Watchmen was watched!

[swimpenguin]

Saw Watchmen last night, and I think you might have a different reaction depending on whether you've read the graphic novel or not. What I liked: it was very well made, some very good acting, very cool visual experience. What I didn't like: some very bad acting/miscast actors, obviously the things that were left out-necessary to give it a more concise run time, but some of what was cut (the regular people: a newspaper vendor, that in the comic acts as an everyday commentator on the state of the world, his interactions with people build to critical plot elements that are an integral part of the heart and soul of the book.) Whereas the movie was purely the superhero story parts of the comic-the aforementioned everyday people stuff was pretty much left out aside from a montage or two, cameo nods-and of course the fictional biography and pirate comic that are a big part of the graphic novel are being released as separate dvd's that are supposed to be spliced in when the movie itself comes out on dvd. The big thing, that both Mike and I agreed on, was the misdirection of the theme of the comic-it's a critique of violence, how people putting on masks and capes use violence as opposed to everday people using violence and vice versa, the responsibility of it, etc.; the comic is brutal but with a point. The movie though, with the slow-mo/sped up blood spurting, bones cracking (which is the director's trademark, so it wasn't like a huge shock) was glorying in the violence, which when taken with the ending of the movie-which replicates the message of the comic book, just not in the exact same circumstances-it clashes hugely. And basically, if you've read the comic, the movie is a literal step by step depiction of events in the comic-without the intensity of the philosophical, talky dialogue, without the puzzle box structure of different mediums-so it's got the framework, but not the total heartbeat.
I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, I enjoyed visual parts, some of the acting (and some of the sequences/actors do actually draw very good emotional experiences) I just wonder did it truly need to be made? The thing that's made all the great superhero movies great is taking the characters, themes, setup of the comic, and giving us a new spin, a new vision of it. And with Watchmen being such a faithful replication of it, literally, you didn't have an experience of feeling any new emotion if you've read the book.