Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
I did. Twice. Once on Friday night with my friends and once on Sunday afternoon with my family. And I loved Watchmen both times: the first with wonder and fresh passion, the second more tenderly.
The reviews are all over the place. Ebert loved it. Entertainment Weekly said it was lousy, with the actors pinned in static frames. I adored it. Poptart was very, very disappointed in everything except the sound. Lots of geeks reveled in it. Many non-geeks equated enjoying the movie with being a mentally challenged twelve year old boy or a psychopathic devotee of torture porn and snuff. Whatever it did, it made people feel.
Again, I loved every minute of it, even though, last I checked, I was not, in fact, a mentally challenged pre-adolescent. From the most brilliant opening credit sequence of all time (did you notice who Nite Owl was saving? The Waynes! Will you ever thing of that song the same way again?), through the ponderous Dr. Manhattan exposition, right to the different-but-still-wow ending, I loved it. I loved the color and the framing and movement of the camera. I loved the acting. I loved the way the film never stopped making me confront order and chaos, their juxtaposition, and effects. I love it because it didn’t try to be a superhero movie, despite capes and caricature villains.
There were tiny things that disapointed me, most of them missing Rorshcach details. When they got other minute details so perfect, like the copy of Howl on Moloch’s bedside table, how is it that Rorschach goes through the entire film without munching one sugar cube? Or mentioning Kitty Genovese? His backstory was rushed, I think, to make room for Dr. Manhattan to be ponderous and CGI intensive. But I’m a bit like a whipped dog now. I’m so used to the things I really love being redacted, or expurgated, or just plain ignored, that I’m predisposed to adore what I do get, sometimes uncritically. I’m well aware of this. As Poptart told me, the whole movie should have been about Rorschach. She’s not wrong. But I can’t dislike it.
I would like to see it again. I would like to have it on DVD right now so that I can watch it over and over again and pause scenes to pick out little details. I have no anger at the changed ending. Sticking with the original would have scared the straights. It would’ve gilded the weird. And weird it was, on the edge of perfect.
And just so this isn’t all MASH notes, have some Dramatic Ozymandias:
And then let me know what you think.
I read the review from Anatreptic. The guy completely missed the point. By comparing it to Batman and Spiderman at the end of the review he showed how utterly and completely did not understand what was going on in the film. Of course these people are psychotic…the dress up in costumes and run around fighting crime. That is insane by its very nature and one of the messages Moore was attempting to get across.
I keep trying to tell people that Watchmen is NOT a superhero story and they just don’t seem to want to listen.
Comment by Shadowhelm on March 9, 2009 at 10:07 am
You’re being a lot more straightforward and mature about Mick’s review than I want to be. I’ve been actively working at not commenting, “Gawd I love me some huge blue cock!” all weekend.
I keep trying to tell people that Watchmen is NOT a superhero story and they just don’t seem to want to listen.
But they’re wearing capes! And ninja kicking! It couldn’t possibly be a story about choice and human insecurities! Do we have no clue about GENRE?!
Yeah. Still looking forward to more of what you think.
Comment by Sarah, etc. on March 9, 2009 at 10:51 am
I still haven’t seen it! AAHH! I couldn’t find anyone to go with me yesterday so I think I’ll just go see it by myself as soon as I get a chance.
Comment by Apollo on March 9, 2009 at 11:34 am
I read the GN years ago, and have been meaning to read it again. Haven’t seen the movie, but my parents have. They didn’t care for it, and the one comment my dad made was “I’m not usually all weird about sex in movies, but this one sure had a lot.”
I don’t remember there being a lot of sex in the GN, so I was a little confused. Were the (possibly) supernumerary sex scenes added to ease the transition to film? To expound on abstruse plot points? To show off the CGI artists’ understanding of quantum anatomy?
Comment by Philosaur on March 9, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Saw it Friday and thought it was great. Of course Rorschach was slighted. Attention to his details would have pushed the movie over the 3-hour threshold had we gone into the detail Rorschach deserved. The whole book speaks of him. Any film would slight him, by the nature of the medium.
Mind you, most everyone’s backstory was allusion, not dealt with in-depth (with the notable exception of Dr. Manhattan). We understand, in essence why all the other “heroes” are doing what they do; we don’t get the old-school roots of Nite Owl or the visions of Ozymandias, but the understanding is there.
As I often do, I readily connect this to gaming, too. The characters in a fantasy game are all, by and large, sociopaths, simply by definition. I mean, many times, the folks that play in my games are even affecting some sort of “fantasized” super hero, either of the Marvel or of the Manga variety. It’s definitely escapist, and they know it can’t work in the real world. The traditional comic mode is very much the same. The folks would be sociopaths here, but on the page it’s part of acceptable society.
If Moore did nothing else he made the point that folks that want to suit up and play mercenary or vigilante or “adventurer” in an otherwise sane world are crazy, deviant, psychotic, of the “this-will-get-you-locked-up” variety.
Comment by Chris on March 9, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Saw it last night. Absolutely loved it. Will see again.
The sound in the movie was incredible. It was visually astonishing. They were true (enough) to the source material. If they had wanted to include all of the story from the novel they would’ve had to make it at least 2 films and I don’t think that people would’ve followed that.
Comment by Apollo on March 10, 2009 at 7:52 am
Having never read the comic, I went and saw it with Poptart bright and early…whatever morning that was. Whatever, not relevant. Anyways, I checked out about 20 mins into the movie. There was much too much visual stimulation for me, I didn’t handle the over-the-top violence very well, and it made it hard to focus on the movie.
I have heard from a lot of people that they thought it was hard to follow, and to that I say WTF? I was half asleep, and not engaged by the story, and I still followed it. I even thought it was a bit predictable.
Mostly, I felt like there was SO MUCH TO SEE that the message kind of got lost, especially for those who haven’t read the comic and are coming in blind. In hindsight, yes, it makes some interesting points, but watching the movie it is really easy to be distracted by the visualizations and miss the whole point. Overall, it was kind of just a movie. Good acting, great sound, cool frames, but the point was too subtle, and it lost a lot because of that.
I can’t decide if it felt like they were making a movie for the fans and didn’t care so much about anyone who hadn’t read the comic, or if they *were* trying to be more inclusive of people who weren’t familiar with the story and just kind of failed.
Chicka had a nice ass though. Good for her. =P
Comment by Kira on March 10, 2009 at 9:05 am
What’s 3 frames or one panel in the book is a solid 2 or 4 minutes of very graphic action on film. The love scene between Dan and Laurie on the owlship, in particular, is clear in the book and you know exactly what they’re up to. In the film, it’s softcore. Very, very hot, and very very graphic.
And, you know, they don’t pull punches with Jon’s 25 foot tall id.
Comment by Sarah, etc. on March 10, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I’m glad you loved it! I may go again this weekend, too.
Comment by Sarah, etc. on March 10, 2009 at 3:54 pm
There was a lot of hot ass all over the place.
I’d be interested to hear if you liked it better or worse upon second viewing, wide-awake, etc.
Comment by Sarah, etc. on March 10, 2009 at 3:55 pm
hmmm, highly unlikely that I’ll see it again, unless we someday have cable again and it shows up on tv, but if I am proven wrong, I’ll pass along a second review. ^^
Comment by Kira on March 14, 2009 at 4:07 am