Comments | sabrecat: Watchmen Need More Cowbell

sabrecat

Watchmen Need More Cowbell

Mar 10, 2009 09:21

Dmitri:

The creators of the Watchmen movie didn't go far enough.

They made their intentions obvious with their soundtrack choices: this was supposed to be a parody, satirizing the original comics' political commentary by making crucial scenes feel ridiculous and hamfisted via jarring musical selections. Problem is, for long stretches of the movie ( Read more... )

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Comments 13

assfingers March 10 2009, 14:52:09 UTC

NOTE:
haven't seen film yet.

With that in mind, I think that something along the lines of Jackyl's "She Loves My Cock" could easily be played whenever Dr Manhattan's wang is visible.

sabrecat March 10 2009, 15:04:18 UTC

Mwahahaha! Added.

cornerrider March 10 2009, 23:30:26 UTC

Wait, do you actually think Zack Snyder was trying to parodize the original? 'cause I'm pretty sure he just didn't understand the comic. At all.
But I have to say, the soundtrack was so deplorable that it almost would make sense that way. . .the bad contemporary rock band covering Dylan's "Desolation Row" during the closing credits was such a pitch-perfect metaphor for the movie as a whole (bad contemporary cover of a classic) that it almost had to be intentional.

sabrecat March 11 2009, 01:20:07 UTC

No, no, I don't think that for real. I realize I don't use the Mirrors often or consistently enough for this to be a real cue, but any entry prefaced with "Dmitri" should always be read as tongue-in-cheek... if even that sincere.

A fan reworking to play up the awful soundtrack, as posited in the post, would be a delicious seven-layer burrito of criticism, though. A hyperbolic exaggeration of a mistake in adaptation of a deconstruction of a genre!

kmbrown6 March 11 2009, 00:41:32 UTC

Wow. We liked the soundtrack over here.

I liked the movie quite a bit too. Given, I was totally expecting LXG levels of ignoring the source material. I will happily see the extended version when it comes out.

sabrecat March 11 2009, 01:38:54 UTC

When the soundtrack was understated and instrumental, I felt it did its job well enough. But any and every time the music became lyrical and/or recognizable, it jolted me right out of the mood, making me literally and physically cringe. "The Times They Are A-Changin'"? "Ride of the Valkyries"? "Sound of Silence"? "Hallelujah"? "Dona Nobis Pacem"? As they say on the Internet, "just no."

Don't get me wrong, though; I did enjoy the movie on the whole. It may not have had the spirit of the original, but as a visual translation from page to screen, panel to shot, they pulled off some great stuff.

kmbrown6 March 11 2009, 02:08:01 UTC

Actually, I took much of the soundtrack as it just being 80-ish. And the 80s were over the top. Right, the movie was quite enjoyable, and they were attempting to respect the original rather than going the way of many adaptations and saying fuck it. (Some would say it was too cautious. Ah can't have it both ways.) Was it a replacement for the comic or as good? No. A fine companion, though. It was no Saturday morning Watchmen. It does not detract from the original nor even shit all over it. It might even encourage someone to pick up the comic or other works of Moore. I wouldn't even say the spirit was totally off, either.

sabrecat March 11 2009, 03:34:46 UTC

I can grant all of that. As mentioned downthread, my reaction to the over-the-top 80s-ness may just be a button of mine wrongly pushed.

As for the spirit, I found it hard to tell whether the missing energy was (a) me being over-skeptical, (b) me being jaded due to having the plot "spoiled" by the book (frissons of recognition being weaker than frissons of revelation), or (c) actual slightly-off acting/screenwriting. It'd take repeat viewings for me to put my finger on it, and I don't feel up to that at the moment. ^.^;

Thread 6

kmbrown6 March 11 2009, 00:44:13 UTC

Also: I HAVE SOMETHING RELEVANT TO YOUR COMPLAINTS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w

celowin March 14 2009, 18:45:15 UTC

Let me start by saying that the soundtrack didn't bother me. As someone else mentioned, it felt like the director was trying to capture the feel of the 80s. While it probably wouldn't work for someone that didn't live through the times, I certainly felt drawn back into the mindset of the decade ( ... )

celowin March 16 2009, 05:04:04 UTC

I remembered what I was thinking of for the mastermind reveal... "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" by The New Seekers. (Made famous by a coke commercial.)