Synopsis:
When
an ex-superhero is murdered, a vigilante named
Rorschach begins an investigation into the
murder, which begins to lead to a much more
terrifying conclusion.
The Freak's
Rating: A- : How about we all agree on
something, ok? Graphic novel is a fancy
term for comic book. Every comic book that
has an adult film made from it (Watchmen, 300,
30 Days Of Night, etc...) is tagged "from the
graphic novel...". It makes me giggle
every time I see it. I remember looking
through the Watchmen comic books when I was
younger and thinking they were nuts. I was
near 10 years old when they were released and I
remember our grocery store manager saying that
they were unfit for sale in his store (I grew up
in a conservative small town). It was
nearly a year later when I swiped them from my
cousin's house and read them. Though it
has been nearly 20 years since, I still remember
some of the characters and couldn't wait to see
the film adaptation.
Watchmen takes an interesting tone that movies
in this genre rarely visit. It attempts to
bring the story to adults, rather than cater to
young people. Christopher Nolan's take on
the Batman franchise brought a new darkness to
superhero films that helped to enable studios to
greenlight Watchmen into production.
Director Zack Snyder pushes us a few steps past
Nolan's darkness, bringing us a side of these
"heroes" that makes us wonder if we should look
up to them at all. We're no longer left
with flirting between characters. They
just have sex. When a bad guy is caught he
isn't handcuffed and thrown in the back of a
squad car. His head is cut off. It
is a dark style and a welcome addition to the
genre that I hope all future "graphic novel"
filmmakers embrace.
There
are two problems I have with the film.
First up, character development. There are
a few sections of the film which are devoted to
explaining each character in depth. These
are brilliant, allowing you to relate to these
people and bringing you into their view of the
world. Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan's
segments are particularly well done. The
issue I have is with the lack of equality to the
other characters. The Comedian, Nite Owl
II and Silk Spectre II are not developed with
near the depth of the aforementioned. This
creates enormous holes and left me feeling
cheated. The film's second problem is
nudity. Being an avid Howard Stern fan has
helped me to be very comfortable with my
sexuality. Dr Manhattan's nudity isn't
offensive to me, as it has been to some, but it
is inconsistent and distracting. At times
in the film, Dr. Manhattan is shown with thong
underwear on, then at times without. Are
they only available in certain sizes? My
problem is further amplified with the
distraction this nudity causes. Watchmen
is a thought-provoking superhero movie.
The seriousness of some scenes is lost when a
giant blue penis comes swinging across the
screen. You tell me you can concentrate on
nuclear war when Mr. Happy is pointing right at
you. Luckily the scenes with this are
limited, but the nudity coupled with the lack of
character equality is still enough for me to
drop this to an A-.
Watchmen is an extremely entertaining film and
Zack Snyder is solidifying himself as an A-list
director with his style. Fans of the
"graphic novel" won't be dissappointed and it
may actually get a few of today's youth to go
out and pickup a copy. The true sadness
here lies within the material's definitive
script. Watchmen is unlikely to spawn a
sequel, which only leaves the door open for a
prequel. Prequels being as difficult as
they are to handle, I'll be hoping that Snyder
(who has sworn he won't do another one) changes
his mind.
Sebastian's
Rating: A : Must I say, the thong was
hilarious. Why would you were a thong in the
vietnam war? I would have just been naked... Who
carres if someone see's your gonads... Your
gonna kill them anyways!
Well, I don't know if these aspects bring this
movie down, they really don't. I really loved
this film, I couldn't stop thinking about it for
the past week, I've just never had the reason to
write a review about it yet, because it really
is hard to.
The casting was well done, I loved roachwell's
character, with his ink changing mask. However,
it felt like his character was a little well
based on the dark knight, yet totally different.
It really didn't bother me. What i also don't
like is there are only a few characters that
stand out. The comedian, roachwell, Mr manhatten
and of course the silk spectre 2. The kngiht owl
and Ozymandias's characters were very well done,
however there wasn't much character developement
incripted in them.Despite that I'm really happy
that they made this film nowadays, so it got the
respect it deserved. The classy atmosphere, the
special effects, the music and of course the
plot were all well done. I can't wait till this
movie comes out on DVD, because I'll probably be
the first to buy it.
Nate's
Rating: A+ : Yeah, I'm giving this an A+.
From beginning to end, I loved it, blue schlong
notwithstanding. I've never read the graphic
comic novel book, but now I really want to. But
this film is really hard to describe.
It's not a super-hero movie. I mean, it has
super-heroes, they have super-powers, they fight
crime, and kind of save the world in visually
amazing special effect-laden scenes, but this
isn't a super-hero movie.
It's not a drama, either. I mean, there is some
great character development, tormented
backstories, heavy atmosphere, and intense, dark
emotions between characters, but it isn't a
drama.
It's not an action flick, despite the prison
riot scene, fist fights in dark alleys, Vietnam
flashbacks, exploding people, and a body count
that would make Arnold green with envy.
It's not a parody, even though the costumes are
intentionally awkward and
geek-convention-attendee looking, the
super-heroes are mostly archetypes of popular
characters, and they end up behaving, in some
cases, quite un-heroically.
And it's not a porn either, so don't even go
there.
I don't know what it is. But I know that it's
the best non-super-hero non-drama non-action
non-parody non-porno movie I've ever seen. It
takes the lofty idealism of the golden age of
superheroes and ruthlessly smashes it against
the chaotic realism of humanity's most wicked
failings. And at well over 2 hours, I didn't
want it to end.
Brian's Rating: B+ : First off, I have to agree with a couple of Nate's points. This was a very intriguing super-hero movie, and it did make me want to read the comic book, or even comics in general. It was so visually appealing that it really made me appreciate the strengths of a graphic novel. An entire paragraph, or even chapter, needs to be told with a single picture, and to do that it needs to be purposely visually captivating and almost intrusive to the psyche.
Why was it intriguing? Like Nate mentioned it destroys the normal stereotype of superheros. They are not role models for sure. Even something like "The Punisher" sets him up as a clear antagonist. In this setting, the "heroes" are such that they clearly reflect the depravity of humanity. The minute that The Comedian tried to rape Silk Specter, I knew I loved it. Not because I am into watching rape, but because it then became clearly evident that the heroes were just as screwed up as the rest of humanity.
The movie did fail on a few points for me and it all had to do with not understanding the source material. I had not seen anything about the Watchmen going into this movie and knew absolutely nothing about the setting or the universe it was created in. Due to this, I was thoroughly confused by the blast of different characters that were thrown at me. There were 2 different groups of heroes, and old school group, and a 2nd generation group. Coupled with that is the fact that some of the names were mixed together, and even some of the same members appeared to be in both groups. Throw in the fact that they addressed everybody in both their human names, and their hero names and I was thoroughly confused for most of the film. Even know I am not sure I have it all straight.
Related to this, I wasn't entirely clear on the whole super power situation. Obviously the blue guy had some powers, and clearly Ozmandius had some powers, but apart from that, it seemed maybe as if they were just good at fighting. I am ok with no extraordinary powers, but I just wanted to understand the setting.
Finally, what was that complex "space-ship" that Dr. Manhattan was flying around near the end of the movie? I am not sure what its purpose was since he could float anywhere he wanted anyway. Maybe fans of the novels understood this.
Anyway, I still liked the movie, I just think it may have been a touch better for those that have been previously exposed to the characters and/or setting.
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