Renzatic on 16/3/2009 at 14:09
Coming from you, I can't tell if that's a pan or a praise. Dick jokes get throw around here so often, I can no longer discern the connotations.
Sypha Nadon on 16/3/2009 at 17:09
Brethren, yeah, when I was watching the film it amazed me how close to the graphic novel it seemed at points: in particular they really nailed the first two issues, I felt. I was also impressed how some of the scene-to-scene transitions mirrored the panel-to-panel transitions from the comic: for example, the scene where Silk Spectre II mentions to Nite Owl how she doesn't want things to get tangled up, then the film cuts to Dr. Manhattan's doing his tie... exactly like in the comic! Even the freaking Nova Express reporter looked just like he did in the comic. It was kind of fun to spot all of those little details, though I imagine for those who hadn't read it beforehand, a lot of those things could be missed. There were tons of stuff in the comic that I thought for sure were going to be cut, yet somehow they still ended up in the film... one of my only real gripes was that the psychiatrist guy (Dr. Malcolm?) kind of had a reduced role, whereas in the comic he did much more. Kind of missed the big squid too, but the new ending still kind of makes sense in its own way. Acting wasn't bad, though I still think Adrian was miscast. Cruddup was great as Dr. Manhattan... at first the voice threw me off, as when I read the comic years ago I always imagined Dr. Manhattan to have a very deep voice, but I think it made the character seem a bit more fragile and weak... in contrast with his godlike powers.
I thought it was a pretty good film. At the very least, it's the closest thing yet to a competent Alan Moore adaptation (as much as I enjoyed the film "V for Vendetta", it really doesn't bare all that great a resemblance to the comic book that inspired it in the first place). And at least it's gotten people reading the comic... it's kind of surreal for me to go into work and see "Watchmen" on the bestseller shelves (next to lousy James Patterson and Janet Evanovich novels), and hear middle aged housewives talking about Dr. Manhattan and Rorschach.
Scots Taffer on 16/3/2009 at 23:07
To clarify, I thought it was pretty damn brilliant.
Scots Taffer on 17/3/2009 at 11:01
To be a bit more specific...
What Didn't Work
- Silk Spectre II is, as many have noted, very average and a not strong enough lynchpin to end the film on in my opinion but the actress is no worse than Portman in Star Wars, Dunst in Spiderman or Berry in X-Men, so she's in good company and at least she got her tits out
- Manhattan's CG was patchy as all hell at times, especially around his mouth
- The ending is all wrong tonally, it just sort of happens and there's no sense of gravity to the proceedings so it lacks emotional impact
- The pacing of the ending is shit too
- So is his choreography for the most part, though I liked the opening fight
- Superheroes or regular heroes? There was enough wall to wall flipping, jumping, bone-breaking and acrobatics to convince me that these weren't regular people acting out in costumes but insanely bad ass strongmen and women
- Ozy was pretty clearly the villain throughout I think, the framing, the camera angles, the dark monologues... I wonder if non-comic readers thought so
- Ozy and Silk Spectre II both look too young for their purported ages, I mean, they all but these two noticably so
What Worked
- Pretty much everything else imaginable
- Rorschach was fucking amazing, mask on and off, Haley deserves the Ledger-level praise - here's hoping he gets a nod but unlikely given mask
- Jon's voice and the general presence of Manhattan, blue dong and all, was fantastic
- Each of the backstories were nailed very well
- Every "big" scene that played out great in the graphic novel played out splendidly on the big screen with the allowance for those that got cut for time
- Some all-round solid acting from Comedian and others, dodgy make-up notwithstanding
- A ton of other stuff that I can't think of right now, like some of the funny parts and using Ride of Valkyries when they did
Essentially 2 and a half hours of awesome with a less than stellar denouement.
Chimpy Chompy on 17/3/2009 at 11:27
I was a little iffy on the ending myself. Not in relation to changes from the comic, I think the ideas were sound. The execution just felt alittle off. Like, the fights at the end were inconsequential. As long as captain bluedong agreed to the plan, who bested who in a punchup didn't mean anything.
Scots Taffer on 17/3/2009 at 11:30
The replacement mechanic is perfectly adequate, the fact that it's mechanically output is not.
Macha on 17/3/2009 at 11:32
I wasn't a huge fan. There were some great bits, like when the comedian delibratedly went for the female protester first. But overall I felt it wasn't as absorbing as I would have liked. The pace was also a bit too slow in bits which made it feel quite long. I mean I noticed that I had been watching it for nearly 3 hours but I came out of all of the Lord of the Rings not knowing that the movies had been that long.
BEAR on 17/3/2009 at 12:04
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
To be a bit more specific...
What Didn't Work
- Silk Spectre II is, as many have noted, very average and a not strong enough lynchpin to end the film on in my opinion but the actress is no worse than Portman in Star Wars, Dunst in Spiderman or Berry in X-Men, so she's in good company and at least she got her tits out
- Manhattan's CG was patchy as all hell at times, especially around his mouth
- The ending is all wrong tonally, it just sort of happens and there's no sense of gravity to the proceedings so it lacks emotional impact
- The pacing of the ending is shit too
- So is his choreography for the most part, though I liked the opening fight
- Superheroes or regular heroes? There was enough wall to wall flipping, jumping, bone-breaking and acrobatics to convince me that these weren't regular people acting out in costumes but insanely bad ass strongmen and women
- Ozy was pretty clearly the villain throughout I think, the framing, the camera angles, the dark monologues... I wonder if non-comic readers thought so
- Ozy and Silk Spectre II both look too young for their purported ages, I mean, they all but these two noticably soWhat Worked
- Pretty much everything else imaginable
- Rorschach was fucking amazing, mask on and off, Haley deserves the Ledger-level praise - here's hoping he gets a nod but unlikely given mask
- Jon's voice and the general presence of Manhattan, blue dong and all, was fantastic
- Each of the backstories were nailed very well
- Every "big" scene that played out great in the graphic novel played out splendidly on the big screen with the allowance for those that got cut for time
- Some all-round solid acting from Comedian and others, dodgy make-up notwithstanding
- A ton of other stuff that I can't think of right now, like some of the funny parts and using Ride of Valkyries when they did Essentially 2 and a half hours of awesome with a less than stellar denouement.
Pretty much right. I didn't feel like writing all that though :) I'm looking forward to the directors cut.
Scots Taffer on 17/3/2009 at 12:12
Quote Posted by Macha
The pace was also a bit too slow in bits which made it feel quite long. I mean I noticed that I had been watching it for nearly 3 hours but I came out of all of the Lord of the Rings not knowing that the movies had been that long.
I'd read a few reviews that really slammed it with stretching out interminably and I have to say that I totally disagree, the pacing was perfect until the end which - if anything - was too abrupt to actually have an impact on the audience. I found myself glancing at my watch twice (during fight scenes), consciously, and noting with surprise an hour had passed each time I looked.
