Golden Compass Sneak Peak

[Arnwyn]

I really enjoyed myself. I didn't quite like it as much as Stardust, but I still had a really good time. And heck: hot flying archer witches + steamtech/clockworks is enough to sell me.

It was enjoyable but the pacing was some of the worst I'd ever seen. The whole movie was just bang bang bang bang firing off scenes with no transitions or explanations. No one seemed to have any real motivation.

I sure agree with this, though.

And since the movie tanked pretty bad at the box office relative to costs (grossed $26M on first weekend, despite predictions of $60M by the studio earlier), we now may not get to see those other two planned movies, making all that excess exposition for the purposes of a future film wasted anyway!

The industry needs far better accountants (read: semi-competent) if this is how they make their decisions.

Thankfully, I expect they don't.

 

[mmadsen]

The industry needs far better accountants (read: semi-competent) if this is how they make their decisions.

Huh?

 

[Arnwyn]

Huh?

You heard me.

It's really not that difficult to understand, if that's what your "huh?" is about.

 

[Asmor]

I just saw it tonight. I loved it at first, but I really wish I could have seen the rest of the movie. It seems like it ends right before the climax. In retrospect, I see that they were really building up, uhh, that one thing they did, as their quest, but as I was watching the movie I thought the whole point was for Lyra to rescue that relative of hers (sorry for the odd language, trying to avoid spoilers).

The movie seemed... oddly paced. It seemed to me that there was a very sudden, and jarring, change in tone and pacing at the exact moment when Lyra jumped out of the window. It's like the movie was demarcated into a beginning and a middle, and there was no smooth transition between them (and as I said, the ending is missing entirely).

I will say that I got some mild religious overtones from the Magesterium, but largely as someone else said it seemed like your typical bureaucracy. Just a big government that thinks it knows best for its citizenry. Actually it reminded me a lot of the government in V for Vendetta (the movie, never read the comic). On the other hand, I'm an atheist, so maybe I'm not sensitive to these issues that are being raised. That said, I would have no problem recommending this movie to my baby sister, who is Christian, and it was recommended to me by my father, who is Jewish.

After the movie, I walked to the Waldenbooks in the mall and bought the boxed set of the trilogy because, god dammit, that ending was just NOT satisfying!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

(slight spoilers, I think it should be okay by now, the movie is around a few weeks by now)

The movie wasn't bad, but it still seemed to lack something to make it great. Maybe it seemed a bit unfocussed from time to time. The Gobblers weren't really introduced, and a few things seemed to work a bit too random for my taste - other things seemed a bit disjointed (the Aeronaut - who is he, can we trust him, why does he care for some random girl?)

The world was interesting (didn't read the books), and the ships (both air and water) made me want to see an Eberron movie.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Of all the things which surprised me most, it was that the film finished before the end of the book! If I recall correctly, the book has a tragic and almost nihilistic end.

Cheers,

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Of all the things which surprised me most, it was that the film finished before the end of the book! If I recall correctly, the book has a tragic and almost nihilistic end.

Cheers,

They probably felt they had to tone it down to draw people in. I do know that the screenplay finally used was a rewrite and that a lot of things that might be controversial or too harsh in the original were removed or edited. I just wish I could have gotten hold of a copy of the first screenplay before they started messing with it.