Some thoughts on Watchmen
Mar. 8th, 2009 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierSaw Watchmen yesterday afternoon. The short version: Recommended, with some reservations.
When I saw "The Dark Knight", I thought it was a great movie, but not necessarily a great Batman movie. Director Christopher Nolan came up with his own spin on the material that was only tangentially related to anything from the comics.
Watchmen is pretty much the opposite: Everything that is good about the movie is a result of lifting it directly from the comic; Zack Snyder and co. don't bring much new to the table, no fresh perspective or insight that wasn't in the original text. I guess that's not really a problem, per se...it remains a great story, and superhero movies are as ripe for deconstruction as superhero comics were in the 1980s. Expecting the movie to be as innovative and experimental as the comic is probably asking too much. But the effect is sort of like Snyder handing you a copy of the comic, then reading over your shoulder, pointing to various panels and saying "Wow, isn't that cool?"
That said, there were a couple of notable deviations from the comic (aside from things that were just plain cut out to save time... we only get the briefest nod to the two Bernards at the crossroads, for instance). Some of these worked out ok, some did not.
On the bad side: In the comic, the fight scenes tended to be short and brutal. In the movie, they're long and brutal. The fight choreography is generally well done (Christopher Nolan should be taking notes), but it feels padded. The opening scene of the Comedian's murder, for instance, just drags on forever. I get the impression that someone thought the movie was too talky and cerebral, and that they had to "pump up" the action to compensate. Not a huge flaw, but distracting.
A bigger problem is that they telegraph Ozymandias' guilt way too early. In the comic, he cultivates an air of being nothing but a pragmatic businessman. In the movie, his stated goal of saving the world, combined with his threatening speech to the auto and oil executives (set to Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", no less) are big neon signs saying "This Is The Bad Guy" (The extended fight scene mentioned above contributes to this too; it's made obvious that the Comedian's killer is almost superhumanly skilled, which narrows the list of suspects considerably).
A complaint not directly related to the story: The soundtrack is awful. I am not exactly a soundtrack connoisseur; generally I don't even notice the music in movies. In this case, I noticed it very much, not in a good way. They're clearly trying to counterpoint the action with appropriate or ironic song choices ("The Times They Are A'Changing" for the montage of Minutemen scenes, "Hallelujah" when Nite Owl gets his sexual mojo back, "Ride of the Valkyries" as Manhattan strides through the Vietnam battlefield), but they're so obvious and trite that I was rolling my eyes. Even worse are the closing credits. After a downbeat, morally ambiguous ending that invites somber contemplation, we get a raucous, sped-up cover of "Desolation Row". It's terrible in any event, but doubly so in context.
On the plus side: The ending. The movie stays true to the broad parameters of Ozymandias' plan: creating an imaginary common foe to unite the Americans and Soviets. But having him "frame" Doctor Manhattan is a deft touch and, dare I say it, more organic and plausible than Moore's version. And by making the disaster a physical explosion (rather than the psychic projection of the comic), Snyder evokes 9/11, giving the movie an extra bit of resonance for modern viewers. I kind of wish they had brought this same level of daring to the rest of the script.
The performances are mostly good to excellent. As in the comic, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) steals the show. But I was also impressed with Patrick Wilson, who manages to capture all of Nite Owl's hang-ups and foibles without making him a buffoon. I've heard a lot of complaints about Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre; I thought she was just kind of "there", neither outstandingly good nor spectacularly bad.
Ultimately, I think the movie works for what it is. For those of us who read the comic, there's a visceral thrill to seeing it acted out with such respect and faithfulness. To the uninitiated, it's a decent summary of the text, and those who go on to read the comic will not be confused or disappointed (unlike those who may have sought out Iron Man comics after seeing that movie). The world didn't need a Watchmen movie, but if we had to get one, at least it's one that doesn't embarrass the source material. And in Hollywood, that's no faint praise.
I'll be seeing it again next weekend with another group of friends (hi, Karen!), so we'll see if my opinions change with a second viewing.
When I saw "The Dark Knight", I thought it was a great movie, but not necessarily a great Batman movie. Director Christopher Nolan came up with his own spin on the material that was only tangentially related to anything from the comics.
Watchmen is pretty much the opposite: Everything that is good about the movie is a result of lifting it directly from the comic; Zack Snyder and co. don't bring much new to the table, no fresh perspective or insight that wasn't in the original text. I guess that's not really a problem, per se...it remains a great story, and superhero movies are as ripe for deconstruction as superhero comics were in the 1980s. Expecting the movie to be as innovative and experimental as the comic is probably asking too much. But the effect is sort of like Snyder handing you a copy of the comic, then reading over your shoulder, pointing to various panels and saying "Wow, isn't that cool?"
That said, there were a couple of notable deviations from the comic (aside from things that were just plain cut out to save time... we only get the briefest nod to the two Bernards at the crossroads, for instance). Some of these worked out ok, some did not.
On the bad side: In the comic, the fight scenes tended to be short and brutal. In the movie, they're long and brutal. The fight choreography is generally well done (Christopher Nolan should be taking notes), but it feels padded. The opening scene of the Comedian's murder, for instance, just drags on forever. I get the impression that someone thought the movie was too talky and cerebral, and that they had to "pump up" the action to compensate. Not a huge flaw, but distracting.
A bigger problem is that they telegraph Ozymandias' guilt way too early. In the comic, he cultivates an air of being nothing but a pragmatic businessman. In the movie, his stated goal of saving the world, combined with his threatening speech to the auto and oil executives (set to Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", no less) are big neon signs saying "This Is The Bad Guy" (The extended fight scene mentioned above contributes to this too; it's made obvious that the Comedian's killer is almost superhumanly skilled, which narrows the list of suspects considerably).
A complaint not directly related to the story: The soundtrack is awful. I am not exactly a soundtrack connoisseur; generally I don't even notice the music in movies. In this case, I noticed it very much, not in a good way. They're clearly trying to counterpoint the action with appropriate or ironic song choices ("The Times They Are A'Changing" for the montage of Minutemen scenes, "Hallelujah" when Nite Owl gets his sexual mojo back, "Ride of the Valkyries" as Manhattan strides through the Vietnam battlefield), but they're so obvious and trite that I was rolling my eyes. Even worse are the closing credits. After a downbeat, morally ambiguous ending that invites somber contemplation, we get a raucous, sped-up cover of "Desolation Row". It's terrible in any event, but doubly so in context.
On the plus side: The ending. The movie stays true to the broad parameters of Ozymandias' plan: creating an imaginary common foe to unite the Americans and Soviets. But having him "frame" Doctor Manhattan is a deft touch and, dare I say it, more organic and plausible than Moore's version. And by making the disaster a physical explosion (rather than the psychic projection of the comic), Snyder evokes 9/11, giving the movie an extra bit of resonance for modern viewers. I kind of wish they had brought this same level of daring to the rest of the script.
The performances are mostly good to excellent. As in the comic, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) steals the show. But I was also impressed with Patrick Wilson, who manages to capture all of Nite Owl's hang-ups and foibles without making him a buffoon. I've heard a lot of complaints about Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre; I thought she was just kind of "there", neither outstandingly good nor spectacularly bad.
Ultimately, I think the movie works for what it is. For those of us who read the comic, there's a visceral thrill to seeing it acted out with such respect and faithfulness. To the uninitiated, it's a decent summary of the text, and those who go on to read the comic will not be confused or disappointed (unlike those who may have sought out Iron Man comics after seeing that movie). The world didn't need a Watchmen movie, but if we had to get one, at least it's one that doesn't embarrass the source material. And in Hollywood, that's no faint praise.
I'll be seeing it again next weekend with another group of friends (hi, Karen!), so we'll see if my opinions change with a second viewing.
