Watchmen Review
So, I just got back from seeing it, and my thoughts are as follows.
Let me say this for starters: I liked this movie very much. This was an excellent, fairly faithful adaptation and I am very glad that I read the graphic novel ahead of time.
In my initial reading of the book, I leaned towards Nite Owl II as a favorite character, with Rorschach as a close second. After seeing this movie, I have been completely sold on Rorschach. Jackie Earle Haley should get some sort of recognition for the incredible job he did with the character. Moreso than the other characters, he felt the most like he jumped off the page and came to life. I appreciate that vocally he didn't lose himself in the voice, as did Christian Bale in The Dark Knight.
I felt they fell short a bit with Nite Owl II, in that I didn't think they got across his desperation as someone who relies on this crutch of a costume to feel like he's worth something. Costume wise, I don't mind the solid bronze look they went for. Overall, his portrayal left something to be desired with me, but that's not to say he didn't take a good shot at it.
Comedian and Ozymandias were both portrayed as the dicks they were, that's accurate. Comedian didn't seem to age right with all the flashbacks and whatnot; mainly a complaint with the makeup job. Ozy's suit was suffering from Superman Returns syndrome, i.e. "Let's take the cloth costume people know and expect and make it rubber and mess with the color scheme." Things like that always bug me. As for the Comedian, I thought it was a good take on the original costume.
I don't think Laurie/Silk Spectre II was the worst actress in the world, but I'll admit she could have done more with the part than what we were given. Not too much else I can say about her other than I thought she looked better when she was in street clothes than her costume.
Dr. Manhattan vocally sounded a bit too soft spoken, but more or less got the point across. I do think that he got the right mixture of "man-coping-with-being-godlike-being-while-trying-to-maintain-being-a-man" in his performance. And yes, there were blue dongs, as many as 4 on screen at once, but I was prepared for that. They weren't erect or anything, the camera didn't blatantly focus on them, nor were there any lines drawing attention to them, so it didn't bug me. More panels in the graphic novel show his lil' Manhattan(s) than the movie did, but that's one of those things you'd know if you read it.
The ending made sense and achieved the same result as the comic, and I respect the direction they went with that. Granted, I do miss Ol' Squiddy, but the movie did not suffer in his absence. Although I will say that without the references to Adrian tinkering with gene-splicing, we probably could have done without his big cat as well. I don't get how they can say a giant squid monster will confuse audiences, but a giant reddish cat with no explanation to his being in the movie isn't seen as a problem.
For the record, it should be noted that the choices in terms of the soundtrack were meant to be ironic throughout. Nat King Cole's Unforgettable playing while the Comedian faces death makes you chuckle a bit. Eddie Blake would've wanted that, I'd like to think. Ride of the Valkyries while Dr. Manhattan vaporizes Vietcong forces is to be expected, given the parallel to the timeless scene in Apocalypse Now! of basically the same thing occurring. Most notably, a elevator music rendition of Everybody Wants to Rule the World playing softly while Adrian gives his account of his origins was a good example of delicious irony and foreshadowing.
And yes, they extended the sex scene between Dan and Laurie to what I would call "hilariously pornographic" proportions. I ended up laughing through the whole scene, as well as my peeps in my row. Just didn't think I'd be laughing for so long. And yes, I did have a problem with the music choice for this scene, although one could make the joke that the "hallelujah" in the song was a reference to Dan thinking "Hallelujah, my impotence is gone!", but even I'll call that a stretch.
So, aside from the aforementioned scene, this movie did no wrong by me. I'd watch it again. *rimshot*
Get it?
"Watch?"
Like the title?
...
Oh, nevermind.
Let me say this for starters: I liked this movie very much. This was an excellent, fairly faithful adaptation and I am very glad that I read the graphic novel ahead of time.
In my initial reading of the book, I leaned towards Nite Owl II as a favorite character, with Rorschach as a close second. After seeing this movie, I have been completely sold on Rorschach. Jackie Earle Haley should get some sort of recognition for the incredible job he did with the character. Moreso than the other characters, he felt the most like he jumped off the page and came to life. I appreciate that vocally he didn't lose himself in the voice, as did Christian Bale in The Dark Knight.
I felt they fell short a bit with Nite Owl II, in that I didn't think they got across his desperation as someone who relies on this crutch of a costume to feel like he's worth something. Costume wise, I don't mind the solid bronze look they went for. Overall, his portrayal left something to be desired with me, but that's not to say he didn't take a good shot at it.
Comedian and Ozymandias were both portrayed as the dicks they were, that's accurate. Comedian didn't seem to age right with all the flashbacks and whatnot; mainly a complaint with the makeup job. Ozy's suit was suffering from Superman Returns syndrome, i.e. "Let's take the cloth costume people know and expect and make it rubber and mess with the color scheme." Things like that always bug me. As for the Comedian, I thought it was a good take on the original costume.
I don't think Laurie/Silk Spectre II was the worst actress in the world, but I'll admit she could have done more with the part than what we were given. Not too much else I can say about her other than I thought she looked better when she was in street clothes than her costume.
Dr. Manhattan vocally sounded a bit too soft spoken, but more or less got the point across. I do think that he got the right mixture of "man-coping-with-being-godlike-being-while-trying-to-maintain-being-a-man" in his performance. And yes, there were blue dongs, as many as 4 on screen at once, but I was prepared for that. They weren't erect or anything, the camera didn't blatantly focus on them, nor were there any lines drawing attention to them, so it didn't bug me. More panels in the graphic novel show his lil' Manhattan(s) than the movie did, but that's one of those things you'd know if you read it.
The ending made sense and achieved the same result as the comic, and I respect the direction they went with that. Granted, I do miss Ol' Squiddy, but the movie did not suffer in his absence. Although I will say that without the references to Adrian tinkering with gene-splicing, we probably could have done without his big cat as well. I don't get how they can say a giant squid monster will confuse audiences, but a giant reddish cat with no explanation to his being in the movie isn't seen as a problem.
For the record, it should be noted that the choices in terms of the soundtrack were meant to be ironic throughout. Nat King Cole's Unforgettable playing while the Comedian faces death makes you chuckle a bit. Eddie Blake would've wanted that, I'd like to think. Ride of the Valkyries while Dr. Manhattan vaporizes Vietcong forces is to be expected, given the parallel to the timeless scene in Apocalypse Now! of basically the same thing occurring. Most notably, a elevator music rendition of Everybody Wants to Rule the World playing softly while Adrian gives his account of his origins was a good example of delicious irony and foreshadowing.
And yes, they extended the sex scene between Dan and Laurie to what I would call "hilariously pornographic" proportions. I ended up laughing through the whole scene, as well as my peeps in my row. Just didn't think I'd be laughing for so long. And yes, I did have a problem with the music choice for this scene, although one could make the joke that the "hallelujah" in the song was a reference to Dan thinking "Hallelujah, my impotence is gone!", but even I'll call that a stretch.
So, aside from the aforementioned scene, this movie did no wrong by me. I'd watch it again. *rimshot*
Get it?
"Watch?"
Like the title?
...
Oh, nevermind.