Anyone who knows me knows I have been eagerly awaiting the film adaptation of Watchmen since I first read the graphic novel a few years back. The movie, which had been in development hell for more than two decades, has been called by many "unfilmable" due to its multiple character threads spread out over different time periods. That all changed when Zach Snyder, fresh off the success of his previous foray into comic adaptation, 300, took control of the product. Now, the day many of us thought would never arrive is finally here. The two questions on everyone mind right now are "Is it good?" and "Is it faithful?" and I am happy to answer both with a resounding yes. Hit the jump for the full review.
The Good:
- Rorschach- Jackie Earle Hailey is Rorshach. His deep, menacing voice is just how I always imagined it, never sounding annoying and forced like Christian Bale's Batman. While I would have liked them to make Rorshach a bit bigger, they thankfully never show much of Hailey's small stature compared to other characters. Whenever Hailey is on the screen, he owns it and whenever he's not, you anxiously await when he will be.
- Dr. Manhattan- I was actually never really a fan of him in the books, coming off a bit too dry and robotic in my mind. Luckily Zach Snyder chose to keep Billy Crudup(The Mastercard commercial guy)'s voice for the character. Because of this, Dr. Manhattan comes across more as an innocent person losing touch with his humanity than an all powerful robot(he's not actually a robot).
- Action- The action in the film is done amazingly. Snyder, while still using his partial slow-mo technique, uses it much less than he did in 300. Fight scenes were extremely well done and really showed the abilities of the Watchmen characters. The fights were also extremely brutal, with many bones being broken in extremely gruesome ways. One scene in particular completely took me by surprise when I expected a simple fight involving a few punches and kicks like in the comic and was instead shown a bone crunching, wince inducing slug fest.
- Malin Akerman- She's naked. Enough said.
- Opening Title Sequence- One thing I generally don't like about movies is the opening credit sequence. I don't see the point in putting a viewer into the action, then taking them out of it just to watch a few names go by for two or three minutes. Apart from the Bond films, these scenes are just annoying and I find myself falling asleep before the movie has really began(I'm looking at you Spider-Man). Synder does a fantastic job, showing a montage of the superheroes history set to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin". Without spending to much time with the history in the actual story, the audience is shown this world's alternate history with the heroes role and impact on it.
- Visuals- Amazing visuals. Everything from the buildings to the exploding Vietnamese looked great. The city itself almost seems like a character in the story, adding even more despair and darkness to the film. The glow of Dr. Manhattan looks phenomenal l, adding to his god like image as he glows in a calm blue light as everyone else in enveloped in darkness. Rorschach's mask is another very cool aspect of the movie, always changing to suit it's wearers feelings.
- Comic Loyalty- Snyder was religiously faithful to the comic, ripping entire sets of dialogue right from the pages. While Snyder and actors had stated they always kept multiple copies of the book around the set and regarded it as their bible, I didn't honestly expect them to follow the story so religously.
- The Ending- The ending of the book was one of the few things I had a problem with when I read it. After the entire book is spent trying to be somewhat realistic, the ending to the book I felt was just plain stupid and ridiculous. Snyder, with help from the original book's artist Dave Gibbons, has changed the ending of the film but thankfully its for the better. Before you begin crying, the end result is exactly the same, it is just the means in which that end came about that is different. The plan, as well as other character reactions to events that happen at the end, are much more realistic and filled with more emotion, while I feel the book's was a bit rushed.
The Bad:- Not enough Comedian- The Comedian, whose death sparks the events of Watchmen, really wasn't in the film as much as I would hope. The Comedian, played extremely well by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, while a despicable character, he is also a great character and was explored much more in the comics. While a big part of the beginning and the catalyst for the events of the film, he quickly disappears and is never really shown again.
- Sally Jupiter- Her acting seemed a bit forced to me and I anxiously waited for her to be off the screen so we could get back to more exciting events.
The Ugly:- Rorschach's Size- Luckily they didn't show him compared to others that frequently but when they did it was a bit jarring. One scene in particular looked like an old man being pounced on by an angry midget.
- The Mystery of the Killer- The opening fight scene, while very well done, doesn't hide the identity of the villain at all and gives away a huge part of the story.
- Lower Manhattan(The Meat Packing District)- Yes there is a lot of blue dick in this movie. Sometimes more than one on screen at once. It flops, it dangles, and while it isn't as frequent or gigantic as some would like you to believe, it is there a decent amount.
Conclusion:
Overall this movie is an amazing achievement and one that most people will enjoy. For a fan of the comic, the movie is like watching the pages come to life. Everything from the visuals to the acting was spot on and if it wasn't how I imagined it it was better. Watchmen is not a dumb movie and caters to a higher audience like the graphic novel did. Don't bring someone in who just wants to see a guy in a costume beat up bad guys and doesn't want a movie that will make you think. While it has action, it is more about who they are and why these characters do what they do. Some of these characters might fight crime and rescue people but do they really do it to be good or do they do it for the fame? The action? Sexual gratification? Or even scarier do they just like to hurt other people. It's a superhero movie for adults, not all ages like previous superhero films have been. Watchmen has been getting mixed reviews from critics, many either loving or hating it. It isn't a movie for everyone. That being said, the majority of people I know enjoyed it. Of the seven other people I saw it with, six of them loved it while one hated it. If you want a great movie with unique characters that makes you think, Watchmen is the movie for you. If not, Paul Blart: Mall Cop is still in theatres.
Final Grade: A
13 comments:
Yeah I was the one who hated it. Watchmen will leave you confused in the beginning and it almost feels like they expect you to know whats going on in the first few minuets during the credits. Though the credits may have been a jiz fest for nerds everywhere who read the book I however, (a person who hasn't read it) was left a little confused. One thing about the Watchmen is there just isn't enough back-story about any of the characters, so you're left with a list of characters who you know have these great morals and kick butt cheeks, but in the end you don't know enough about them to really give a shit, so you're left wanting more information about them and you would think a 3 hour movie would at least gotten some of that covered. Unfortunately it doesn't and its my main problem with the movie. Maybe if I read the book I would have understood it more and liked it better because I would have felt connected with these characters, but I'm glad I didn't so I could see it for the shitty movie it really was. Yeah tiny Rorschach can be overlooked by his awesomeness, and Doctor Manhattan's past is probably the best part of the movie, but even Malin Akermans' tits cant save her horrible acting or make the Night Owls cheesy one-liners more bearable for that matter. Yeah sure the fight scenes kept me awake but there just wasn't enough of them in a SUPER HERO MOVIE to keep me on the edge of my seat. Personally I feel like The Watchmen should have been stretched into 2 movies, at least that way they wouldn't be cramming this huge epic story into a 3 hour movie because the fact is the movie actually needed to be longer. Some will say out of respect for the author Allan Moore they shouldn't do that, and one movie is pushing it, but honestly fuck Allen Moore he doesn't want any part of the money so abuse the hell out of it, if you want to do him some justice you should be including MORE of his book into the movie, I think by removing scenes from his masterpiece you're actually insulting him more. Whatever the fact is the Watchmen wasn't the gritty action story I was looking for, instead it was a soft experience for me...kind of like Dr.Manhattans dick...
First off if you havnt seen the movie dont read this comment. It is spoiler filled.
The things you complain about were actually in the movie. You might have just been too busy texting to notice. The opening credit sequence is pretty obvious. People begin dressing up to fight crime, they become a huge staple of American life, some even take part in shaping events differently from what we know today(the comedian on the grassy knoll, the female superhero kissing the nurse on VE Day which is a parody of the famous photo from WWII), some of them die or go crazy, one gets pregnant, etc. You dont need to have any knowledge of the characters to understand that sequence, especially since those characters were rarely ever shown in the comic anyway, most of them never even having any speaking parts. The reasoning for these characters doing what they are doing is clearly shown also. Rorschach was abused and finally started killing people after he snapped investigating the murder of the little girl and realized criminals would just go back to hurting others once they got out of prison. Silk Spectre enjoyed being famous and adored by people and forced her daughter, Silk Spectre II into following in her footsteps. Nite Owl II was sad and pathetic and only really felt alive when he put the costume on(the failed sex scene, his dream) while Ozymandias wanted to make the world a better place but felt the only way to get that done was to do something drastic.
As for the plot to the story, if you payed attention to the world and what the characters said you'd know about past happenings in the world such as Nixon passing a bill that outlawed vigilantes which caused everyone(Nite Owl II, Silk Spectre II, Ozymandias) to quit unless they were government sanctioned(Comedian, Dr. Manhattan) although Rorschach continued which is why the cops were still hunting him.
Making Watchmen into two movies just doesn't make any sense. It isn't a journey movie or a war movie like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. It is a murder mystery that expands into something more. Turning it into two movies would have been a terrible idea and would have taken away all the energy that the movie builds to its conclusion.
Watchmen by my count had five major fight scenes plus others which involved action(Dr. Manhattan blowing up the Vietcong, Dr. Manhattan blowing up mobsters, Rorschach as a child biting a kids cheek off) but wouldn't really be considered fight scenes. Movies like Batman Begins and the Spider-Man series(except the third and look at how that turned out) actually had less or less action packed fight scenes yet they are still great movies. The notion that superhero stories must have a lot of action scenes is exactly the stereotype Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons were trying to get away from. This, along with your other complaints shows that you really didn't understand the movie in the first place.
For once im with kirk. Didnt read the book and i loved it. Very complex story to keep the movie moving and a fight scene or some tits to break the dialog here and there. As far as no back story, the first 2 hours were solid back story and Nite Owl was the man. This was not another dumb comic money making machine like spider-man and thats what really made it enjoyable for me. Something resembling a brain is required to put this one together and thats what makes good movies. On the other hand, blue flop-dick got old after the first 3 times.
The whole blue dick thing was to show how Manhattan was drifting from humanity. As for everything else. Backstory is clear and present. I can think of no lines that made me cringe from Nite Owl. Overall I would say its a good step in direction for super hero movies and a good film overall.
I didn't like the movie idc what you say I had no connections with these characters at all, except maybe Dr.Manhattan, the rest of them just felt unimportant to me. You obviously wont agree because you guys read the book or saw the live action novel so you will definitely have that connection with them and will help you appreciate the movie as a whole a lot more. As for me I wasn't thrilled sorry and I'm obviously not the only one considering one of the top movie sites in the world gave it a 65 out of a 100. which is exactly where I would put it, not the greatest movie ever but its just enough to keep it from being horrible. Don't get me wrong I was entertained at some points, I was just expecting one of the best movies I was ever gonna see for the rest of my life... and didn't. To give an example of what I mean by extending the movie and how it would have made it better; if a character dies on the TV show Lost I'm devastated thinking ill never see them again and how shocking it was that they are fucking dead forever, when Rorschach dies you just kinda like ok well that sucks but it didn't phase me, if the movie had been stretched it would have been a deeper moment an I actually would have felt a little remorse when he died for his cause because I've seen this characters background and his importance to the story... there was none of that with the little girl scene, it didnt help you feel connected you just felt like ok hes badass. I wanted to see how he got his mask, all the hard work he did in the past to put all those criminals in jail, why they hated him so much, all the stuff that made him a sociopath, etc, it just wasn't there, I was just presented with this character who I'm just suppose to know about and it just felt rushed to me. And I thought we were done electing presidents for 3 terms right after Roosevelt so right there I'm just fucking annoyed because its just a dumb idea. W/e my viewpoints on movies are different, I need good acting, good character development, great story, real life situations with reasonable outcomes that either make me think for 2 days about it or give me a whole new perspective on things, examples of these movies, slumdog millionaire, the wrestler, Batman begins, Dark Knight, Memento, or The Departed. If you consider The Watchmen on the same level as any of those movies you should wrap Dr. Manhattans Blue dick around you're neck an kill yourself. (hows that one tom?)
Oh and obviously I'm not gonna understand the movie to the full extent the 1st time I watch it, maybe if I read the book multiple times I probably woulda understood everything, but I did understand the general idea of the whole movie dude, and if I didn't I would turn my head and ask you so I did know what was going on. Same argument can be said for Memento though, I guarantee you have no clue whats even happening in that movie, if i explained everything in that movie it would blow you're mind dude, I know that movie backwards and forwards, (pun intended) and if you knew everything you would probably think its better then Taken. So yes, maybe Watchmen is worth a second look ill give you guys that, but right now my view stands and until I see something that blows my mind in Watchmen its just gonna be that over-hyped disappointment that I almost fell asleep watching.
It is pretty obvious why criminals hate Rorschach and once again, it was mentioned and shown in the movie. Rorschach was the one that put a lot of the men in jail and his brutal methods of dealing with them was also shown in his interrogations. If someone put me in jail after breaking my fingers or worse, chances are I'd hate him too. Also, if something as stupid as a president serving more than 2 terms in a made up world bothers you and takes you out of a movie, thats very, very sad.
So lets break the numbers down:
8 people saw it
4 had previously read the book
4 had not
4 readers loved it
3 non readers loved it
1 hated it
that 1 had been texting and not paying attention
So thats 7 of 8 people that enjoyed it, all of which were actually paying attention to the movie. I dont give a shit what another website full of movie critics has to say. I dont hang out with them nor do I know what they like and dislike. They might like country music, go to church every sunday, and enjoy playing scrabble. I don't so why would I take advice on their opinion of a movie if I dont share any of their interests. Would you take advice on video games from someone whos favorite game is brain age?
Theres no point in this argument.
'I didn't like the movie idc what you say'
'I was just expecting one of the best movies I was ever gonna see for the rest of my life... '
I dont know why you went in like this but because of it you will hate this movie and you're right there is nothing we can say to change that.
This review is actually good and stuff I don't agree with all of it though because I just feel that this movie is in no way an A grade. And "Idc what you say I had no connections with these characters" that's what I said so stop making me look ignorant haha. Yeah maybe I bit on the hype too much but giving it an A means you're putting it up their with one of the greats and its definitely not. And 2 out of 8 people didn't like it that night for the record..
The way you stated it was
'I didn't like the movie idc what you say I had no connections with these characters at all,'
I thought you meant it like that and heres my reasons and started listing them.
I think Paul Blarts the way to go
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