And so it was that I went to see Watchmen last night. I almost stayed home. I told myself that I had already done enough dicking around for the past little while and that I desperately needed to sit down and get some stuff done. That and didn't have a burning desire to be entertained or in the vicinity of other people. Especially not a theatre full of them.
But while I was trying to politely turn down the invitation over the phone, a roomate/friend urged me to go out. Gah. I guess I'm rather susceptible to influences under pressure. Especially when there are two of them, both telling me to do the same thing.
But I went anyways. Spoilers ahead.
I think that it was a pretty solid movie. It was certainly epic and well done - I have to say that I quite enjoyed the soundtrack and the many scenes it emotionally amplified. There were actually quite a few scenes where I kind of stopped and thought "Huh, that's really well done and creative way of approaching it."
The highlight of the whole thing was the casting, believe it or not. I had no idea it was possible to match real actors to drawn characters so well. Not only did they play their parts and personalities well, but the physical likeness was mindblowing. I was especially blown away by Nite Owl - it made me uncomfortable how well whoever-the-actor-is pulled off the role.
The other thing that impressed me was the choreography and acrobatics. The action was well done and absolutely brutal. It made you twitch, the amount of gore and nasties unleashed on those poor and unsuspecting fictitious characters. But the movement was well done - I especially liked how Rorschach got around. It was that perfect cross between being perhaps physically plausible and comic-book action goodness.
Visually, it was a pretty striking piece. The art direction was pretty solid, and there was lots and lots of eye candy. The part on Mars was really well. There were three things that did not sit well with me though:
-Dr Manhattan's mouth never quite looked right. Granted, they did a superb job of the rest of him. I don't know how much of it was CG, but the textures were fantastic. But whenever the guy talked... It just wasn't right. Something in the mouth or lips was particularly irritable. I'd like to see how much of the character was done with a real actor. -Also Dr. Manhattan related, his glow. Whenever it lit up other characters or elements, it was always a more saturated, deeper hue of blue. His skin seemed a bit warmer and turquoise in comparison. I mean, I'm sure a glowing super-human could have whatever glowy effects he wanted. But it annoyed me some.
-Rorschach's mask drove me nuts. Cool effect? Undoubtedly. Appropriate effect? I'm not so sure. The patterns were *always* moving and morphing. I would have preferred it if it was more of a iridescent effect. As if the movement is due to how the light hits it. So as the character moves, the pattern is appropriately changed.
As for the content of the movie, it's a fairly faithful adaptation of the book. It hit all the right notes, and stayed fairly true to the source material. They cut out a lot of filler - but I didn't mind it that much. I found the comic to be pretty dense, and the material left out for the movie was mostly what I thought bogged the book down.
I have one major grief with the movie. I really don't like how they portrayed Rorschach. He's probably one of my top four comic book characters (Batman being #1, of course), I really dig this tortured, restless but uncompromising soul. But ONE scene in the movie moved his hue from merciless vigilante to murderous psychopath. It was where he confronts the man who killed and cut-up the little girl. In the book Rorschach chains the man to a piece of furniture and leaves him a large knife before seting the house on fire and walking away. It's pretty dark, but it worked. He walked away from the criminal and we never returned to find out what happened. But in the movie... He just kills him with the knife. I think it was primarily for gore's sake and shock value, which to me majorly undermines the greater character.
All in all... It was good. A little to much gore and harsh violence for my tastes - it seemed purposely more over-the-top and intense than the comic. But the core and majority of the story was well rendered, and even with the ending changed the point was still made well. For fans of the comic book, I think it was a hit. For your average viewer, it was probably convoluted and bizarre with some action and glowing blue wangs mixed in to keep things weird.
Am I glad I went? I don't think so. Like I said, it was a bit too gruesome and intense for my tastes. But returning to the point, I still think I should've stayed and been productive with my time rather than spending the night out. Even if I had two people telling me otherwise.
...
And never mind the fact that it blew my entertainment budget for the March. Bought a few cheap games, went out for lunch, got some junkfood, and saw a movie. All that in the first half of the month, and I'm still supposed to go see a car show tomorrow evening. S'alright. I'll live.
-Cril
Now at midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row
My Chemical Romance - Desolation Row
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