Northern Lights

For some reason, the book (and the movie, unless I'm mistaken) goes by this name - rather than The Golden Compass - in every English-speaking country in the world aside from the US. I wish I could explain that, because it seems silly to me to have a different title in the States.

Anyhow, Samantha and I went to go see The Golden Compass last night. We were at a fairly late showing on a Sunday, and even though the theater was small, there was still a good crowd there to see the film - mostly young adults and couples. In fact, an elderly couple decided to sit themselves down right next to us, and I remember at least once during the movie the woman turning to the man and asking "what's going on?" It was amusing. ( ;


I really enjoyed the movie, although it had some flaws that bugged me some. F'rinstance, there was little exposition to give details about what was actually going on in the world. We were about the Witches and the Gyptians long before we actually knew what they were (unless you'd recently read the books) and even then, I only had a vague idea of why they were important. Although I haven't read it since I was probably 14 or 15, I seem to remember things being far more well-integrated in the book. And although I'm offering some critique because of the lack of exposition, I've got exactly the opposite concern as well - I got the impression that The Golden Compass wanted to be an epic children's action movie, but there was too much talking and not enough action for it to achieve that goal. The landscapes and music in the movie were beautiful, though. It's a real, unfortunate shame that half the time I could have easily believed I was watching Van Helsing or listening to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. In fact, one of the main themes from Golden Compass sounded note-for-note almost the same as one of the themes from LotR. Wild, huh?

There was one scene that really stood out to me, and that I really, truly enjoyed...although almost certainly for all the wrong reasons. In this scene, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) is exploring some far northern realm and is attacked by longarm-wielding hunters native to the arctic, mountainous terrain. At that point I turned to Samantha and said, "Wait a minute...I'm confused. Why is James Bond being attacked by Tuskan Raiders on Hoth?"

Yeah...

And so it goes. Today is the first day of exams, so I'm off to grab a bite to eat and finish a load of laundry before I have to go into my afternoon exam.

PLUR!