(no subject)
Let's talk about Watchmen.
Things I liked:
-The cast looks almost exactly like the characters from the comic. I was sort of taken aback by it at times. Even the girl playing Laurie looks more and more like her comic counterpart as the movie goes along. The only one who doesn't look like the comic character is the dude who plays Veidt.
-It really is pretty faithful to the book (bar the ending that's only thematically similar).
-Rorschach's voice grew on me over the course of the movie. Originally I thought it sounded like a Christian Bale Batman impression, but with Rorschach, you get the feeling that this guy is so mean that he probably actually does talk like that. The actor does a pretty good job delivering his lines, especially "I'm not locked up in here with you. YOU'RE LOCKED UP IN HERE WITH ME" (which got a laugh from the crowd oddly enough).
Things I didn't like:
-In the world of movie Watchmen, everyone is a kung fu master. I know that Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, and Ozymandias are supposed to be good fighters, but I rolled my eyes when Rorschach started breaking out kung fu moves when fighting the swat team. Also, he never tried to stab Veidt with a fork, or jumped out of a fridge. D:
-Some of the changes just seem... unnecessary. Like when Rorschach kills the man who killed the little girl and fed her to his dogs by cutting his head up with a meat cleaver. My friends and I agreed that the scene would have been much more effective if it'd played out like the scene does in the comic, where Rorschach chains him to the stove, gives him a hacksaw, and lights the place on fire. It seems like some things were changed just so there could be more violence.
-The Comedian's breakdown isn't quite as believable given how the ending has been changed, and given that this is a crux of the plot, I was a bit disappointed. In the comic, yeah, I would expect someone to break down when they figure out the utter insanity of Veidt's plot. His plot is not quite as insane in the movie, though.
-Not enough time is spent on Rorschach's background. The interview scene with the psychiatrist is incredibly short, and we don't get to see Rorschach utterly ruin his life.
-Too much slow motion. Goddamn it Zach Snyder, not every fight needs slow motion.
-Too many songs. I thought I'd stumbled into "Watchmen: the Musical" during the first half-hour of the movie.
-It really is almost too faithful to the book in a way. Some scenes are kept in that don't work given how much of the supplementary materials are left out in the movie. Like the ending, where the New Frontiersman is looking for something to print and you see Rorschach's journal sitting in the pile of potential stories. That's in the movie, but it's the first time we've ever seen or heard about the New Frontiersman. It makes the final scene seem very disconnected from the rest of the movie.
I took a friend with me to see the movie as an experiment. I wanted to see if someone who had no knowledge about the comic would find the movie enjoyable. He liked it, citing "Rorschach is awesome" as one of the reasons. I had to explain some of the plot points to him afterward, though.
And ultimately, I know I listed a lot of things I didn't like, but I think it's a good movie and it's worth seeing.
Things I liked:
-The cast looks almost exactly like the characters from the comic. I was sort of taken aback by it at times. Even the girl playing Laurie looks more and more like her comic counterpart as the movie goes along. The only one who doesn't look like the comic character is the dude who plays Veidt.
-It really is pretty faithful to the book (bar the ending that's only thematically similar).
-Rorschach's voice grew on me over the course of the movie. Originally I thought it sounded like a Christian Bale Batman impression, but with Rorschach, you get the feeling that this guy is so mean that he probably actually does talk like that. The actor does a pretty good job delivering his lines, especially "I'm not locked up in here with you. YOU'RE LOCKED UP IN HERE WITH ME" (which got a laugh from the crowd oddly enough).
Things I didn't like:
-In the world of movie Watchmen, everyone is a kung fu master. I know that Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, and Ozymandias are supposed to be good fighters, but I rolled my eyes when Rorschach started breaking out kung fu moves when fighting the swat team. Also, he never tried to stab Veidt with a fork, or jumped out of a fridge. D:
-Some of the changes just seem... unnecessary. Like when Rorschach kills the man who killed the little girl and fed her to his dogs by cutting his head up with a meat cleaver. My friends and I agreed that the scene would have been much more effective if it'd played out like the scene does in the comic, where Rorschach chains him to the stove, gives him a hacksaw, and lights the place on fire. It seems like some things were changed just so there could be more violence.
-The Comedian's breakdown isn't quite as believable given how the ending has been changed, and given that this is a crux of the plot, I was a bit disappointed. In the comic, yeah, I would expect someone to break down when they figure out the utter insanity of Veidt's plot. His plot is not quite as insane in the movie, though.
-Not enough time is spent on Rorschach's background. The interview scene with the psychiatrist is incredibly short, and we don't get to see Rorschach utterly ruin his life.
-Too much slow motion. Goddamn it Zach Snyder, not every fight needs slow motion.
-Too many songs. I thought I'd stumbled into "Watchmen: the Musical" during the first half-hour of the movie.
-It really is almost too faithful to the book in a way. Some scenes are kept in that don't work given how much of the supplementary materials are left out in the movie. Like the ending, where the New Frontiersman is looking for something to print and you see Rorschach's journal sitting in the pile of potential stories. That's in the movie, but it's the first time we've ever seen or heard about the New Frontiersman. It makes the final scene seem very disconnected from the rest of the movie.
I took a friend with me to see the movie as an experiment. I wanted to see if someone who had no knowledge about the comic would find the movie enjoyable. He liked it, citing "Rorschach is awesome" as one of the reasons. I had to explain some of the plot points to him afterward, though.
And ultimately, I know I listed a lot of things I didn't like, but I think it's a good movie and it's worth seeing.