Do you care if you’re watching? My guess is no, you don’t. I personally found the film fun, entertaining and worth the $30.00 I spent on IMAX tix for Ryan and myself. But I immediately recognized that this movie, most likely, will only please those of us who have read the source material – the Moore & Gibbons 1986 comic series. It is not for everyone.
Zack Snyder (300) does his best to compress a years worth of comic books, covering how many sub-plots? Five, six, more? Into a mere 2 hours and 43 minutes. A super-human feat that proves impossible and impractical. The mythology and back story are so dense, you need to have a pause button and the graphic novel next to you to makes heads or tails of some of the very heavy and sometimes far out stories. Lost for sure is the spectre of the countdown-to-midnight of the doomsday clock. The script is unable to convey the seriousness of impending nuclear war as it has to wrestle with the murder mystery/hero rebirth/love triangle plot lines.
Now, don’t be a hater and don’t get me wrong - it is a cool movie that is both visually stunning and pleasing to the ears (I was pleasantly surprised by the soundtrack). My favorite parts of the movie are the tease/opening credits, and the prison riot sequence.
The opening credits are beautiful vignettes, like living photographs - moving in slow motion - that replace about an hours worth of exposition, getting you up to speed on who our heroes are and why their world is the way it is. The prison riot (lifted practically verbatim from the comic) is the best choreographed and edited sequence of the film. Snyder’s judicious use of slow motion and the comic’s dark humor are both served perfectly.
While some critics have bristled at Rorschach’s voiceovers, I like ‘em. They are in tune with their comic roots and I love a good noir. Jackie Earle Haley’s voice is raspy and gravel-laden. Combine it with the perfect costume and a frightening physical resemblance to the comic’s Rorschach, they add up to the stand out performance of a very large cast.
I’m not even going to get into the cutting of key comic elements or the new ending written for the film. C’mon gang, let’s be adults here, it wouldn’t be Hollywood if some suit (or hack, or whomever) didn’t tinker with the story at some point right?
Kudos to the cinematography of Larry Fong (300, LOST), the look of the film is a color-saturated, dirty noir. This alternate universe New York City is grimy, frightening and just plain skeevy. Visually the film is able to convey the feeling of desperation and loneliness far better than the comic did. I will be very shocked if “Watchmen” doesn’t show up at the Oscars and take home some technical awards.
And for those fanboys (and girls) who have kept up with comics over the past few years, you will see the birthplace of the popular: Marvel “Civil War” and DC “Identity Crisis” comic epics.
Hugh Hart at Wired magazine said: …so what, exactly, has Snyder wrought? An ambitious, bloody yet strangely bloodless R-rated movie that lacks something in its soul.
I agree.
Let’s give “Watchmen” a B on the old report card, and simultaneously recommend that you read before you rent.
WATCHMEN Movie
WATCHMEN Graphic Novel
WIRED review
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