Watchmen review
My father-in-law saw "Watchmen" about five hours earlier than we did, and he thought it was too slow, had only two well developed characters, and insulted the military by oversimplifying top-level strategy. He also wasn't keen on Richard Nixon's increased importance; he felt that none of Nixon's scenes added anything except to reinforce the caricature. I disagree there, because I saw Nixon as the most moral man in the War Room. What did disappoint me was the apparent super-strength displayed by every combatant in every fight scene, and the alternate reveal when the conspiracy is exposed. Overall, though, I found the movie satisfyingly dense and I intend to see it again.
And now, on to the spoilers!
Apparently I'm the only person who thinks the space squid is sufficiently cinematic to overshadow its silliness. I read two previous scripts and in one of them Veidt uses a giant satellite-mounted lens to focus the sun's rays on New York city; how is this less silly than Alan Moore's art camp conspiracy? In the other, Veidt plans to travel back in time to prevent the Dr. Manhattan accident; Veidt gets killed in the scene, but Jon steps through the time portal to prevent the accident himself. Then ... sigh ... Nite Owl, Rorschach, and Laurie "Slingshot" Juspeczyk find themselves in the "real" NYC while a boy waves his copy of "The Watchmen" at them.
At any rate, I think that if Dr. Manhattan is the boogieman for Veidt's "Architects of Fear" story, then the appearance of Bubastis is superfluous and actually confusing. It's a fan service that actively detracts from the film for those who have not read the original story. What is that purple cat thing? An alien? A mutant tiger?
Zack Snyder's only real failure manifests in Adrian Veidt himself. Only Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan have any character depth, but Veidt has zero sympathy and conforms to three classic American villain tropes: he is blond, rich, and flamboyant. If an uninitiated viewer sees him for a second and thinks, as April did, "that's the villain," then the conspiracy completely fails.
And another thing! As I said, only two characters actually get developed, but Laurie and Dan get re-written as killers! They make no attempt to incapacitate or disable the interchangeable gangsters and rioting prison inmates, but go straight to deadly force as if they had been killing people for years.
You may get the impression that I have picked apart this movie to the point that I can't enjoy it. This isn't true; I liked it, and I think that Rorschach got the treatment he deserves. As he did in the 1980s, Walter Kovacs may become a recognizable breakaway favorite. He might even appear in a Twinkies ad in the near future.
And now, on to the spoilers!
Apparently I'm the only person who thinks the space squid is sufficiently cinematic to overshadow its silliness. I read two previous scripts and in one of them Veidt uses a giant satellite-mounted lens to focus the sun's rays on New York city; how is this less silly than Alan Moore's art camp conspiracy? In the other, Veidt plans to travel back in time to prevent the Dr. Manhattan accident; Veidt gets killed in the scene, but Jon steps through the time portal to prevent the accident himself. Then ... sigh ... Nite Owl, Rorschach, and Laurie "Slingshot" Juspeczyk find themselves in the "real" NYC while a boy waves his copy of "The Watchmen" at them.
At any rate, I think that if Dr. Manhattan is the boogieman for Veidt's "Architects of Fear" story, then the appearance of Bubastis is superfluous and actually confusing. It's a fan service that actively detracts from the film for those who have not read the original story. What is that purple cat thing? An alien? A mutant tiger?
Zack Snyder's only real failure manifests in Adrian Veidt himself. Only Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan have any character depth, but Veidt has zero sympathy and conforms to three classic American villain tropes: he is blond, rich, and flamboyant. If an uninitiated viewer sees him for a second and thinks, as April did, "that's the villain," then the conspiracy completely fails.
And another thing! As I said, only two characters actually get developed, but Laurie and Dan get re-written as killers! They make no attempt to incapacitate or disable the interchangeable gangsters and rioting prison inmates, but go straight to deadly force as if they had been killing people for years.
You may get the impression that I have picked apart this movie to the point that I can't enjoy it. This isn't true; I liked it, and I think that Rorschach got the treatment he deserves. As he did in the 1980s, Walter Kovacs may become a recognizable breakaway favorite. He might even appear in a Twinkies ad in the near future.
