All of the good "Who watches the Watchmen?" riffs have been made.
Rorschach's Journal
March 6th, 2009
Saw Watchmen film tonight. Faithful adaptation of comic book. Perhaps too faithful. Tells bare bones story well enough. Adds nothing. Except for obnoxious, ever-present soundtrack that functions with subtlety of sledgehammer. Good example of dialogue working in print not working when spoken. Impressive visuals and good use of color. Mask looked great thanks to CGI. Visual highlight of film full of good art direction.
Snyder's "Rorschach" looked good. Sounded ridiculous. Director must have thought it good idea to make me talk like Christian Bale in Dark Knight. Came off silly. Too silly to be considered satire of genre. Otherwise well-acted. Hard to believe Jackie Earle Haley got start in Bad News Bears series of films.
Dan also well-portrayed. Not as disgustingly bloated as in real life. Hollywood's insistence on gratuitous sex scene likely inspired casting. Same scene in book titillating, but suggestive. Only brief nudity. Film depicted everything in lascivious detail. No purpose. Hope Malin Akerman happy with choosing whore's path. Certainly did not earn spot with acting ability.
Dr. Manhattan interesting. Not characterization one expects from the comic. But good. Captures both Osterman's humanity and inhumanity. Sight of blue penis unobtrusive. Illustrates detachment from mainstream standards well.
Adrian Veidt reduced to Bond villain. Even viewers who haven't read comic can see he is antagonist from first appearance. Fight scene towards end well-choreographed. Fights like "World's Smartest Man" should. Awful in every other way.
Liked Comedian. Feels like character walked off pages of comic onto film set. Suitably menacing when necessary. Rape of Ms. Jupiter very disturbing. More so because theater audience laughed uproariously during entire scene. Hrm. Just another sign of this country plummeting ever-deeper towards hell. Lucky world has people like me.
Minor storyline changes to streamline film unobjectionable. As said above, adds nothing to comic narrative. Worth watching once if fan of comic book. Alan Moore correct. Story already told flawlessly in perfect medium. Adaptation unnecessary. Greedy men reaping money from other men's work.
Still, perhaps best film adaptation of Watchmen possible. Not endorsement, simply observation.
** 1/2 out of four
March 6th, 2009
Saw Watchmen film tonight. Faithful adaptation of comic book. Perhaps too faithful. Tells bare bones story well enough. Adds nothing. Except for obnoxious, ever-present soundtrack that functions with subtlety of sledgehammer. Good example of dialogue working in print not working when spoken. Impressive visuals and good use of color. Mask looked great thanks to CGI. Visual highlight of film full of good art direction.
Snyder's "Rorschach" looked good. Sounded ridiculous. Director must have thought it good idea to make me talk like Christian Bale in Dark Knight. Came off silly. Too silly to be considered satire of genre. Otherwise well-acted. Hard to believe Jackie Earle Haley got start in Bad News Bears series of films.
Dan also well-portrayed. Not as disgustingly bloated as in real life. Hollywood's insistence on gratuitous sex scene likely inspired casting. Same scene in book titillating, but suggestive. Only brief nudity. Film depicted everything in lascivious detail. No purpose. Hope Malin Akerman happy with choosing whore's path. Certainly did not earn spot with acting ability.
Dr. Manhattan interesting. Not characterization one expects from the comic. But good. Captures both Osterman's humanity and inhumanity. Sight of blue penis unobtrusive. Illustrates detachment from mainstream standards well.
Adrian Veidt reduced to Bond villain. Even viewers who haven't read comic can see he is antagonist from first appearance. Fight scene towards end well-choreographed. Fights like "World's Smartest Man" should. Awful in every other way.
Liked Comedian. Feels like character walked off pages of comic onto film set. Suitably menacing when necessary. Rape of Ms. Jupiter very disturbing. More so because theater audience laughed uproariously during entire scene. Hrm. Just another sign of this country plummeting ever-deeper towards hell. Lucky world has people like me.
Minor storyline changes to streamline film unobjectionable. As said above, adds nothing to comic narrative. Worth watching once if fan of comic book. Alan Moore correct. Story already told flawlessly in perfect medium. Adaptation unnecessary. Greedy men reaping money from other men's work.
Still, perhaps best film adaptation of Watchmen possible. Not endorsement, simply observation.
** 1/2 out of four