His Dark Materials Season 3

[Heartofice]

The cast is mostly excellent, Lyra got better in this final season, giving a more mature performance.

I do think Will is a pretty bland actor though, it’s all a bit one note and I find myself yawning when he’s onscreen.

My other casting complaint would actually be James McAvoy as Asriel. I know he’s trying but he just doesn’t give off the air of grizzled war leader, he looks like someone dressed up as a grizzled war leader. I keep wanting a young Timothy Dalton to step into the role or something. I really like McAvoy but he so often takes parts I just don’t think he’s right for. Reminds me of Ewan McGregor 

[williamjm]

On 1/1/2023 at 8:42 AM, Isis said:

I recall not enjoying the last book as much as the first two, so I wasn't expecting too much from the final season. I thought it was pretty solid though.

Like you I didn't like The Amber Spyglass as much as the other books, but I think I enjoyed the season more than the book. It's possible part of that might be that I knew what to expect from the plot. I think the most powerful scenes were from the Land of the Dead plotline, and Lyra leaving Pan behind and the consequences of that. The Mary and the mulefa (which sounds a bit like a band name) plotline was also done well.

I think perhaps the weakest bit was the big battle in the penultimate episode. The earlier episodes had made a big deal out of Asriel recruiting his army but other than the angels and witches the other troops seemed a bit outmatched. Other than that, I thought the conclusion to the story worked well, particularly the bittersweet nature of the final episode.

 

[HexMachina]

9 hours ago, williamjm said:

Like you I didn't like The Amber Spyglass as much as the other books, but I think I enjoyed the season more than the book. It's possible part of that might be that I knew what to expect from the plot. I think the most powerful scenes were from the Land of the Dead plotline, and Lyra leaving Pan behind and the consequences of that. The Mary and the mulefa (which sounds a bit like a band name) plotline was also done well.

I think perhaps the weakest bit was the big battle in the penultimate episode. The earlier episodes had made a bit deal out of Asriel recruiting his army but other than the angels and witches the other troops seemed a bit outmatched. Other than that, I thought the conclusion to the story worked well, particularly the bittersweet nature of the final episode.

 

Yes, the final battle in the show was probably the most disappointing part to me. In the book the battle is epic, chaotic, everyone's involved, its a convergence of all three books. Whereas this was just a lot of flashy lights. I assume thats probably budget but its disappointing when thinking what could have been

[williamjm]

9 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Yes, the final battle in the show was probably the most disappointing part to me. In the book the battle is epic, chaotic, everyone's involved, its a convergence of all three books. Whereas this was just a lot of flashy lights. I assume thats probably budget but its disappointing when thinking what could have been

I think it was always going to be difficult to do it justice given the budget and screen time they had available.

[Heartofice]

This a lot of good clever work with the effects in the show that I feel was very effective.

The appearance of the Authority and also the land of the dead I thought was really well done. It’s amazing what you can do with a lot of fog and some face paint.