Reflect and Review: Watchmen (Part II)

continued from Part I:

One of the things I really liked about Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead was the soundtrack. To be honest, I really don’t like the band Disturbed, but when I heard the lounge version of their big hit in the mall, it was great. A montage with the characters getting used to life trapped inside a mall while besieged by legions of undead set to “Down with the Sickness”? Perfect. And the movie was pretty damn cool, to the point where, at the end of the movie when the real version of the song came on, I didn’t mind hearing it. The soundtrack was great here again, taking cues from the book, and finding ways to bookend the film with Bob Dylan songs. Bob opens the movie, Hendrix has his take on Watchtower, and then My Chemical Romance covers Desolation Row during the closing credits. Leonard Cohen, Nina Simone, Janis Joplin, Simon & Garfunkel … great songs we’ve all heard a plethora of times, but their usage here makes them poignant again.

As for the look of the film, I loved the use of slow motion to illustrate the exact translation of panels from the book. Snyder used this technique a lot in 300 as well, a film also based on a graphic novel. I hope, as cool as both these films look, he finds a way to break out of this if and when he ever makes an original movie.

All in all, I really felt this flick – it’s quite the spectacle and should not be missed in the theaters. But as good as it is, and as much as you should check it out – you should still read the book!

Reflect and Review: Watchmen (Part I)

Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part I)
Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part II)
Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part III)

+ Watchmen Reviews [Rotten Tomatoes]

- Goodchild

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Reflect and Review: Watchmen (Part I)

So, Watchmen released last week, and after my previous rant (that was posted in three separate parts!) talking about my excitement and openness for the film, I thought I’d post some of my thoughts on the film.

First off, Let me just say that I really liked it. Was it the book? No. But, as I stated in the aforementioned rant, I was and still am alright with that. All of the Tales of the Black Freighter pirate comic was removed, and that was ok since the squid attack at the end was changed (though, when Jon transports the device to Antarctica, the scientist collective there is called S.Q.U.I.D., as can be seen on a sign quickly before the device arrives). A lot of people I know who read the book did not like the new ending because it was too vague and ambiguous. I had to point out that that makes it just like the original ending! Basically, Snyder (Zack, the director) and company just managed to find a different means to the same end.



What was important to me was if the backgrounds to the characters came across well. Some were, of course, lighter than I wanted. The film tells us that Dan is the second Owl, but never gets into us why he got into it. Rorschach calls him flabby at one point, but to be honest he’s not nearly as out of shape as his counterpart in the book – it would have been nice to see how much he had to go through to get back into the game, instead of just waking up after almost having sex and deciding it was time. I feel they did a pretty good job with both Laurie and Jon – I truly felt for Laurie, almost directly from the beginning. And, by the time Jon is narrating his linear history in what us mere mortals perceive as non linear storytelling, I felt his alienation comparably to how I did while reading the book. Time spent on Sally Jupiter was perfect, and Carla Gugino was just as hot, if not hotter, than Malin Akerman in any time period.

And then, there was Rorschach. Everyone’s favorite gruff, rough and tough bad ass vigilante – and Jackie Earle Haley played him the exact way I envisioned him. Most of my friends who had not read the book but have seen the movie flat out loved him. So, Snyder and Haley had obviously nailed the feel of his character, but I felt it a bit lacking in certain areas – almost no connection is made between the unmasked Kovacs who carries the “The End Is Nigh” sign around New York and the masked Rorschach. In fact, most people I know who didn’t read the book didn’t realize the early shots of him with the sign were actually of Rorschach. Also, why not explain his mask and how it changes its appearance?

While Rorschach was lacking just a bit from what I’d hoped for, the only real disappointment was Veidt, or Ozymandias. Almost no time was spent on him, and what little was was only shown to show his detachment from those around him, and to vilify him. Before he is “attacked” in his lobby, it’s almost as if he’s about to tell the world leaders he is going to take them all on himself. Thankfully, respite from this was found in Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s take on The Comedian. He was excellent in the role, and in many scenes just stole the show.

(to be continued)

Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part I)
Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part II)
Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part III)

- Goodchild

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Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part III)

(continued from Part II)

Watchmen is a very special story, a truly amazing book. It’s a great psychological study, and an archetype for character development in storytelling. Will the shorter story as presented in the film be as good? We can’t know that yet. But I’m open to the fact that it might just be super freaking cool. Snyder, as director, has a pretty good track record for the big spectacle flick based on graphic novels (300), and with making a kick ass action movie with something to say (his remake of Dawn of the Dead).

From the clips that are in the various trailers and TV spots, the film seems to have the look and feel of the book down pat. It’s got a decent enough cast with Billy Crudup and Carla Gugino playing two of the main characters. And finally, a chance for all of us fans to see Rorschach in action. Everyone needs to just step back, open their minds, and be ready – because this one looks like it might just be great.

Have you read the book and / or are you looking forward to the movie? Light up the comment section …

- Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part I)
- Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part II)

+ Watchmen: Kevin Smith says they pulled it off [Pop Critics]

- Goodchild

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Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part II)

photo and copyright Jason Cross

(continued from Part I)

After all, the medium of film has set parameters, and once you go over the two hour mark, you’re going to start losing your audience. The print medium’s parameters lend themselves more forgivingly to larger and denser stories. This is why it is so hard to find a medium between the mediums, and why filmic adaptations of large novels rarely live up to what people want. But this doesn’t mean the films suck, or are poorer by default – it just makes them different, and they can still be excellent. A perfect example is one of my favorite books, and a pretty kick ass movie – Jurassic Park.

Being a fan of the author (Michael Crichton, who sadly passed away last year), my mother read the book right when it came out, and then passed it on to me, thinking I was old enough to get my head around it and really enjoy it (to date myself, I read it in 7th grade, a year or two before the movie came out). I did really enjoy it, reading the entire 400 page book in a 24 hour span, refusing to sleep, and entirely convinced by the end that raptors were on the mainland in Central America and working their way north.

When I found out later on that a movie was due – and that Spielberg was doing it – I was truly ecstatic. I wanted to see Nedry’s guts get ripped out by that dilophosaur. I couldn’t wait to see the looks on the faces of the characters when the computer showed them the animals had been multiplying and that there were a ludicrous amount of raptors. How great it was going to be to see the raptors on the boat headed towards the mainland, the cave full of baby and parent raptors on the island, and the climactic carpet bombing of the whole island.

Now, if you’ve only seen the movie, you probably have no clue about most of that. Nedry’s demise was made pg-13 (though, still pretty gruesome in its own right). While there was a brief mention that the animals were reproducing, that was all it was. There were only 3 raptors in the movie, none made it to the mainland, and the island never got carpet bombed. Was I upset at the changes made? Hell no! That movie was great! I wound up with a very comparable sense of enjoyment from a 2 hour movie that I got from a 400 page book that took me 20-24 hours to read. The mediums are different, so the film that is based on the book is just that – based on it. But different. And it’s still allowed to be awesome.

(to be continued)

- Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part I)

+ Adaptation Analysis: Jurassic Park [Fandomania]
+ Jurassic Park Movie Review [Rotten Tomatoes]
+ 15 book-to-film adaptations that live up to the source material [A.V. Club]

- Goodchild

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Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part I)

photo from Pop Critics

(If you haven’t read Watchmen, this might have a spoiler or two – plus, you’re a dumb-dumb. Get your ass to a book store and buy it already.)

After some absolutely ridiculous legal battles, two things are certain now for the upcoming Watchmen movie. It will, thankfully, be released on time (March 6th of this year), and when the movie starts, just about every studio logo will grace the screen before the Comedian gets knocked out his window.

Now that seemingly everyone in Hollywood is going to get paid from the profits the film will surely make, we can focus on the film itself. Yes, Warner Brothers made the film, but hey, why shouldn’t 20th Century Fox get paid, too? They heard about it before it was made, doesn’t that entitle them to money? But seriously, on with the show, all. There are some crazy fans that have been waiting for this to happen since the mid eighties.

So, with over two decades of anticipation, you’d think the fan boys were simply waiting with baited breath … but instead their breath is being exhausted as they rant their opinions that the film will be horrible (no one has seen it yet, remember) because there are changes from the book.

Fan boys. Shut up.

Watchmen Poster Comparisons by Plasmic Studio

Of course there are changes from the book. The “book” is actually a graphic novel combining 12 books. Do you realize how long the movie would be if you left every little detail in there? Probably 12 hours. And, no, don’t say you’d go sit there for 12 hours in a theater and watch the whole thing. You wouldn’t. No one would. Zack Snyder wouldn’t and he’s making the movie. Dr. Manhattan himself wouldn’t have the patience to do that. So, of course there must be edits made.

The biggest controversy I’ve heard about is the removal of the pirate comic that runs parallel to the story throughout the entire book, and culminates with the giant squid/alien attack on New York City. Well, how are they going to make the whole artist collective-making-the-squid-monster make sense without the pirate comic to introduce us to the characters? They don’t have to. Apparently the squid attack on New York has also been cut from the story.

And so, the fans are up in arms over this. “It’s going to suck because it’s not the same thing”. Know what though? That doesn’t make any sense. Of course it can still be good. It can still be excellent. For starters, there is so much source material to work with, that even after some edits, there is a great story there that can be told much more succinctly.

(to be continued)

+ Watchmen Settlement Update [IGN]

- Goodchild

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