Sunday, March 8, 2009

Who watches the Watchmen? We do apparently.


So, Watchmen. I kinda have mixed feelings about that movie. Me and the Mrs. were amongst those who saw the film on its opening day. We caught the 8:15 show, but we didn't end up leaving the house until 8:00. I thought for sure that we weren't gonna find good seats and that the place would be packed. Somehow we managed to drive through a time warp on the way and magically walked into the theater around 8:11. Lo and behold, the theater was only half full and we got great seats. 
Watchmen is not for everyone. I liked it. In fact, there were some parts about it that I liked quite a lot. But I have to be honest and say that if I hadn't already read the graphic novel beforehand, I don't think I would have liked it very much. The violence was pretty graphic. Dr. Manhattan makes people blow up a lot, and the prison riot is kinda intense. The funny thing about the violence though is that I think the part where the audience made the most audible gasps was when Nite Owl and Silk Spectre break all the muggers' arms and legs. Bones crunching and popping out of the skin is apparently worse than exploding people. 
What bothered me the most about the film was the sex scene. Ridiculously long and gratuitous. I think Nassari was right when she said it was for the nerdy fan boys who will never get any action in real life. For something that only takes a few panels in the novel, I don't see why it had to play for like, a minute AND be in slow motion. It was the biggest drawback of the film for me. Now about Dr. Manhattan's nakedness: people need to get over that, man. What, are we in the 4th grade? I heard some people say it made them feel awkward. Why? It's not sexual. It's like National Geographic nudity, or what I call "science nudity." And it's not even real nudity! It's CG nudity! And the guy is blue (please, no blue b---s jokes. It's just too easy. So let's all move on, shall we?)! The point is, I feel like the naked Dr. Manhattan is no big deal. Moving on...
There were some aspects of the film that I really enjoyed. The performances were fantastic. Jackie Earle Haley was so great as Rorschach. The last scene with him was amazing. I loved it in the novel, but it was even better in the film. Come to think of it, every scene with Rorschach was great. Billy Crudup was great too. It's also just very cool to see something that you've
imagined moving in your head come to life. It was very pretty. It was "a little 3oo," as my friend said. But it was very pretty.
One of the main criticisms of the film is that it's confusing. If I hadn't read Watchmen before, I think I would have agreed. As a fan of the novel, I loved how much they actually put into the film. But, it's a bit much for anyone that doesn't know anything about the Watchmen universe, or even comic books in general. One of the reasons that it's so great is because it plays with the conventions of comic books. The average Joe may not be aware of any of that, so if you haven't read much in the way of comics, then you might not catch some of that. To sum things up, if you are already familiar with the novel, and you like it, then you will like the film. If not, we can't really recommend it to you.

4 comments:

Parker said...

I expected more blue penis, based on the fuss people made out of it... Yeah, the first time we see it, it's rather hard to miss, but after that, I barely noticed it. I think most men were playing the "Just how big" game, and brought it to their attentions a bit too much. Perverts.

wer said...

Hey Nassari- My dad mentioned you were due the same time as me. Congratulations! Our little guy is coming on or around August 17th. Have you been sick? It looks like a few posts back you still weren't feeling well. That's not fun. That's exciting you'll be finding out soon what you're having! I hope all is well!

Meg said...

You never like the sex scenes.

Jeff, Kimberly, & Liam said...

That movie is R...shame on you Nassari :)

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