Watchmen

[JWBear]

There is some female flesh - but it's not blue.

[second class citizen]

Who's Watching the Watchmen? We did.

Having read the novel and realizing well beforehand that there was no way a director could possibly capture the entire essense of the book (because there is far too much material to convey within 4 hours let alone the mere 2 hours 43 minutes of the film), I have to say that I was impressed. The story was going to be comprimised from the start, yet even knowing that beforehand, I felt that the movie did more than to merely retell a comic book story I had already read.

First off, there was the casting. With the exception of the casting of the character Adrian Veidt, I felt all other cast members were right on! Most of the actors lent to their comic book characters an even deeper, more human (flawed or not), soulful life.

Then there were the action sequences. How they play out on film is MUCH more powerful and impressive than reading them in a flat 2-dimensional medium.

The voices were pretty much right on, too, for how I heard the characters in my head when I read the novel. Rorshach's in particular was way better than I could have imagined.

There was the music. The director's choice of Philip Glass' piece during Dr. Manhattan's "origins" monologue was absolute perfection! And there was the way in which that particular sequence was shot as well...in flashback snippets... which supported the character's perspective on life.

On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It seemed that the film took me to a place where I could experience the story in a deeper, more tactile way, through cinematography, sound, spoken dialogue and music. It made the graphic novel much more human and real to me.

I would only wish two things: 1) That there had been a way to have told ALL the material in this format, and 2) That the director's "exit music" had not been so Godawful.

For $13, it's the most entertaining thing I've seen thus far this year!

[LSPoorEeyorick]

The music selections were what I liked the least about the film, or second-to-least besting the very unsexy sex scene.

I would not go as far as Tom to say it was one of the worst films in years. But I don't think it's made for people who haven't read the book. All it really did for me was make me want to read the book.

I really did enjoy the performances by Jackie Earle Haley and Patrick Wilson.

[mousepod]

I'm mostly with Alex and LSPE on this one.

While it was mostly faithful to the comic, it didn't capture the feeling that I got from the original work. It was just a series of scenes "come to life". I didn't find the acting offensive - the casting was particularly good - and the pacing was enough to keep me from drifting or getting bored.

Last week, I read a review that called the music supervision "lazy". That struck me, because I can't ever recall a review for any movie that singled out the music supervision at all. Then, A.O. Scott from the NY Times commented out in his review on the use of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" : "...can we please have a moratorium on the use of this song in movies? Yes, I too have heard there was a secret chord that David played, and blah blah blah, but I don’t want to hear it again. Do you?"

I'm with them. Most if not all of the songs in the movie came directly from other movies' soundtracks. "The Times They Are A'Changin"? "The Sound of Silence"? "Koyaanisqatsi"?!? Come on. I can imagine the conversation at the studio: "We need something that evokes the feeling that that Leonard Cohen song from Shrek does." "We have the budget. Let's just get that song." Bad music choices pulled me out of a movie that I was only tenuously connected to in the first place - over and over again.

[Alex]

For the most part music in movies rolls by me unnoticed so the fact that I noticed it frequently here was noteworthy (not necessarily bad but not noteworthy). That said, I rolled my eyes hard at Ride of the Valkyries during the Vietnam scene complete with incoming helicopters.

I'm sure it was meant as homage but it was just so obvious.

[Tref]

I thought the movie was a mess. The opening credits were interminable and agonizingly trite. The music cliche. The characters dull. My God, the whole movie was a bore.

Except ...

Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach -- he was brilliant. JEH carried the movie on his shoulders with a performance of a lifetime. Like Mickey Rourke's Marv in Sin City, you hoped every scene would just be about him. Alas, it was not -- and it was painful. Very, very painful.

He also had the movies best line:

Spoiler:

I am not in prison with all of you. YOU ARE ALL IN PRISON WITH ME!!

[JWBear]

Are Bill & I the only ones who loved the movie?

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by JWBear

Are Bill & I the only ones who loved the movie?

No, I rather enjoyed it.

I have never read the GN, so I liked it just as a movie. Even though all the daming critiques noted above are spot on.


But I'm a sucker for washed up Superheroes stories.

Even though I kinda liked it, I could tell it lost something in spiritual if not literal translation from the graphic novel. Because certainly there couldn't be such fanboy mania over this material if the GN weren't way, way better.

[Not Afraid]

I'm thinking that I should read the GN if I'm interested.

[JWBear]

It is.