The Golden Compass - Winter 2007

The Golden Compass – Winter 2007

Review originally published in Stony Brook Univerisity's The Statesman

(This review has been updated with better grammar from the originally published version. Significant changes are noted with strikethroughs and/or asterisks. Updated and additional notes are further below.)

"Films have long been considered as a means of escape from everyday life and never is that more possible than watching one of science fiction or fantasy. For almost a decade now Hollywood has been producing a number of series based on other-worldly novels; Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and the recent Stardust. This weekend's The Golden Compass' source material is Northern Lights from the His Dark Materials Trilogy written by Philip Pullman.

The very quick introduction claims there are a great many parallel worlds of an important particle material called Dust. However, the Magisterium government has made it blasphemous to mention its existence. Every human soul is in an animal form called a Daemon. The pairs experience the same emotions and acts as a voice of intuition and advice. The human and Daemon are literally soul mates and if the connection is broken, death comes soon after. 

Dakota Blue Richards is Lyra, the headstrong and clever girl who is able to read the last surviving alethiometer or 'golden compass' answers of truth fulfillling a prophesy which leads to war. The golden compass itself is the most advanced Magic 8 Ball ever manufactured. (*Newsday may have seen this review and used it in their own review published after mine was.)

Nicole Kidman gives a chilling yet graceful performance (*as always) as Mrs. Coulter, a powerful woman of the government. Daniel Craig, as Lyra's closest relative Lord Asriel, is an adventurous scientist seeking the knowledge and truth of Dust in the Arctic. He is both a help and threat to the government's supremacy. 

Lyra's team of support is an eclectic group of Gyptians,: a Texas 'aeronaut' with a flying boat, Iorek the armored ice bear, and the witches of Lake Enara led by Serafina Pekkala (*played by the practically supernatural Eva Green). They all come to Lyra's rescue at just the right times (*yes, Lyra gets into a bit of continuous trouble). Her enemies are rather institutions *rather than individuals. She must disobey The Magisterium to find and save those she cares about. It is a battle between the deviants and the megalomaniacs (*my words, not the provided press materials. I double checked my copy).

The Golden Compass is almost a parody or satire of fantasy epics. It is obvious who are the heroes and villains, the hero's personality of independence and quick wit, a team to help the hero, and the hero's mission of savior that is thwarted by the villain. In this case, it is a herione versus villainess with a not-so-shocking revelation of what binds them. And of course the main themes are metaphysical *metaphorical for the world. 

There has been some controversy centered on the film's non-Christian story that is based on the novel's 'non-religious' allegory. But Hollywood had to make it palpable for audiences, especially since its release is just weeks before Christmas. (*I no longer think that's not the reason.) Just as the books are deserving of intense study for its philosophy, the film will become one to be studied for its adaptation inclusions and absenses. (*Now, I don't think it has. But perhaps the 2020s TV series is?)

It seems odd at first why The Golden Compass received a PG-13 rating by the MPAA but there are many elements that younger audiences may not understnd or relate to that older viewers would. 

There is more adult humor than expected and a slight King-Kong-ish relationship between Lyra and Iorek, the polar bear. The one secene that exemplifies the MPAA's description of "fantasy violence" though is a fight between to ice bears with an ending that received unanimous applause at the film's press screening." 

Updates from 2024:

The Golden Compass - Thrillist

I remember going to this film's press screening held at the AMC movie theater in Times Square. I took the train from Stony Brook to Penn Station and walked to the theater at 42nd Street. Then I saw how long the audience line was, and made it to the press check-in table with my Statesman creditials. It was the first and only kind of press screening I got to attend while at The Statesman. I don't think I got a voucher for snacks. But I remember the feeling of awe to be in The City, to attend a press screening, and the rush back to Penn Station for one of the few trains back to Stony Brook that night. (My first of many similar future experiences.)

For all this time, I've held onto the 65 page press booklet they gave me. About 10 of its pages was the final credits to cast and crew. 

Production intended to make this the first of three films but they never got to making the second. However, in 2019, a closer adaptation to the novel was released as a television series, called His Dark Materials that ran for three seasons until 2022, starring Dafne Keen as Lyra, Ruth Wilson as Mrs. Coulter, and James McAvoy as Asriel.

Something I try to keep in mind when looking back at fantasy and sci-fi films is that even in the mid-2000s, special effects were ever changing, mostly for the better. So despite the story's problems, it was a feast for the eyes to behold on the big screen. And with music by Alexandre Desplat, it had your heart and emotions going along for the ride.  

But funnily enough, it was one of the first films that Nicole Kidman worked on with such signficant special effects...long before joining the Aquaman franchise. And it recalled my memory from the interview she did with Jenelle Riley for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, about how when Nicole was first taking acting classes she learned to do mime work, which helped prepare her for such scenes in The Golden Compass, with her CGI'd monkey Daemon companion. 

In my initial review, I made fun of the tropes and formula that this film followed (not really knowing if it was the same or not to the novel) but now I realize that stories have to share tropes and formulas in order to work properly. It's the tweaks to these commonalities that can set one apart from others. 

And, I initially assumed that its less religous undertones were changes from the novel meant to appeal to a wider audience, as a dystopian winter wonderland. But looking back and doing some additional research, it had more to do about self-censorship to avoid problems from the religious Catholic groups that would alienate and possibly boycott the film for the books' pro-atheism.