The Watchmen Report
First off, what is up with all these people calling Papa Winchester a "poor man's Robert Downy Jr."?! Granted, if you squint your eyes and tilt your head sideways there is a resemblance, and they both do rock the scruff wonderfully, but they are obviously two different people. Not to mention that JDM is an amazing actor and deserves recognition for it. He wasn't hired because he was an "affordable substitute for RDJ" he was hired because he's a damn fine actor and it shows in how he completely brings the Comedian to life.
So there!!
To start off, I loved it. I had been a little worried because there were so many negative reviews out there, but I thought it turned out amazingly.
Here's the stuff that made me really excited-
Rorschach. Ultimate badass. Jackie Earle Haley. Now my hero. And also made me cry.
Nite Owl II played by Patrick Wilson who was also in Phantom of the Opera, so every time Dan would take his glasses off I'd wonder, "What's Raul doing here?" Otherwise I liked him, I think he pulled off the whole "awkward at life" thing well enough that you really understood his need to be Nite Owl.
I completly love that they expanded on the Rorschach/Nite Owl bromance. These guys used to be partners and it's so nice to see that even though it's been years that even though it may be a little torn and dusty, that bond is still there. One thing that was really disturbing to me from the comic was that when Rorschach died, it was like nobody really cared that much, it was just another horrible thing on top of everyone else and they just took it passively. Which, is just crappy, so I'm glad they had Dan see it and then freak out, because YOU CANNOT DENY THE BROLOVE!!
Watching the part where Dan tells Rorschach that he's hard to be friends with and then they have there little moment I had to fight down the intense urge to scream at the screen, "HUG IT OUT, BITCH!!!". And I blame that entirely on the supernatural fandom.
Before watching the movie I had a strong dislike of Adrian (which may or may not be in part due to the fact that I'm a huge egyptology nerd and may or maynot have issues with some of the egypt stuff in the book), I always just thought of him as a douchebag who get's my fav (Rorschach) killed. After watching the movie though, I now think of him as a likeable douchbag who got my favorite killed.
The same thing with Dr. Manhatton (who I now have a strange urge to call Doc Hat from now on), his disconnect with humanity and passiveness with his life kind of made him seem really staticky to me. I think it says something really amazing about Billy Crudup that he was able to inject a bittersweet note of humanity into a being that is supposidly drifting away from everything that makes him human.
Another character that annoyed me was Laurie, I always thought that she wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't so freaking whinny all the damn time, and then *poof* movie version Laurie. Thanks Zack! One thing that did bother me though, is how much her voice sounds exactly like Drew Barrymore, seriously, it's distracting.
And then there's the Comedian. I think everybody's got mixed feelings about this guy, he does horrible revolting things, and yet, you can't help but admire and like him a little, and I think JDM captured this perfectly. (I totally kept my eyes closed and hid my head behind my roommates arm during the rape scene though.)
One scene that I wish they could have fit in, even though I completely understand why they had to shorten it was the storyline with Rorschach and his shrink, just watching that guy completely deconstruct always gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling whenever I read it. Best part of the movie? Is also the best part of the book-Rorschach in prison.
Next, the gore. Was awesome.
.
And finally, the ending. There are a lot of people upset that they changed it, but really you can't just throw a dead fake alien at people out of nowhere. In the book they set it up by having people disapear, and the backstory with the writers and psychics, and artists disapearing, but there's no way they could have done that justice in the movie. But I think what they did do worked out very well and still carried the same spirit of what was done in the book.
ps- this is pretty random but when I went onto IMDB to check people's name I noticed a trailer for the movie Duplicity and every time I see it I always wonder if anybody still thinks Julia Roberts is still sexy?
pps- So the movie started at midnight, so I didn't get to bed until around 4 am, then this morning I woke up at 7 am (ish) and still made it into work on time (ish). So far my caffeine count is at 1 (12 oz) coffee, and 1 (12 oz) red bull, and it's only noon. I have another red bull and some black tea on standby, so hopefully that will keep me going until I get home. (omg, I'm such an old person!).