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Tuesday, November 5, 2019

His Dark Materials: A Review




I never read the underlying books of this series (which people like very much)--but I did marginally like The Golden Compass. It is an atheist-agnostic's answer to the Narnia series. I don't find the premise that the Magisterium (as Christianity or the Catholic Church) as some force of evil in the world that compelling (nor consistent with world history), but every drama needs some bad guys. It is easy enough for me to envision the Magisterium as a group of politically woke secular control freaks you might come across in academia or politics. To the extent it plays on John Milton's Paradise Lost, fair enough. I like the classics--even if Philip Pullman misses the point about Satan. 

I have only watched the first episode (there are seven more to come) but so far the lead child actor Dafne Keen is miscast. She is not that compelling (at least not so far) and even a bit annoying. The production levels of this BBC and HBO joint production are excellent. The daemon spirit animals are well done. I also enjoy seeing favorite actors from Narnia (James McAvoy and James Cosmo), Game of Thrones (James Cosmo and Lucian Msamati), and other productions get more work.

I will give it a shot--but so far I am not thrilled. I am also not impressed so far with HBO's Watchmen, as I have watched more of it. They are not terrible--but just not very good.

As fantasy shows go: I was a huge fan of GOT (until Season 8--which ruined the series). I always though the Harry Potter films did a good job adapting the books. I very much liked Pennyworth--which has that steampunk vibe too (mixed with swinging sixties London). 

Rotten Tomatoes: His Dark Materials (it gets mostly good reviews here--but so far for me, meh).

Hollywood Reporter: A strong cast and decent effects help, but it lacks from the books

Collider: A work that is visually good but doesn't quite come together

New York Magazine: Gorgeous visuals in need of a purpose

Vanity Fair: A Passionless Adaptation

AoSHQ: Morning Report 11.05.19

Variety: Ok, but not great


Ruth Wilson's character must be evil--because her daemon is a creepy golden monkey. 





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1 comment:

  1. BeansNovember 5, 2019 at 2:35 AM

    I liked the movie, and then read the books. First book really was the best, the other two books just seemed more word-count than anything. Good luck watching the series, if they follow the books it will just go downhill from the first episode.

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