Watchman review, by grognard Amp. Some spoilers.
Posted: 07 Mar 2009 15:23
Saw it last night. I give it two "Enh's" I was hoping they would at least try to justify the new ending...they don't. I'd say it was 50/50 for a film that claims to stay "as true to the original" as possible.
Acting out the Comedian's death in the introduction, along with giving him speaking lines..... The Detectives going over the crime scene, with interspersed clips from the actual murder was much more effective. As much as they tried to keep the great lines in the film i think they missed one of the best. "Ground Floor...comin up."
Zack Snyder's use of music was also 50/50. While he picked great music to use in each scene, using the music to evoke the proper emotion, he failed to tie it into the scene fully. We get blasted with loud and recognizable and perfectly chosen themes, and yet he seems to avoid as much as possible overlaying music with speech and action, where it would have the most impact. The sound of silence for the comedian's funeral seemed a bit off. Fortunate Son would have been much better.
On a good note, i think they did a near perfect job of casting. My only complaint is the Comedian, which Snyder seems to have begging to cast with Robert Downey Jr, and instead has Jeffery Dean Morgan attempt to emulate him. His maimed face is missing, that i think was an important part of the Comedian with his disfigured, joker-ish face.
At first I didn't like the choices for Rorshach and Dr. Manhatten, but both of those actors convinced me they were well chosen. Dr. Manhatten's special effects could have been a bit more convincing. He looked as if he was just pasted on to the screen. I think it had more to do with his aura, and possibly was meant to be a visual representation of how he's not really there (psychologically).
Dropping the side stories of the cops seemed to take the film out of the real world and focus it on the superheros. Leaving that thread in would have only cost him a couple of minutes of screen time. There was so much in the background that was placed and not used. I'm almost waiting for an Extended edition ala LOTR. with the upcoming webcomic and animated Tales of the Black Freighter, we might get something like this.
I think this film might 'bomb' a bit. It seems that the only people i can think of that will really enjoy it are the people who love comics and/or sci-fi, but for some crazy reason have not read Watchmen. people who love the comic (especially OH-type people like me) will definitely be disappointed. Let me know if i'm wrong about that. People expecting a super-hero story will probably not have the attention span to sit through a 3hr movie for about 1hr worth of action that is on par with other films.
I liked that they show a very brutal fight when a gang of knot-tops try to mug Dan and Laurie. it shows us first hand that the old costumed heroes did not pull their punches and are more than willing to cripple or kill a 'bad-guy'. I did not like the savage conversion story of Rorschach however. I think it was much more methodical when he leaves the guy to burn and watches to make sure he doesn't get out rather than Snyder's savage execution.
THE ENDING: SPOILERS GALORE
WTF. I wish they could have at least lent 20 seconds to explain how nuking the major cities of the world and making it look like AMERICA'S GREATEST WEAPON is supposed to stave off WWIII. They even mention that the Ruskies are biding their time to make sure Dr. M's disappearance isn't a ploy to lure them into a conflict. Why then, would they have a sudden change of heart when "dr. M" nukes them all. would they even hesitate to check"...oh wait, we weren't nuked, Dr. M blew us up...oh but he hates america now too?!?!?!?" No the Russian response would be, "you brought this on us all, deploy all nukes!!!!"
I was discussing this with my friends last night, who wanted to see the film first and then read the novel. I explained to them I think the reason to not use the Giant Alien Psychic-vagina-squid (with tentacles) was that it's appearance would be too cheesy. No cheese is the director's fault. Alien invasion is an outside attack, that can occur without warning. we get glimpses of whats coming in the comic, and even then at the end we are still in WTF mode. But it works. Its something we aren't comfortable with, its shocking, and we don't know what it can or can't do. thats the building block of fear what will cause the doomsday clock to stop and go back down.
If Dr. M is obviously behind the attack, well the world knows about him. sure they might fear him but he's a known variable. he's also a variable that has caused the clock to be paused at 5 to midnight and whose removal causes it to march forward. I must say again that the Russians wouldn't halt all aggression because we got nuked too. Hasn't Snyder seen Fail-Safe?
Overall I give Watchman a 5 out of 10. That's because for all of it's great moments, and accuracy, its still a grand attempt that fails miserably in it's first and foremost goal of accuracy to the comic.
I have to agree with Alan Moore in this, i don't think his works can be turned into films, not while Hollywood is more focused on block-busters rather than making art pieces. While Watchmen is a superbly made film, it fails to adequately tell the story of the novel, and that is almost worse than not even trying.
Acting out the Comedian's death in the introduction, along with giving him speaking lines..... The Detectives going over the crime scene, with interspersed clips from the actual murder was much more effective. As much as they tried to keep the great lines in the film i think they missed one of the best. "Ground Floor...comin up."
Zack Snyder's use of music was also 50/50. While he picked great music to use in each scene, using the music to evoke the proper emotion, he failed to tie it into the scene fully. We get blasted with loud and recognizable and perfectly chosen themes, and yet he seems to avoid as much as possible overlaying music with speech and action, where it would have the most impact. The sound of silence for the comedian's funeral seemed a bit off. Fortunate Son would have been much better.
On a good note, i think they did a near perfect job of casting. My only complaint is the Comedian, which Snyder seems to have begging to cast with Robert Downey Jr, and instead has Jeffery Dean Morgan attempt to emulate him. His maimed face is missing, that i think was an important part of the Comedian with his disfigured, joker-ish face.
At first I didn't like the choices for Rorshach and Dr. Manhatten, but both of those actors convinced me they were well chosen. Dr. Manhatten's special effects could have been a bit more convincing. He looked as if he was just pasted on to the screen. I think it had more to do with his aura, and possibly was meant to be a visual representation of how he's not really there (psychologically).
Dropping the side stories of the cops seemed to take the film out of the real world and focus it on the superheros. Leaving that thread in would have only cost him a couple of minutes of screen time. There was so much in the background that was placed and not used. I'm almost waiting for an Extended edition ala LOTR. with the upcoming webcomic and animated Tales of the Black Freighter, we might get something like this.
I think this film might 'bomb' a bit. It seems that the only people i can think of that will really enjoy it are the people who love comics and/or sci-fi, but for some crazy reason have not read Watchmen. people who love the comic (especially OH-type people like me) will definitely be disappointed. Let me know if i'm wrong about that. People expecting a super-hero story will probably not have the attention span to sit through a 3hr movie for about 1hr worth of action that is on par with other films.
I liked that they show a very brutal fight when a gang of knot-tops try to mug Dan and Laurie. it shows us first hand that the old costumed heroes did not pull their punches and are more than willing to cripple or kill a 'bad-guy'. I did not like the savage conversion story of Rorschach however. I think it was much more methodical when he leaves the guy to burn and watches to make sure he doesn't get out rather than Snyder's savage execution.
THE ENDING: SPOILERS GALORE
WTF. I wish they could have at least lent 20 seconds to explain how nuking the major cities of the world and making it look like AMERICA'S GREATEST WEAPON is supposed to stave off WWIII. They even mention that the Ruskies are biding their time to make sure Dr. M's disappearance isn't a ploy to lure them into a conflict. Why then, would they have a sudden change of heart when "dr. M" nukes them all. would they even hesitate to check"...oh wait, we weren't nuked, Dr. M blew us up...oh but he hates america now too?!?!?!?" No the Russian response would be, "you brought this on us all, deploy all nukes!!!!"
I was discussing this with my friends last night, who wanted to see the film first and then read the novel. I explained to them I think the reason to not use the Giant Alien Psychic-vagina-squid (with tentacles) was that it's appearance would be too cheesy. No cheese is the director's fault. Alien invasion is an outside attack, that can occur without warning. we get glimpses of whats coming in the comic, and even then at the end we are still in WTF mode. But it works. Its something we aren't comfortable with, its shocking, and we don't know what it can or can't do. thats the building block of fear what will cause the doomsday clock to stop and go back down.
If Dr. M is obviously behind the attack, well the world knows about him. sure they might fear him but he's a known variable. he's also a variable that has caused the clock to be paused at 5 to midnight and whose removal causes it to march forward. I must say again that the Russians wouldn't halt all aggression because we got nuked too. Hasn't Snyder seen Fail-Safe?
Overall I give Watchman a 5 out of 10. That's because for all of it's great moments, and accuracy, its still a grand attempt that fails miserably in it's first and foremost goal of accuracy to the comic.
I have to agree with Alan Moore in this, i don't think his works can be turned into films, not while Hollywood is more focused on block-busters rather than making art pieces. While Watchmen is a superbly made film, it fails to adequately tell the story of the novel, and that is almost worse than not even trying.
