Who Watches the Watchmen?
I did. Last night.
I should probably start by saying a couple o' things. I re-read stuff I like a lot. I like Watchmen so I re-read it every few years or so. So yeah, I am really familiar with the source material. I also re-read it a couple of weekends ago as a primer. I like Watchmen, but it is not my favourite work of Alan Moore's, therefore, I wouldn't count myself as a purist or anything. I didn't really have expectations either way of what this movie would be like, it might be good, it might be bad, I'll see when I get there.
So, what did I think? I liked it. But I definitely didn't love it. It is a very, very good, well thought out, faithful adaptation of Moore's work. And I will acknowledge right now, trying to get this movie up on the screen is a feat itself and I applaud everyone involved in doing so. The look of the movie is lovely, the acting (for the most part) was very well done, the dialogue captured much of what Moore wrote... all good, but why didn't I like this?
For some reason, I felt this movie lacked any... soul. I had a hard time connecting to it. And I realized about half way through why; in order to get this movie up on the screen and still make it somewhat coherent and not 6 hours long, they had to strip it of it's humanity. They had to take out all the little human touches that Moore put in the novel, the newstand owner and the comic book reader, the lesbian couple, the deeper look into the life of Rorshach's psychologist... all of this was something I needed without realizing I needed it to be in the story. 'Cause really, the main characters aren't really good people (and yes, I know this is intentional). They're self-centered and a little pathetic (or downright crazy) and I never really get the idea that they're truly in it to help people. Heck, there is only one let's go out and do good scene in the whole movie. And sure, Ozymandius' plan is to save humanity from global anihilation, but he still is very comfortable with the idea of acceptable loses. His altruism comes with a price. I guess I found that I needed those little touches of normal humanity to balance it against the heroes, that those everyday people are what they are trying to save, and that those everyday people deserve to be saved, because they're us, warts and all. Without that balance, I just feel... disconnected, much like Dr. Manhattan I guess. I also felt that the movie totally missed the point when they showed the devestation of NYC and didn't (nearly for once) mimic the panels of the comic. There were no bodies, no, this is the price in humanity that Ozymandius had to pay for his plan... it was very, sanitized and somehow that bothered me.
Believe me, I'm not saying that I hated the new ending or anything, I totally understand the change, but I don't think the unifying factor in the movie is as unifying as the one in the comic.
So yes, I liked it. But not as much as Dark Knight :)
I should probably start by saying a couple o' things. I re-read stuff I like a lot. I like Watchmen so I re-read it every few years or so. So yeah, I am really familiar with the source material. I also re-read it a couple of weekends ago as a primer. I like Watchmen, but it is not my favourite work of Alan Moore's, therefore, I wouldn't count myself as a purist or anything. I didn't really have expectations either way of what this movie would be like, it might be good, it might be bad, I'll see when I get there.
So, what did I think? I liked it. But I definitely didn't love it. It is a very, very good, well thought out, faithful adaptation of Moore's work. And I will acknowledge right now, trying to get this movie up on the screen is a feat itself and I applaud everyone involved in doing so. The look of the movie is lovely, the acting (for the most part) was very well done, the dialogue captured much of what Moore wrote... all good, but why didn't I like this?
For some reason, I felt this movie lacked any... soul. I had a hard time connecting to it. And I realized about half way through why; in order to get this movie up on the screen and still make it somewhat coherent and not 6 hours long, they had to strip it of it's humanity. They had to take out all the little human touches that Moore put in the novel, the newstand owner and the comic book reader, the lesbian couple, the deeper look into the life of Rorshach's psychologist... all of this was something I needed without realizing I needed it to be in the story. 'Cause really, the main characters aren't really good people (and yes, I know this is intentional). They're self-centered and a little pathetic (or downright crazy) and I never really get the idea that they're truly in it to help people. Heck, there is only one let's go out and do good scene in the whole movie. And sure, Ozymandius' plan is to save humanity from global anihilation, but he still is very comfortable with the idea of acceptable loses. His altruism comes with a price. I guess I found that I needed those little touches of normal humanity to balance it against the heroes, that those everyday people are what they are trying to save, and that those everyday people deserve to be saved, because they're us, warts and all. Without that balance, I just feel... disconnected, much like Dr. Manhattan I guess. I also felt that the movie totally missed the point when they showed the devestation of NYC and didn't (nearly for once) mimic the panels of the comic. There were no bodies, no, this is the price in humanity that Ozymandius had to pay for his plan... it was very, sanitized and somehow that bothered me.
Believe me, I'm not saying that I hated the new ending or anything, I totally understand the change, but I don't think the unifying factor in the movie is as unifying as the one in the comic.
So yes, I liked it. But not as much as Dark Knight :)