Have you ever walked out of a movie wishing not for your money, but for the last two hours of your life back? I have.
The Golden Compass begins with a lengthy voice over describing some mystical substance with the excruciatingly banal name "dust." The rest of the plot is equally forgettable. And most of it takes place in an arctic snow field at night, so there's not much to look at either.
What brought me from boredom to anger, though, was the ending. The filmmakers had the audacity to leave us with a cliff-hanger, with the characters talking up the threat of a coming war. I felt insulted that they would dangle such a rotten carrot before me.
Please don't see this movie.
The Golden Compass (2007)
