Watchmen

[redfiona99]

The opening. Wonderful, glorious use of The Times They Are A-Changing. A good way of giving us lots of information in a little time. And stylishly awesome. Of course, the downside was that the rest of the film had a lot to live up to, which it only did sporadically.

Actually, pretty much everything up to the end of the Comedian's funeral was awesome, not least the music choices. Sound of Silence, at top volume, in a dark, relaxing cinema with perfectly balanced sound. Oh yeah, it doesn't get much better.

Rorschach. Um, you knew something something awesome, but probably horrible, was going to happen every time he came on screen. And, unlike certain other characters, his fighting style actually looks functional. He fights dirty, I approve of that. It is about the only thing about Rorschach I do approve of. Well, in a fair world it would be. Because, dude, I'm the liberal filth and sexual perverts he raves about and yet ... mostly I want to sit him down and feed him, and look after him. Which is insane. But he just looks so lost, and he's never had anyone look after him before ... I admit, I have a problem.

Dan Dreiberg, except for one scene, is the generally cute and fluffy awesome. And that one scene is at least in character. I like that they actually built the film to a point where that one scene works.

Laurie is good through out. Solid. Not perfect. Real. I like her immensely. Ditto her mother. Most of the acting was good. Ozymandias, except for the point I make at the end of this, just as a whole was pretty wow, especially at the end where 1) he sets everything in motion before explaining himself and 2) he saves himself with a tv remote. I dislike what he does, but I must say that he is at least competant. And I love how the film snakes round because once you know the ending you know why the various characters flashed back to the bits they did flashback to during the Comedian's funeral.




Zack Synder, take your hands off the slo-mo button right now! I mean, seriously, the film would have been at least 30 minutes shorter without the needless slo-mos. That man needs a better editor or someone to tell him when not to do things. See also the Hallelujah scene, the mere thought of which, even now, almost a fortnight later, causes me to collapse into giggles. It's really annoying too, because I thought the first sex scene was so wonderfully well done, because we were laughing with them and not at them, and who hasn't been there, and there's this fantastic chemistry between Laurie and Dan, and them and the audience, and then *poof* gone in one scene.




The aging make-up on Carla Gugino was distractingly bad. Also, she shouldn't be playing people old enough to have grown daughters. Ditto 'chunky' Dan Dreiberg. Is it me or does Patrick Wilson look better with a little more meat on his bones, and it's not like he was fat, he was just solid. We live in strange times. Let's not go into the whole thing where Zack Snyder and Matthew Goode decided that Ozymandias was gay based off of one of Rorschach's hunches. And decided to make it texty by ... having him dress well and be polite. Dude, I think I'd be offended if I were a straight guy.

Actually, Ozymandias gets another point. Um, I think he was supposed to sound like he's peddling bullshit at the end, given that I now know Matthew Goode can do guilty and self-loathing guilt well, but I don't remember getting that from the comic.




Dan, don't just shout, do something. I like that they built up the fact that he was an easily lead personality. Well, not easily lead, but easily influenced by people i.e. he stopped when the Keene Act told him to stop, started again when Rorschach/Laurie told him to, and while I get that he has something to live for, just standing there (or rather lurking in the background) when your friend gets atomised is not behaviour I expect from the sane one. It's not like I expect him get in the way but putting up an argument might be an idea.

Despite how that sounds I did like it, it just suffered from a pretty severe case of could do better.

~~~~

I figured out what it was that was bothering me. Only, I need to know is whether the scene where Adrian Veidt is talking to the other energy company leaders is word for word from the comic or if it's been interfered with/invented by Zack Synder.

So he says that war is fought for resources, which is a statement that's both right and wrong, because it's fought for *control* of resources, and it's the kind of thing I'd expect the world's smartest man to get right. And I'd also expect Alan Moore to get it right because he does his research and he's intelligent himself. I have less knowledge of Zack Snyder.

So why is that important? Because in the film, Veidt has an ultimate power source. Powerful renewable energy, at a time when fossil fuels are running out. And he's the only one with the technology, especially given his way of dealing with ex-employees and with Dr. Manhattan moving a few universes away. He can do anything he damn well wants. Why is everyone assuming he's a good guy. He just killed 15 million people. I seem to vaguely recall not feeling quite so conflicted about him in the comic, his actions undoubtedly, but I remember thinking comic Ozymandias was 1) not quite so batshit and 2) not possibly the most fantastic supervillian I'd ever seen. Film Ozymandias has a large chance of being both.

Comments

[angstbunny.livejournal.com]

Dan, don't just shout, do something. I like that they built up the fact that he was an easily lead personality.

I loved that about him. I loved Dan the most out of the movie. Because he feels the most average of them. Everybody else are extremists, but Dan is just... I don't know. Average Joe-like.

I totally found Patrick Wilson cute in this movie. I didn't even recognize him as the same guy from, like, Lakeview Terrace, which I haven't seen, but I know that face. Tragically, like chicks, he would be considered fat by movie standard. But I like a bit of chub on my men (I know, I know, wrestling notwithstanding).