| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 10/27/2007 : 10:54:44
Seeker: The Dark Is Rising
Though I haven't yet seen The Golden Compass, I'm guessing it will be master story-teller Philip Pullman's leap from page to screen and not Susan Cooper's extremely popular Light versus Dark franchise which will replace Harry Potter in pre-teen hearts. Judging by David L Cunningham's film of John Hodge's adapted screenplay, it's not such a wild guess.
The film's a mess with occasional moments of promise, none of which is fulfilled. Here's a list of ingredients:
1. Will Stanton is the youngest boy of a large American family - we later discover he's the 7th son of a 7th son. Why their nationality was changed from English seems wholly arbitrary and justified by nothing in the ensuing tale.
2. Dad's job has forced the family to lease a village house deep in rural myth-laden England. The resonance of those myths is part of what made Cooper's series so appealing to its young readers' sense of wonder. The film has less wonder than a bag of crisps.
3. Amid the typical rough and tumble of a close and loving large family there do come strange doings, aahr, so best be prepared, double aahr, if you catch my drift young sir.
4. The locals appear to be throw-backs to another era - never quite specified nor specific. Just enough to create an atmosphere of strangeness - contrasted with the ever-so-modern Stantons.
5. Will discovers he's the recipient of Powers - including a spot of the most uninspiring time travel - which prepare him to do no less for the world than save it in its entirety from the forces of The Dark. Don't even bother struggling to pin any particular threat to the metaphor, nor ponder how a 14-year-old might affect an entire planet because this film seems perversely uninterested in consequences. It concentrates on a catalogue of incidents, with little linking continuity in story terms.
6. The Dark is embodied by The Rider, a matted-haired Christopher Eccleston with a stare intense enough to burn holes in the screen and jump his horse right into your lap. Oh, yeah - he can also turn into a flock of very pesky crows. That's one message you come away with: crows is bad. Which seems a misplaced avian calumny if ever I heard one.
7. All of which places Will [I've told you before, names are rarely arbitrary] squarely on the side of the right, The Light, whose might in a fight will make everything all right. Not to mention his acolytes.
8. These latter come primarily in the form of Frances Conroy [so wonderful in Six Feet Under] and Ian McShane whose dark broodingness is wasted in this role of mentor - his mien is mean but he's a pussycat at heart.
9. Oh, yes, there is a pussy-kitten too -- truly an adorable little marmalade mite saved from a soldier's sword on one of those time-travels in which Will co-opts his younger sister. This episode highlights more than many the point about story consequences.
No, not how come the kitten can survive without aging, its time-journey back to its future/our present ... but why everyone seems just to accept these kinks in normal life without question.
As Will, Alexander Ludwig is no more than personable, his acting on the level of a fashion model being exhorted to smile now, great! look afraid - even more - good, good -- now look surprised, now happy, now exasperated. Good - that's the cover shot.
Sorry, folks, this is not serious film-making. Wait for The Golden Compass - even the trailers for it are better than anything in Seeker.
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| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 10/27/2007 : 20:41:17
I haven't read any of these books, but a colleague at work knows a lot about children's fiction and was quite horrified when I described this film. A lot of details have been changed for no apparent reason - for example, Will neither has a twin in the book(s) nor is any brother of his abducted.
It is really not clear why it would have benefitted the Rider to kidnap Tom and keep him in a glass ball (or whatever that represents), why no one has ever thought to tell Will about him and how he (Tom) does not seem surprised/confused/overwhelmed to be released and meet his family.
Another difference is that in the books, this story apparently comes later on, thus setting it in a much more complex and developed context.
The kitten thing is ridiculous in many ways, not least in terms of how a completely clean, fluffy Persian kitten has come to be living amongst mediaeval peasants.
On The Golden Compass, (i) I had heard that it was supposed to be quite poor and (ii) it is very bad that the American title is being used. |
| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 10/27/2007 : 17:52:41
"How am I supposed to save the planet? I can't even TALK TO A GIRL!" |
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