" one of a million admiring eyes "
the last thing the internet needs is yet another review of the watchmen movie but here are a few of my "thoughts" anyway ( some minor spoilers inevitably follow )
ITEM! i should say first that as an admirer of the gomic i REALLY liked this film - it was very exciting to see all that familiar gomic book stuff ( not to mention all that alan moore dialogue ) up on the big screen - its very long tho, nearly three hours - & very violent - i'm not quite sure it'd quite work as a viewing experience to someone who hadn't previously read it, who wasn't interested in spotting all the references etc - & i do wonder what non comics readers generally will make of the flick ( "despicable trash" said the loathsome daily mail ) - anyway, despite my griticisms ( or possibly nit-picking ) below i really did enjoy it
ITEM! for such a literal translation of a gomic to screen, certain grucial bits were missing: ie nearly all the background characters that gave the gomic much of its "heart": the detectives, the two bernards ( the news vendor & gomic reading boy - especially odd to miss 'em out with the tales of the black freighter dvd apparently coming out in a few weeks ), the psychiatrist malcolm & his wife gloria, joey & her girlfriend, all the ppl who hung around times square in the comic - we got a few glimpses of 'em ( malcolm interviewing rorshach being the most notable ) but not enuff to make us care what happened to 'em - we didn't even see the new frontiersman staff until right at the end ( a bit of foreshadowing would have been be nice )
ITEM! some of the violence was unnecessary, i think - it was nearly all verbatim from the gomic but the translation/transition of one panel or page tended to drag out into long drawn out graphic fights & assaults lasting several minutes on screen - & they unbalanced the film overall - the slow motion gimmick didn't quite work ( - & with some of those bits cut out there'd have been more room for some much needed characterisation )
ITEM! i was expecting to hate nite owl cos he wasn't fat enuff ( the fat bloke getting the girl being one of the high points of the watchmen gomic for me ) but otherwise the likeable actor playing him was pretty much spot on - as were silk spectre & the gomedian - & rorshach was abt the best we could've hoped for, assuming they couldn't somehow make william h macy 20 years younger ( - mind you, the "old" make up on carla gugino was a bit jarring )
ITEM! rorshach's mask didn't quite "work" but then the gostumes were all slightly dodgy with the exception of silk spectre's, which was a gomplete redesign - praps showing what works in the gomics doesn't necessarily work on film - tho oddly the 1940s gostumes looked fine - & the owl ship looked great i thort
( EDIT: the gomedian's gostume looked fine all the way thru, actually )
ITEM! dr manhattan's willy was much bigger than it was in the gomic - i guess you really do get more bang for yr buck in the movies - tho his eye shadow was an odd decision ( & his eyes looked "painted on" in places ) - the special effects were not 100% gonvincing in the dr manhattan dept generally
ITEM! where to start with the soundtrack? - obv my chemical romance's mutilation of desolation row is a very bad joke ( - thereby fitting in with one of the "themes" of the film, god help us ) - but the placement of tracks was incredibly crass: everybody wants to rule the world while ozymandias is dissing some businessmen, the sound of silence during the gomedian's funeral, & worst of all: hallelujah* when nite owl finally manages to get it up with s.spectre - this was badly judged & by far the most gringeworthy scene in the film
* tho it was at least leonard cohen's original & not that buckley twit
the soundtrack = mostly goob songs but it was all a bit "blatant" - such as when nite owl & rorshach were approaching veidt's fortress, all along the WATCHtower spelled it for us with: "outside in the distance a wildcat** did growl, two riders were approaching & the wind began to howl" - songs that DID work in the gontext of the film = the times they are a changing ( i thought the whole flashback sequence at the beginning worked very well ), 99 red balloons and me & bobby mcgee
** twas nice to see bubastis tho
ITEM! i note that silk spectre didn't smoke in the movie ( unlike in the gomic where she's gonstantly puffing away ) - i guess she counts as "a goodie" & therefore = a role model & isn't allowed any blinking gaspers - at least they didn't take away the gomedian's cigar ( - such a nasty piece of work is presumably allowed to be a bad influence ) ( - tho he did come across as quite likeable in some places, moreso than in the comic, i'd say )
ITEM! apart from the lisp & his fey ways, ozymandias's character wasn't exactly what you'd call "fully formed", a gay yuppy with humanity's best interests at heart? - it would've been nice if we could've seen a bit more of what motivated him to take such drastic action ( - the actor was pretty crappy, by far the worst in the film ) - the folder marked "boys" on his desktop was a bit naughty - & what was the point of his "reverse headband"?
ITEM! moloch's ears were a bit floppy - they reminded me of the friendly demon clem from buffy the vampire slayer - eagle eyed viewers will have already spotted that moloch = max headroom
ITEM! despite the giant exploding octopus et al, the watchmen gomic was capable of things like subtlety, changes of mood & tone, tears of laughter, sadness, joy etc - & the structure of the piece was very carefully planned - whereas the movie has three settings: loud & dazzling, very loud & dazzling and incredibly loud & dazzing - it really is an assault to the senses - i don't think zach snyder has ever heard the expression "less is more" - some ppl might not like to be shouted at ( or hit over the head ) for three hours
ITEM! the apocalyptic theme notwithstanding, it's a hard film to take "seriously" - again i wonder what ppl who haven't read the original material will make of it - it couldve been a whole lot better - but i enjoyed it so much i can't give it less than eight w.o.agwu stars out of a possible ten - by far the best film i've seen at the cinema this year ( - yes, it's the only film i've seen at the cinema this year )
i wish the characters didn't refer to themselves - & their superhero team - as "the watchmen" tho
ITEM! i also wish it was easier to pop to the lavvy in the imax ( esp when the film is nearly 3 hours long & i had a large diet coke to wash down my bucket of salty popcorn ) - you have to go up the stairs to take a lift down to the foyer... surely they could make it less gomplicated?