I haven't had time to get into the book yet, but I had a major problem with some of the fundamental assumptions surrounding the end of the movie. I'm going to see if they exist in the book or not before I decide How Things Are, but even that aside, and Moore's consistently lackluster treatment of women, the movie was enjoyable overall, with some really rad parts, like the opening credits.
The ending was always one of the weakest parts of the story. Dave Gibbons, the artist has always maintained that, and I have to agree.
Re: Alan Moore and women: Would a guy who has issues with women write a huge, multi-hardcover graphic novel about the graphic lesbian adventures of Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty?
AMEN to the soundtrack awesomeness. I was so glad they used "All Along the Watchtower," as ever since I first read the book I've thought of that scene every time I hear the song. (Unfortunately, in the movie the characters walk rather than riding anything, which rather undercuts the point of the song. Ah well.)
Regarding Rorschach's "moment"...there's a pretty in-depth discussion of that here, if'n your curious. But basically the suggestion is that the filmmakers might have felt they couldn't show him killing the dogs. (And even as desensitized as I am, I admit that I probably would've had to close my eyes if they'd shown that onscreen.) But by having him kill the kidnapper with the cleaver instead, they leave in the suggestion that Rorschach's humanity leaves him in the time it takes him to bring down the blade; he's Kovacs when he raises it, he's Rorschach when it hits. Anyway, that may be giving the filmmakers too much credit, but it's an interesting point. (Personally, I wondered if they wanted to avoid comparison with
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The problem with that scene in the movie - it changed the dynamic of Rorschach. Bludgeoning him over the head - too direct, and in a way, too emotional for Rorschach. The only time we see real emotion from Rorschach is when he's trapped, and at the end. Two times of desperation.
The comic - despite everything else, Rorschach gives the guy the slimmest of chances. If you can hack through this and the fire doesn't get you, then I'll kick your ass outside. It's, in a way, the idea that if God really wanted that guy alive, God would find a way. But God was looking the other way when the girl died, so God probably won't care if you die either.
That was one of my problems with the ending, too. Another thing I can't quite take as a given is that the two "smartest" characters agree that despite the cost being high, Adrian's plan "worked." I don't think it worked at all. In my mind, the post-disaster hippie commune cannot possibly last more than a generation, and even that is pushing it. Probably just a year or two until some other squabble arises or, like you said, everybody remembers that Manhattan was American, and then stuff is worse than it ever was, right? And what about smaller autonomous nations who didn't get blortched and have the same agendas they did before
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I haven't had time to get into the book yet, but I had a major problem with some of the fundamental assumptions surrounding the end of the movie. I'm going to see if they exist in the book or not before I decide How Things Are, but even that aside, and Moore's consistently lackluster treatment of women, the movie was enjoyable overall, with some really rad parts, like the opening credits.
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Re: Alan Moore and women: Would a guy who has issues with women write a huge, multi-hardcover graphic novel about the graphic lesbian adventures of Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty?
(I wish I was kidding.)
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Regarding Rorschach's "moment"...there's a pretty in-depth discussion of that here, if'n your curious. But basically the suggestion is that the filmmakers might have felt they couldn't show him killing the dogs. (And even as desensitized as I am, I admit that I probably would've had to close my eyes if they'd shown that onscreen.) But by having him kill the kidnapper with the cleaver instead, they leave in the suggestion that Rorschach's humanity leaves him in the time it takes him to bring down the blade; he's Kovacs when he raises it, he's Rorschach when it hits. Anyway, that may be giving the filmmakers too much credit, but it's an interesting point. (Personally, I wondered if they wanted to avoid comparison with ( ... )
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I didn't really care that we didn't see the dogs getting killed... it was all about how the kidnapper died to me.
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The problem with that scene in the movie - it changed the dynamic of Rorschach. Bludgeoning him over the head - too direct, and in a way, too emotional for Rorschach. The only time we see real emotion from Rorschach is when he's trapped, and at the end. Two times of desperation.
The comic - despite everything else, Rorschach gives the guy the slimmest of chances. If you can hack through this and the fire doesn't get you, then I'll kick your ass outside. It's, in a way, the idea that if God really wanted that guy alive, God would find a way. But God was looking the other way when the girl died, so God probably won't care if you die either.
My coppers on the subject.
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Also, what was his accent supposed to be? (It bugged me throughout the film.)
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