Stars: Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lauren Bacall, Ned Beatty, Moritz Bleibtreu, Mary Beth Hurt, Lily Tomlin, Willem Dafoe, William Hope, Steven Hartley, Garrick Hagon, Michael J. Reynolds, Geff Francis, Allen Lidkey, Stewart Alexander

Director: Paul Schrader

Summary: A man who escorts the wives and widows of American politicians gets over his head when he offers to cover for a friend. The world of Washington, DC's elite is shattered by a scandal, and he finds himself in the middle of the mess.

This third entry in Paul Schrader's 'lonely man' trilogy (after AMERICAN GIGOLO and LIGHT SLEEPER) centres on a man (Woody Harrelson) who escorts the wives and widows of American politicians and gets over his head when he offers to cover for a friend. The world of Washington, DC's elite is shattered by a scandal, and Harrelson's character finds himself in the middle of the mess.

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Perhaps it didn’t ignite the box office in quite the way it’d been hoped, but that’s little reason to pass over the qualities of The Golden Compass now it arrives on DVD. Based on the Phillip Pullman novel His Dark Materials--itself the start of the Northern Lights trilogy, the film isn’t without a few problems, but emerges as a quality adaptation.

And you certainly can’t fault The Golden Compass for sheer ambition. The story, for those new to the series, is primarily that of 12-year old Lyra, who is in search of her friend who has been kidnapped. Naturally, this proves to be quite a challenging adventure, not least because it’s through Pullman’s vividly imagined world, crossing dimensions as Lyra travels. The film, while toning down and fiddling with some elements of the source material, stays quite close to the book, and it proves to be a good, if not Lord Of The Rings-standard, adaptation.

What helps The Golden Compass, on top of the strong effects work and scope of the production, is a solid cast, featuring the likes of Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman and Dakota Blue Richards. And it certainly whets the appetite for the next instalment in the series. Whether the muted box office returns put pay to that remains to be seen: for now, at least, The Golden Compass is a good, solid family movie that’s easy to enjoy. --Jon Foster

Main Language:	English
Year:	2007
Release Date:	August 10, 2007
Runtime:	108 minutes
Certification:
Keywords:	English, General, Walker, Drama
Genre:	Drama