Watchmen
Like every other nerd I know, I saw "Watchmen" on Friday. Tish and I went.
What can I say? It was pretty good. This was about the best movie adaptation as could be done. The amount of detail and love to the original writing was evident, as just about every piece of dialogue is lifted straight from the comic.
They even got the look of the comic right. I actually got excited at copies of "Under The Hood" in Hollis Mason's apartment, the Gunga Diner elephant balloon, and the exact copy of the Sally Jupiter Tijuana bible!
For the most part, the acting was well done. There also was a lot of care to get into the mood of this being the alternate 1985 where Nixon is still president, and Watergate never happened. The cliched songs, however, were too blatant, except for "All Along the Watchtower," which is referenced in the comic. And a great job folding a lot of the backstory into a masterstroke title sequence. Remember when we were in a nuclear standoff with Russia and the existence of the world hung in the balance for 50 years? It feels far away, but it isn't.
The fight scenes were all brilliant. Each punch looked like it hurt and had weight to it. For super-stylized, comic book action violence as we're used to, this looked very painful. Also painful to watch is a sex scene that goes on waaaay too long, and I watch a lot of porn.
This may be the most sophisticated comic book to be made into a movie, and the audience's reactions to it showed it. They laughed whenever naked Doctor Manhattan was on screen, for example - how Zach Snyder was able to actually get away with the naked glowing man is amazing. And for the people who brought their under-10 children, shame on you. Have fun explaining all the sex and murder, and how bored the kids were.
What a fun time to be a superhero fan at the movies. In 1999 we hit the "Matrix" age, when the special effects caught up to writers' imaginations in a whole new way. By 2002 we had "Spider-Man," which showed how faithful to an original comic book you can be. This led to a bunch of bad, bad movies - this is Hollywood, after all.
But 2008 has been the best year so far, headlined by "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man." While the tones of these two movies are miles apart, both showed a sophistication where comic book movies ruminate on the human condition in ways Hollywood expects only out of Oscar-jerkers about dead musicians and World War II. And now "Watchmen" carries it further. It's fun to have supherhero movies of all kinds, now.
I don't think a mass audience will like "Watchmen" despite how strongly it is being marketed. It's strange, visceral, violent, sexy, cerebral and lacks a happy ending. In fact, I expect to hear more about walkouts during screenings; it's like showing up for the symphony but expecting Britney Spears. But the movie's density sure as hell will stick in your head. And I'm definitely looking forward to the five-hour director's cut.
What can I say? It was pretty good. This was about the best movie adaptation as could be done. The amount of detail and love to the original writing was evident, as just about every piece of dialogue is lifted straight from the comic.
They even got the look of the comic right. I actually got excited at copies of "Under The Hood" in Hollis Mason's apartment, the Gunga Diner elephant balloon, and the exact copy of the Sally Jupiter Tijuana bible!
For the most part, the acting was well done. There also was a lot of care to get into the mood of this being the alternate 1985 where Nixon is still president, and Watergate never happened. The cliched songs, however, were too blatant, except for "All Along the Watchtower," which is referenced in the comic. And a great job folding a lot of the backstory into a masterstroke title sequence. Remember when we were in a nuclear standoff with Russia and the existence of the world hung in the balance for 50 years? It feels far away, but it isn't.
The fight scenes were all brilliant. Each punch looked like it hurt and had weight to it. For super-stylized, comic book action violence as we're used to, this looked very painful. Also painful to watch is a sex scene that goes on waaaay too long, and I watch a lot of porn.
This may be the most sophisticated comic book to be made into a movie, and the audience's reactions to it showed it. They laughed whenever naked Doctor Manhattan was on screen, for example - how Zach Snyder was able to actually get away with the naked glowing man is amazing. And for the people who brought their under-10 children, shame on you. Have fun explaining all the sex and murder, and how bored the kids were.
What a fun time to be a superhero fan at the movies. In 1999 we hit the "Matrix" age, when the special effects caught up to writers' imaginations in a whole new way. By 2002 we had "Spider-Man," which showed how faithful to an original comic book you can be. This led to a bunch of bad, bad movies - this is Hollywood, after all.
But 2008 has been the best year so far, headlined by "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man." While the tones of these two movies are miles apart, both showed a sophistication where comic book movies ruminate on the human condition in ways Hollywood expects only out of Oscar-jerkers about dead musicians and World War II. And now "Watchmen" carries it further. It's fun to have supherhero movies of all kinds, now.
I don't think a mass audience will like "Watchmen" despite how strongly it is being marketed. It's strange, visceral, violent, sexy, cerebral and lacks a happy ending. In fact, I expect to hear more about walkouts during screenings; it's like showing up for the symphony but expecting Britney Spears. But the movie's density sure as hell will stick in your head. And I'm definitely looking forward to the five-hour director's cut.