'Shredders' Journal. March 7, 2009.
Returned from watching the Watchmen. Brilliant adaptation. Several serious missteps. Alan Moore has complained of disturbed fans met at conventions. Person with bad hygiene, admires Rorschach. Claims to be like Rorschach. Moore says he wants to back away from that person, demanding they never approach him ever again.
That person sat behind us in theater. Most distracting. Wanted to hit him with metal lunch tray.
Also bloated middle-class couple, young children in tow. Young children should not see this film and its accumulation of blood and filth. On to review. Expect spoilers.
Film takes place in an alternate 1980s. Superheroes have existed since late 30s. The United States of America won the War in Vietnam, and Nixon remains president. While threat of nuclear annihilation looms and the world cries out for help, someone begins killing masked vigilantes.
Film has opening to make jaws drop, nerds and film fans drool. Faithful adaptation of Comedian's death. Next sequence sweeps through history of costumed heroes and the changing times, true in spirit to Hugo-winning graphic novel but a piece of its own, true also to medium of cinema. Awe-inspiring. Wish film could have maintained this approach. Bulk of film tries to be too faithful to original, but cannot possibly capture same depth. Medium often but not always served by slavish recreation. Much story to tell in three hours. Characters lack room to breathe.
The movie at times does deliver us these characters. Jackie Earle Haley stunning as Rorschach. Character sociopathic but compelling. We understand his appeal while shocked by him. Haley gives perfect delivery. Even looks like Gibbons drawing. Has come a long way since Kelly Leak.
Other performances vary. Generally good. Dr. Manhattan's origins enacted to good affect. Not a typo. Pay attention. Jeffrey Dean Morgan gets into Comedian's skin. Matthew Goode miscast as Ozymandias. Don't know what happened there. Just an observation. Performance mailed in from mainstream superhero movie.
Many historical figures appear. Robert Widen's Nixon make-up looks phony and overdone, so that he resembles a cartoon character. In reality, Nixon did resemble a cartoon character, but here it looks too obvious. Better to just have actor who vaguely resembles Nixon. Imitates style, like Frank Langella. Frank Novak as Kissinger more convincing. Kissinger also resembled a cartoon character.
I miss the days when politicians resembled cartoon characters instead of aged underwear models.
Observe everything. Even small points carry meaning. Film had to eliminate much of what gives the novel depth, deep as the pools of the blood shed in this film accumulated in one place. Director tips hat in several ways. Design elements recall Gibbons' art, and since room does not exist for the news vendor and the kid reading Tales of the Black Freighter, we at least pass both in the streets.
Great attention to detail throughout. Production extraordinary. Settings from the dirty streets of alternate New York City to the plains of Mars recreated in detail for big screen. Also, fascinating soundtrack.
When music works, it works well. Dylan used effectively. When it does not, it is a disaster. Overdone, overplayed clichés detract from scene, too over the top. Cannot be certain what director intended as parody. Funeral scene good example, well-filmed moments overwhelmed by Simon and Garfunkel. Also, sex scene on board Archimedes, Nite-Owl's ship, to strains of Leonard Cohen.
Sex scene on Archimedes. With so much to cut, why does this remain? Excessive, overdone, and off-tone. Not offended by nudity and sexual content elsewhere in film. Aware same scene happens in graphic novel, presented in a manner more suited to the story. Are we such whores that we must have this, even if another kind of scene might have better served the story and its characters? One that might have given the characters more room to breathe and develop? Hollywood is an extended gutter through which visceral thrills must flow.
At end of faithful but abridged story, changes occur. Nerds mourn absence of squids. In fact, ending fine this way for motion picture. What does not work is the execution of changed ending, the parry and riposte in Antarctica. Style and tone of dialogue reflects Hollywood superhero movies. Clash with original Moore tone and dialogue obvious.
Overall I enjoyed the film. Reminded of how groundbreaking original was. Characters remain strong and issues stay relevant. Twenty years of comics and adaptations made of superheroes by whoring corporations owe debt to Alan Moore. The film lacks the full complexity of the graphic novel, but fans and those who already like this kind of thing will like it.
But they may not love it.
Director: Zack Snyder
Writers: Alan Moore, David Hayter, Alex Tse, David Gibbons.
Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach
Malin Ackerman as Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre II
Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman
Patrick Wilson as Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II
Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian/Edward Blake
Carla Gugino as Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre
Robert Widen as Richard Nixon
Matt Frewer as Edgar Jacobi/Moloch
Stephen McHattie as Hollis Mason/Nite Owl
Laura Mennell as Janey Slater
Frank Novak as Henry Kissinger
Clint Carlton as young Hollis Mason
A Cast of Thousands as extras, 80s celebrities, and cannon fodder.