Just got home from seeing Watchmen
I know to some people, any kind of reaction whatsoever can be considered a spoiler, so in the interest of protecting all potential surprises, my best efforts at compiling spoiler-free thoughts on the film are after the jump.
• The more I thought about the movie on my half-hour drive home, the more I liked it. I was a little cool to it at first, through at least the first half hour, but I gradually started enjoying it more. I was completely aware of what was affecting my enjoyment — I couldn’t help but watch it and constantly compare it to my memories of the book. I had to consciously tell myself “Stop thinking of this in the book’s terms … View it as its own movie.” By the time it kicked into the final act and I wasn’t sure where it was going or how it would deviate from the book, I was finally able to get completely sucked in.
• As far as comparisons to the book go, Zack Snyder clearly set out to bring Alan Moore’s creation to life, as opposed to making this Zack Snyder’s creation. But he deserves a lot of credit for that, and I don’t just mean for striking the proper reverential tone or anything like that. I really had no opinion about Snyder as a director beforehand, but as contradictory as it might sound, it took some major creativity and artistic vision to bring the comic to the screen in this way. Virtually everything important from the book was included in a way I would have thought impossible.
• I would imagine most comic fans’ biggest fear would be the Hollywoodization of the comic, where big-budget producers step in and insist that they know how to make the pictures that please the fans. This area has to be Snyder’s biggest success in putting this film together. In spite of the now-infamous squid omission, he managed to present a largely uncompromising ending, preserving the tone of the comic. Yet at the same time, he injected enough of the Hollywood heroics to remind viewers that, heaviness aside, these are superheroes. Deconstructed or not, there’s still a part of us that turns to the spandex warriors for the adrenaline rush of seeing the good guys rise up against the odds and beat bad guys. He managed to present some very satisfying doses of that without watering down the final act.
• The film isn’t perfect, but at the end of it, I think the successes definitely outweigh the flaws. The film’s biggest weaknesses to me were in trying to strike the right balance of “larger than life” and “gritty real-life,” juxtaposing both so that each has maximum impact. There are a few places where I think that balance becomes slightly upset. There is a ton of graphic violence, almost to the Punisher: War Zone degree, though not as relentless. There’s also quite a bit of nudity (think swaying blue penises) and profanity (F-bombs aplenty). That said, the few places where the balance seems off could have been a whole lot worse, and I think overall the fact that it works most of the time has to be considered a major accomplishment.
• Although some of the characters didn’t come off the way they always had in my head, I thought the casting was very good. After hearing Rorschach’s voice in the trailers, I felt the same way strangeink did when he said Rorschach shouldn’t evoke Batman; he should evoke Anton Chigurh. But I thought Jackie Earle Haley did a fantastic job with the character. Out of context, he sure sounded like the worst of the Christian Bale growl, but in the movie it worked.
• I have absolutely no idea how the public is going to receive this movie. I think it preserves enough of the significance of the comic that I almost wonder if it wouldn’t have been more effective after people had digested a few more superhero films. The chatter I overheard when leaving the theater tonight seemed mainly positive, but those who weren’t talking seemed almost stunned into silence.
• I got a free t-shirt.
UPDATE: Check out my friend Jim’s review at Cornfed Gamer. It’s thanks to Jim and his quick draw on the telephone that I was able to see the movie.
[…] more insight, check out my friend Jim Doom’s posting over at Doomkopf, with whom I went to the […]
How’d you swing an early screening of this?
I’m going into this expecting a solid B (as in grade, not production values) movie. If nothing else, it’ll look really pretty. And i don’t entirely hate Snyder; his Dawn of the Dead remake was pretty great, while 300 had to much writhing to be enjoyable.
Great review, Jim! I feel like I’m still digesting it all but my thoughts seem to mirror your own.
I really need to see it a 2nd time just to watch it as a movie, without trying to interject the book into it.
Congrats on the t-shirt grab, though. I didn’t even know they were handing out buttons until the button guy already passed me. I should’ve just lept at the guy shouting “I WANT A BUTTON!!!”
Now that you have the inside ticket Neal, who do I have to blow to get an early screening? Does he scrub?
will my wife, your stereotypical clueless-on-comics-and-i-dont-really-care person, who i managed to get to read Origin (Wolverine – and she liked it!), understand this movie or at least get out of the theatre without going “WTF!?” i plan to watch it with her this weekend (previous comic-films attended with her: X3, 300).
… may i add … without me needing to explain the fine nuances and nitty gritty details or forcing her to read the book (which i doubt she’ll make the effort)?
I don’t think there should be a problem with understanding the movie.
I also got a pre-screen early viewing. Isn’t being special, fun! Great review… Jim! I agree on so many points. I think the movie got better in my head once I got home and started to thumb through my copy of the Watchmen’s pages. I can’t believe just how true to the original vision this movie tried to be. I also agree with Tracie, if you are a fanboy…this movie needs to be watched a couple of times just to soak it all in and get past some of the eye candy and general feelings of awe you have as you look over the screen trying to find what else they included. I keep festering and finding myself excited for my next viewing… I even went out and purchased the DVD where they animated the comicbook with flash. I was up til 2am just analyzing the small differences. I’d even argue… I like the movie’s ending better. It almost seemed more logical having Dr. Manhattan being the focus of the world’s hatred vs. The alien enemy. This seemed like a much better fit than the squid.
Ed. note: Highlight the above white-space text if you want to see spoilers about the movie’s ending.
Spoiler alert?
After having a couple of days to think about it I am also finding it growing on me more and more. And I liked it when I walked out of the theater. And after thinking about Doomsday Spa’s spoiler there, he’s right, it is much more logical.
There’s also something nice about watching it early without the preconceptions of reviews in your head. I’ve already had a friend ask if he should see it because of the wishy-washy reviews. But at the same time, while my mind was free from reviews, the comic was certainly fresh in my mind, and I can’t really tell what impact that had on my enjoyment.
I’m sorry everyone, I thought this side of the conversation was a spoiler ok zone. I miss read the intro. It won’t happen again.