The Golden Compass (review and discussion)
POSTED BY: Finn mac Cumhal
UPDATED: Thursday, October 30, 2008 19:58
VIEWED: 7084
PAGE 3 of 4
Quote:
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
There’s a test on the website that will tell you what your dæmon is.
http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/
Interesting. My Daemon is a Tiger.
I am told I am responsible, sociable, and competitive. As well as modest and humble which seem synonyms to me.
My wife and I picked our own based on who we knew each other to be. Her's was an owl and mine a collie dog. My reasoning for the collie was similar to this sites placement of a tiger, except that I love dogs and the collie most closely expressed traits I know about myself. I think it's not possible for this site to place a specific breed of animal on a subject. Hence the generic "tiger".
I took the test again and answered all things opposite to determine my nemesis, which is a Gibbon.
Do not fear me. Our's is a peaceful race and we must live in harmony.
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Thanks for posting this! My daemon is a snow leopard and my husband's is a tiger!
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Nice review, Finn. Just saw the movie last night. I liked it a lot, though the screenplay was pretty much a "greatest hits" treatment of the events in the novel, no real translation into film--just dramatization. I think a more talented director/writer team would have created a far more mysterious and omenous movie than we got. In the book, the whole "intercision" thing is really well handled--for the longest time you have absolutely no idea what's going on in the north, only that it is bad, bad, bad. In this movie the momentum of the story, the lack of quiet sections where dread can blossom, left the movie kinda flat in comparison to the novel.
Oh, and Finn, I believe you'll find that though the book starts out on a pretty juvanile tack, the story becomes tremendously sophisticated as it progresses through the three books. Much closer to a Le Guin, say, than a Rowling.
One thing they did get exactly right was the character of Lyra. The girl they cast was excellent. Well, the casting was pretty spot all around.
Oh, and I would have liked it if they'd pronounced the word differently. Call me a pedant but the spelling "daemon" always puts me in mind of Socrates inner voice which is a much pleasanter association than Dante's Inferno for this book. 
HKCavalier
Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Cybersnark:
Like Transformers, this had multiple characters who existed only as CG effects. Unlike transformers, this movie actually made me care about said characters.
You didn't care about Bumblebee? (I cried when they tortured him. How pathetic am I?)
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Quote:
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
This never happened.
Finally seen the film - better than I was expecting, although having read the book several times probably filled in some of the blanks...
The business with Lyra just strolling up to the Arctic facility was because they changed the order of events somewhat. In the book:
Select to view spoiler:
After the Samoyeds raid the camp and drag off Lyra they take her to the experimental station and sell her to the gobblers. Things then proceed much as per the film (but in more detail) - except she blows up the station by the more practical method of going into the kitchen and turning the gas on. Cue the big battle - from which she escapes in the Texan's balloon. They then crash on Svalbard & she gets separated from the rest, and is captured by the bear-king's guards - cue her deception of the bear king and the big bear-fight.
...which also explains the minor plot-hole whereby Lyra is transported from Norway to the island (ahem!) of Svalbard on the back of a sled (and back again by Bear). Oh, and the gratuitous collapsing ice-bridge scene was grafted in from the final chapter of the book which got cut out of the movie at a late stage (and will presumably be grafted on to the sequel).
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Quote:Well, to be fair it wasn’t really a plot hole, because the movie made a point of defining Svalbard as a valley not an island, or at least a continuous stretch of land or ice with Norway, so it was internally consistent, if not consistent with the book.
Originally posted by ImNotHere:
...which also explains the minor plot-hole whereby Lyra is transported from Norway to the island (ahem!) of Svalbard on the back of a sled (and back again by Bear).
Quote:It occurs to me that the book’s ending is very open ended and dependent upon a sequel, which I don’t think the producers of the movie were relying on, so while they did leave the movie open with Lyra’s ending soliloquy, they also tried to make it a more closed story and less dependent on a sequel, which may or may not come.
Originally posted by ImNotHere:
Oh, and the gratuitous collapsing ice-bridge scene was grafted in from the final chapter of the book which got cut out of the movie at a late stage (and will presumably be grafted on to the sequel).
Of course, I’m looking forward to the sequel, and hopefully it’ll be forthcoming.
I’ve not had the opportunity to read the book yet. Given the way the events in the movie were rearranged for dramatic purposes from the sequence in the book. I’m wondering what effect this had on the story. Was the gist of the story faithful? Or were important features of the story (a part from the obvious philosophical issues) altered?
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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Quote:
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
because the movie made a point of defining Svalbard as a valley not an island
Svalbard is a real place ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard) and is definitely not a day's sled-ride from Norway - and ISTR was correctly pointed out on a map in the movie.
Quote:
It occurs to me that the book’s ending is very open ended and dependent upon a sequel
I suspect they wanted a happier ending - can't really discuss that further without real spoilers for the book (and, presumably, the first reel of the next film) because there's a significant plot-twist involved. Apparently, the decision was made late (the proper ending has been filmed & bits of it were in the trailers) - which is a pity because otherwise they could have used the extra time to round out the first film a bit.
Quote:
I’m wondering what effect this had on the story. Was the gist of the story faithful? Or were important features of the story (a part from the obvious philosophical issues) altered?
Several events and characters were omitted and lots of minor details were changed (especially of the "who told who about what and when" variety) and one major chronological change was made (for understandable dramatic reasons - the book was more episodic) but overall I thought it was pretty faithful to the gist of the plot.
What's more, I felt that the philosophical issues were pretty much present and correct - just presented in a more allegorical way than in the book (which makes it explicit that the Magisterium is a quasi-Catholic church, that "the Authority" is God and what "dust" represents). If they could pull this off with the sequels it would be impressive (but tricky).
Hopefully, they'll just graft the original ending of Book 1 onto the start of film 2 (the second book is shorter and less of a challenge to cram into 2 hours - I wouldn't be surprised if they take in the first chapter or so of book 3). My cynical imagination worries that they might be planning a fairly heinous plot/character change - I hope I'm wrong.
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Guess I need to read the book, since some of the logic behind the movie's plot seemed a bit thin. Lyra seemed much too trusting of folks she just met at random.
It was a pleasant surprise to see Sam Elliott playing a Sam Elliott role right in the middle of a fantasy story.
So. If I'm the Ice Bear king and have a whole army of Ice Bear warriors who just live for battle, why do I not take them to the fight at the secret lab?
"Keep the Shiny side up"
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Quote:
Originally posted by Geezer:
So. If I'm the Ice Bear king and have a whole army of Ice Bear warriors who just live for battle, why do I not take them to the fight at the secret lab?
See above notes re. the film playing around with the chronology.
Its funny how, if you suddenly change the order and geography of events in a carefully worked-out plot, even for good dramatic reasons, little details like that come back to haunt...
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Quote:This is a product of the way the movie progressed too fast. Star Wars had the same problem as it seems as if Luke sets out one morning in search of R2D2 and by night has destroyed the Death Star. Although Golden Compass was nearly that compacted it progressed entirely too fast for the time line to be completely believable.
Originally posted by Geezer:
Guess I need to read the book, since some of the logic behind the movie's plot seemed a bit thin. Lyra seemed much too trusting of folks she just met at random.
Quote:I liked Elliot too. I thought the casting all around was pretty solid.
Originally posted by Geezer:
It was a pleasant surprise to see Sam Elliott playing a Sam Elliott role right in the middle of a fantasy story.
Quote:I was pretty much thinking the same thing. I fully expected an army of Polar Bears to come over the snow dunes.
Originally posted by Geezer:
So. If I'm the Ice Bear king and have a whole army of Ice Bear warriors who just live for battle, why do I not take them to the fight at the secret lab?
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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