Or not, that's cool...
My completely virgin review. I haven't read a thing; not on LJ, TWOP, the news - NOTHING. This could be heresy, or this could be preaching to the choir. I don't know where the party lines are yet, these are just my gut reactions to my first viewing. (Though I should add that while I did go to the midnight showing, I didn't get there until 0045, so I missed a good chunk of the beginning. Maybe that had too big an impact on the movie for me, so I'm going to see it again with my brothers and watch the whole thing the way it was intended, and hopefully I'll find it to be more awesome.)
Because really? It didn't knock my socks off. I loved the graphic novel, and it was *very* similar to the graphic novel, but it just didn't wow me. It was like it hit all the notes, but the song just didn't sound right. It made me feel like the first Harry Potter movie did: I was *so* excited, and I watched it with all my friends, and there were all the characters I loved so dearly, and the story was all there, but it wasn't great. So I'm going to explain to Watchmen why I didn't sit though the credits and cheer.
Dear Watchmen,
I saw you on the big screen for the first time last night. You looked pretty good, did you loose weight? Anyway sweetie, it's time for complement sandwiches, where each piece of criticism comes carefully wrapped in a protective shell of complements.
+ Watchmen, you did a totally kick-ass job of selling me this world: the politics, the graffiti, the food, the fashion, all very good!
- I'm sad to say the music didn't work for me, I see where you were going with the 70's and 80's music, but it never meshed right with the scenes for me, it was a little distracting sometimes.
+ Your hair was amazing!
+ JDM was hot (with 2 t's!)
- He did not look whatever age he was supposed to.
+ But he was hot like burning villages!
+ I appreciated that you didn't blanch away from Dr. Manhattan's clothing choices.
- I would have appreciated if you had pulled away from other shots a few seconds earlier. The scene in Archie had about two shots more then I needed. But then again, it didn't hurt anything...
- Actually, the fight scenes were like this with the amount of violence shown. The first few times it was shocking (like seeing that mugger's arm break) but by the time we were supposed to be really *shocked* by it (the death of the kidnapper) it was almost cartoony. The gore didn't look realistic enough to be featured so much (like little Rorschach biting the other kid).
- While we're on the subject, the fight scenes weren't realistic. People were flying all over the place, getting knocked into walls and punched across the room. Again, the first few times it was bad ass, but in time it just looked a little too fake. A little too *biff* and *pow* ya know? Too much like 300, but it wasn't supposed to be mythical, it was supposed to be *real.*
+ Oh hey, don't be mad at me Watchmen. I'm sorry that was more like a sloppy joe then a sandwich. Take heart sweetie, Rorschach was amazing. He rocked like granite. His *mask* emoted more then some actors I could name. (I can easily see him being the new Joker.)
Oh Watchmen, I'll see you again tomorrow. We can kiss and make up, right? I want to like you, and you've always been good to me. Lets make this work, ok?
Your's, MC