Over the weekend, Jeff and I sat down to watch the movie Watchmen. The previous weekend it had been The Dark Knight so apparently we’re on a dark superhero/supervillian kick. I’d been hesitant to watch Watchmen. I’d loved the graphic novel and movie adaptations tend to disappoint. Plus I knew that Alan Moore had been unwilling to even have his name associated with the film. So I went in with lower expectations. And I have to apologize to Alan Moore. I enjoyed the film, quite a bit.
The movie had the same gritty feeling as the novel and that’s what I liked. The characters were perfect, particularly The Comedian and Rorschach. It is exactly how I imagined they would sound. In fact, I thought most of the characters were pitch perfect. The plot had some significant changes from the graphic novel including cutting out an entire storyline. But many people thought the novel was unfilmable so I know that they had to make some big choices on what to include and what to cut out. Like most action films of the current day, this was bloody and violent. But the graphic novel was as well and I think I can almost say that the film-makers downplayed some of the violence of the story by leaving out the secondary storyline. The ending was very different. But this is one of those rare, rare times when I will say that the movie might have improved on the book. The ending to the novel was a bit out there, a bit far-fetched. The ending to the film made total sense. It tied the entire Dr. Manhattan plotlines together.
The visuals were fantastic. Like many others have said before, the opening credits were just amazing. I don’t know how they shot those but I want to learn. The darkness and grime of the city was perfectly captured. The movie still kept a bit of a comic book feel to it though. The fight sequences were a bit over the top though. These are mortals who donned masks to play vigilantes, not superheroes. Some of the fight sequences would have been better served with a touch more realism. Over all I was really impressed by the film. I enjoyed the endings and the overall story. I enjoyed the characters and the visuals. It was a fun film that I was not disappointed with.
Plus it was nice to watch a movie that had more male nudity than female nudity. A rarity in Hollywood. J
2 comments:
Loved the movie. Loved Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach. Amazing visuals.
I was amused by the male nudity. Not by the nudity per se, but by the impossible position the film-maker is put in by it. If you hide it (like in Beowulf,) it looks like you're hiding it. If you show it, then it kind of overwhelms the scene.
Some of the Dr. Manhattan scenes are difficult to watch because THERE'S A BIG BLUE WANG ON THE SCREEN.
Rorschach was fantastic. He was exactly what I thought he should be.
I actually like the fact that they were willing to show the nudity. I don't think they would have had the same issues if it was full frontal female nudity. This was just evening the score.
Keith, I didn't mind the BIG BLUE WANG for a moment. Even though he was blue, he was still in some nice shape.
Post a Comment