(no subject)
So much to write about, since tomorrow is my last day in Thailand, but first, movie!
Let's see.
I should point out that this is coming from someone who hasn't read the source material.
I think it says something really quite disturbing about my psyche that I found The Comedian to be screen-shatteringly sexy. Like, "Ooooh, broadshouldered douchebag who threatens rape and kills pregnant women carrying his own offspring?!?! BREAK ME OFF A PIECE OF THAT!!" Oy vey. But a wonderful character on the whole, and fabulously played by Morgan.
I was completely emotionally unprepared for seeing a New York containing the Twin Towers displayed so prominently. Particularly seeing New York with a big hole in the ground with the Trade Center in the background. I'm not saying they shouldn't have been there, I'm just saying that I cried each and every time I saw them.
I was amused, and often approved of, the shameless and manipulative manner in which Snyder used music, particularly pieces associated with Vietnam. It generally worked in an over-the-top type of way. The punk version of "Desolation Row" over the ending credits was utterly fabulous. Interesting to see so many Dylan covers, and then have Snyder use the original version of "Hallelujah", a song the covers of which have arguably surpassed the original in artistry and fame (again, arguably).
That brings us to the groan-inducing sex scene between Silk Spectre II and Night Owl II. What can I say? I snickered. It didn't really work as a scene emotionally or as a piece of visual art, because it was just s'damn funny. Though I think New York Times reviewer A.O. Scott encapsulates my feelings about the idiotic porno-faces and the choice of soundtrack for the idiotic porno-faces more succinctly than I can, so:
Speaking of acts of congress, “Watchmen” features this year’s hands-down winner of the bad movie sex award, superhero division: a moment of bliss that takes place on board Nite Owl’s nifty little airship, accompanied by Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” (By the way, 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?)
Question for my American friends-- was Dr. Manhattan's giant blue glowing dongle blurred in the States? It was here, and some of the grimier gore was pixelated. This, unfortunately, lessened the impact of some of the grittier scenes, usually with Rorschach. For instance, he savagely punishes the murderer of a young girl by savagely attacking a giant blur with a meat cleaver. This is a scene that was generally well-done, it was a shame to have seen it altered.
Nixon and Silk Spectre I's makeup was distractingly awful.
Giant Blue Naked Guy Goes to Giant Red Planet to Sulk Alone With His Giant Glass Durian Fruit and Giant Blue Dick.
Seriously?
I found the idea that mass genocide and the threat of continued genocide is the ultimate answer to creating a peaceful society to be just a wee tad bit chafing, though the movie is too flimsy and adolescent on the whole for me to get worked up about it. I couldn't tell how tongue in cheek this was meant to be, what with the slightly feminized Aryan Ubermensch spouting off about a perfect society, and how the way to achieve this only required the few eensy sacrifices of a few eensy major cities. But in the end, the best case scenario for the movie is that it was a poorly executed joke, the worst case is that it's just a grossly under-thought cheap shot at plot aiming to tickle the underdeveloped fancies of douchebag philosophy majors. I'm guessing it's one of those things that reads much better on the page than it does on the screen.
That said, there was a lot that I found genuinely enjoyable. The opening credits sequence was, as so many have noted, utterly fabulous. I found much of the production design to be both intriguing and easy on the eyes. I was pleased to see so many fabulous character actors in leading roles (particularly Haley as Rorschach and Morgan as The Comedian, and for a Big Blue Naked Guy, Crudup is likable as usual). Visually, there's often a lot to enjoy. Rorschach dead in the snow was a particular favorite, as was Silhouette kissing the nurse in the opening sequence.
The violence was often gorgeously choreographed, though it often seemed to endow the characters with super-strength, which I don't believe they had in the comics. This seemed to be a point of confusion on the part of the filmmakers, and it affects the tone of what's happening immensely. If all these guys do in fact have some form of superpowers, then it creates a hallowed place for them in the halls of vigilante justice lore. If they don't, and in fact are just guys dressing up and beating up other guys, this creates a much more complicated storyline-- I rather wish the film had gone in this direction.
For a film that is supposed to be a polemic tale that turns the very idea of superheroism on it's head, it was chock-full of simplistic superhero film cliches and scenes of violence ripped off primarily from the Messers Wachowski more so than Moore (a discussion on Moore vs. V for Vendetta for another time!). But I remember thinking towards the end, "This whole movie is like a 163-minute episode of The Venture Brothers that takes itself waaaaay too seriously!"
Ahh well. That said, on the whole I'm glad I saw it. I haven't had three hours of continuous air conditioning in a long time!