asrial's hand at the last second). and assuming someone had noticed it, wouldn't they think, "Gee? what happened there?"
another problem, asrial needing money. first, it's said a few times, dude's loaded. whatever. next, he says he needs the money to mount an expedition to the north. when we next see him, it's just him (and his daemon) trudging alone by themselves, no equipment, no helpers, no researchers, not even a tent. where'd that money go asrial? i smell a money pocketing thief! but luckily, it seems he had all the money on him, for you find out that he is kidnapped by "random foreign speaking" bad guys. i say luckily, for he is able to not only bribe them, but set up a secret laboratory to do his research! (which isn't so secret apparently because we learn about it from the main bad-guy, ms coulter)
finally, if Dust is so hush hush (at one point, lyra mentions it to coulter and she is roundly punished for it, and asked over and over, how did you hear of that? how do you know what dust is, etc?) why does everyone and their pet dog (er, daemon, sorry) know about it? the gyptians, the scholars (ok, that one makes some sense) and then all the kidnapped kids.
for you see, when lyra finally gets to the hidden child-stealing factory oh so conveniently located in the far north (An evil version of santa's workshop?), her boy-toy buddy, roger tells her that kids are being told that they are involved in important research dealing with Dust. how the heck do all those kids, most which are said to be orphans, know about Dust when it's such a big deal suppressed by the Magisterium?
as for being orphans. if most of the kids are orphans as we are told in the beginning of the movie then why are they all being made to write letters to their parents? "now sally, i know you never knew who your parents were, but if you don't write them a letter, i shall become very cross and hurt you" talk about torture!
more bad editing: lyra is just sorta walks up to the hidden outpost and is taken in and she is thrown in that room with all the other kids. they are under such watch and scrunity that she and roger can't even acknowledge that they know each other, yet when she says she has to be alone to use the golden compass, he says, "i know just the place" and POOF! they are in the hall, going to this secret room. no indication of how they got passed the watchful eye of their minders, no sense of "gee, this facilty is top secret and used for nefarious ends on kids, better have security" at all. i mean, come on...really? they are THAT under guard, and yet these two kids just slip way, when the movie's made it a point that these kids are all under heavy guard?
sloppy story-telling. and there is tons more (the witches, the separation of children from their daemons, etc.) but i'm worn out and this is too long.
So, all in all, it's a movie with some great ideas, cool visual effects, and a lot of potential. sadly, that is all ruined by a nonsensical story-line and gross gaps in story-telling, and sometimes disorientating editing.
All well.
welcome to the the Golden Compass. I want to believe the book is better. The book is always better. believe it or not, after seeing this movie, it makes me want to read the book more.
First, the good stuff about the movie: There are some killer ideas in this thing. The concept of the daemons (our souls live outside our bodies in the form of animals) is brilliant. I really like how they were used metaphorically to accent and project the character of the person that they represented. Our big noble, fierce good guy, lord asrial, has a massive snow leopard (tiger?) daemon, and all the main lackeys of the Magisteriam (sp) have insects. When a person is killed, their daemons go up in a puff of sparkles (which, isn't really said in the story, but i assume is Dust...more on that in a moment). Visually, it's a cool effect, especially during a battle. There is also a certain chaotic richness and satisfaction to seeing people and animals everywhere at all times.
I appreciated the steamer-punkish aspects of the world design as well. Steamer punk is one of my favourite genres and it's really under used in cinema (but thank you for City of Lost Children msr. jeunet!). And the panserbjorn, aka ice bears, aka giant polar bears in freaking armour? perfect. exactly what i wanted from the idea of such creatures, even if the concept of intelligent bears wishing to be more human (and possess daemons) is a tad under-developed (again, i bet the book fleshes that out better), and the main bear, yorick, is the typical "once noble, proud warrior, down on his luck, doing mindless work getting drunk all day" stereotype, but i can live with that.
in fact, i can live with a lot of the cliches and stereotypes in this movie. but, i can't get past the gaping, bleeding plot holes and just plain sloppy story-telling that really brings the movie down for me.
ahead be spoilers, so i will cut it.
first, the nitpicky stuff that i might have been able to over-look had the rest of the movie been alright...the editing.
it's awful. the movie clocks in at 2hr, maybe it was longer and got spliced all up? i dunno. a chief example of how jarring the editing was sometimes is the scene where lyra is crossing the ice bridge by herself because it's too fragile for her and yorick (never mind, i was left wondering why sam elliot's character wasn't just there to pick him up in his airship like he and the bear had discussed a few minutes previously). of course, the ice starts to crack and give way when he is at its thinniest point, half-way. yorick yells at her to run. cut, next frame is lyra crawling up the ice on the other side. i guess it's supposed to be implied that she ran to the other side, barely making it...but you don't even see her run at all, and it's like "wtf?" no sense of tension there.
but that's, as i said, nitpicky film 101 one stuff (as is the horribly cliche sinister "mu-hoo hahah" lighting on the Magisterium's evil cabal of derek jacobi, chris lee, and that other guy, or the rasputin-esque lighting on the Gyptian king).
the story, what? my head hurt half way through as i noticed the inconsistencies, contradictions, and just plain stupid, nonsensical moments in the movie.
first, lord asrial. at the beginning of the movie, he wants to talk to the scholars at Jordan about Dust, and what it is. The representative of the Magisterium doesn't want him to do it, one main reason is that he (among many others in the Authority) don't want knowledge of Dust to get out in the general public. So, like any good sinister ne'er do-well, he pours that plain white poisonous powder that all movie assassins get at "generic moviepoison.com" into the wine, hoping to kill asrial, and any other poor sap that would drink the wine, i guess. of course, tragedy is averted and Lord Asrial gives his little power point about Dust and alterate realities and what not to many "oohs and ahss" from the scholars. He then asks for money to set up and mount an expedition to the north to get more info.
the problems with all that? let's start with the assassination: you find out at the end of the movie that it was the Magisterium's plan all along to let asrial find out more info about alternate realities so they could move in and conquer them! so, to kill him would be a big mistake. so what was that all about. also, did nobody, not even the would be assassin notice the shattered glass and split wine/brandy/spirits all over the ground (lyra has been hiding in a wardrobe watching the poison get poured in, and rushed out and knocked it out of asrial's hand at the last second). and assuming someone had noticed it, wouldn't they think, "Gee? what happened there?"
another problem, asrial needing money. first, it's said a few times, dude's loaded. whatever. next, he says he needs the money to mount an expedition to the north. when we next see him, it's just him (and his daemon) trudging alone by themselves, no equipment, no helpers, no researchers, not even a tent. where'd that money go asrial? i smell a money pocketing thief! but luckily, it seems he had all the money on him, for you find out that he is kidnapped by "random foreign speaking" bad guys. i say luckily, for he is able to not only bribe them, but set up a secret laboratory to do his research! (which isn't so secret apparently because we learn about it from the main bad-guy, ms coulter)
finally, if Dust is so hush hush (at one point, lyra mentions it to coulter and she is roundly punished for it, and asked over and over, how did you hear of that? how do you know what dust is, etc?) why does everyone and their pet dog (er, daemon, sorry) know about it? the gyptians, the scholars (ok, that one makes some sense) and then all the kidnapped kids.
for you see, when lyra finally gets to the hidden child-stealing factory oh so conveniently located in the far north (An evil version of santa's workshop?), her boy-toy buddy, roger tells her that kids are being told that they are involved in important research dealing with Dust. how the heck do all those kids, most which are said to be orphans, know about Dust when it's such a big deal suppressed by the Magisterium?
as for being orphans. if most of the kids are orphans as we are told in the beginning of the movie then why are they all being made to write letters to their parents? "now sally, i know you never knew who your parents were, but if you don't write them a letter, i shall become very cross and hurt you" talk about torture!
more bad editing: lyra is just sorta walks up to the hidden outpost and is taken in and she is thrown in that room with all the other kids. they are under such watch and scrunity that she and roger can't even acknowledge that they know each other, yet when she says she has to be alone to use the golden compass, he says, "i know just the place" and POOF! they are in the hall, going to this secret room. no indication of how they got passed the watchful eye of their minders, no sense of "gee, this facilty is top secret and used for nefarious ends on kids, better have security" at all. i mean, come on...really? they are THAT under guard, and yet these two kids just slip way, when the movie's made it a point that these kids are all under heavy guard?
sloppy story-telling. and there is tons more (the witches, the separation of children from their daemons, etc.) but i'm worn out and this is too long.
So, all in all, it's a movie with some great ideas, cool visual effects, and a lot of potential. sadly, that is all ruined by a nonsensical story-line and gross gaps in story-telling, and sometimes disorientating editing.
All well.