(no subject)
WATCHMEN SPOILER ALERT
(for the book moreso than the movie)
Obviously ZS had to trim, and I am glad to have seen so much of the original story, on the big screen in living color.
Anyway, one of the things that was drastically shortened (but thankfully not cut out) was Rorschach's interaction with the court-appointed therapist. Seeing his part go from several days or weeks of involvement down to 5 minutes made me realize that psychiatrist is one of my favorite characters. He was so sweet - I mean, you see him get sort of sucked into Rorschach's craziness, but it was in a more kind and loving way. He was inspired by that kernel of positivity in it - He decided he needed to go out on the street and help people, but he was not throwing people down an elevator shaft. What a cool guy. I'm glad we got to see him again at the end, but to anyone who hadn't read the book, I guess it didn't mean much to them.
Of course, also the story ending with "so I hacked him to pieces with a meat cleaver" would also have been somewhat less inspiring than the one where he sets the building on fire and leaves the murderer chained up.
I don't have a big complaint about the quantity and realism of violence, though. I guess I take the whole issue pretty lightly. I think of that dog - the original story was supposed to be pretty shocking at times. The fight scenes were a weird area - the images were not comic-book style, but the pacing was. It was just more fighting, where people got hurt. It's like details, the mile markers on the side of the road for a super-hero story.
Maybe I should say it this way though - I wouldn't have complained if it were less realistic and squicky unless it were really cheesy looking. As a director in 2009, though, I guess it's hard to say what is "cheesy" looking when you know there is a segment of your audience that might have seen "Hostel."
If you don't want to see people get hurt though, if for no other reason than because it's gross (even though you obviously know it's fake), well, what's so wrong with that? The grossness of hollywood is re-sensitizing me to violence. Now, off to numb myself with video games.
(for the book moreso than the movie)
Obviously ZS had to trim, and I am glad to have seen so much of the original story, on the big screen in living color.
Anyway, one of the things that was drastically shortened (but thankfully not cut out) was Rorschach's interaction with the court-appointed therapist. Seeing his part go from several days or weeks of involvement down to 5 minutes made me realize that psychiatrist is one of my favorite characters. He was so sweet - I mean, you see him get sort of sucked into Rorschach's craziness, but it was in a more kind and loving way. He was inspired by that kernel of positivity in it - He decided he needed to go out on the street and help people, but he was not throwing people down an elevator shaft. What a cool guy. I'm glad we got to see him again at the end, but to anyone who hadn't read the book, I guess it didn't mean much to them.
Of course, also the story ending with "so I hacked him to pieces with a meat cleaver" would also have been somewhat less inspiring than the one where he sets the building on fire and leaves the murderer chained up.
I don't have a big complaint about the quantity and realism of violence, though. I guess I take the whole issue pretty lightly. I think of that dog - the original story was supposed to be pretty shocking at times. The fight scenes were a weird area - the images were not comic-book style, but the pacing was. It was just more fighting, where people got hurt. It's like details, the mile markers on the side of the road for a super-hero story.
Maybe I should say it this way though - I wouldn't have complained if it were less realistic and squicky unless it were really cheesy looking. As a director in 2009, though, I guess it's hard to say what is "cheesy" looking when you know there is a segment of your audience that might have seen "Hostel."
If you don't want to see people get hurt though, if for no other reason than because it's gross (even though you obviously know it's fake), well, what's so wrong with that? The grossness of hollywood is re-sensitizing me to violence. Now, off to numb myself with video games.