[Ghoulish Delight]

Saw it. Haven't read the GN.

I enjoyed it. Quite a bit. Of course, it's easier to write about the few bits I didn't like then write a whole post about the things I did, so don't read too much into this post ending up soundling kinda negative, I really did enjoy it.

Having not read the GN, I came away feeling like it was full of holes. Not plot holes that ruined the story, just holes throughout, like swiss cheese, in character development, motivations, etc. Big gaps that were obviously covered in the GN that didn't make it into the movie.

Chief among those was Miss Jupiter. Did not get her character at all. It wasn't until she explicitly said, "I used to be a masked hero too," that I was even totally positive that she had been. Didn't really get why the daughter of a hero and someone who seemed to have been a hero was so doe-eyed about the owl's nifty hero toys. CP filled me in afterwards, so I get it now, but I think the movie really dropped the ball on that. Didn't help that her acting was weak. She managed to coast at mediocre for most of it, but a few scenes she was awful.

The scene where Dr. Manhattan regained his humanity made me want to hurl. His little "You're a miracle" solliloquy was cringe worthy, one step short of Intelligent Design claptrap. Yuck.

I was mixed on the music. Worked in some instances, glaringly out of place in others. However the use of muzak "Everybody Want to Rule the World" was pure genius.

I feel like a doofus. I spotted the guy with the "end is near" sign early on, and saw him throughout the movie. Yet I never put it together that it was Rorschack. Freaking duh.

My favorite thing was a little detail that was put in I swear just to screw with people like me. I tend to be pretty good at catching sly foreshadowing and hints in a movie like this. After Daniel's 2nd dinner with Jupiter, he's leaving the Gunga Diner (hah!). Rorschach is outside, voicing over that Daniel didn't recognize him without the mask. A truck drives by and hits its horn. I notice the Pyramid logo. "Aha!" I say to myself, having caught the Pyramid envelope in Max Hedrom's apartment. It's all about Pyramid! I felt pretty damned clever...very next scene, Rorschach's walking into a trap. He gave whatever his version of, "I fell for the oldest trick in the book." And you know what? I thought the same! Well played, film.

One final note - that's what all the blue penis hubbub was about? With all the non stop chatter I'd been hearing, I assumed it was going to be shown while he was 50 feet tall. That would have been something to talk about. That? Whatever.