Post by indy2003 on Mar 6, 2009 16:29:44 GMT -8
I know Jon has all ready reviewed the score, but in case anyone is interested, here's my take on the film...
Review: Watchmen
After some 20 years of production nightmares, failed attempts, and messy lawsuits, "Watchmen" is finally here. Ever since Alan Moore wrote his now-legendary 12-issue comic book miniseries back in the mid-to-late 1980s, it seems that naught but chaos has ensued in the aftermath. The likes of Terry Gilliam, Paul Greengrass and Darren Aronofsky tried and failed to turn "Watchmen" into a cinematic experience, but they all failed for a wide variety of complicated reasons. Many comic books of the following decade attempting to mimic the dark and gritty tone of the story, and wound up cheapening the entire industry as a result. After a while, it was more or less assumed that that "Watchmen" was a property best left alone. When "300" director Zack Snyder determined to take a stab at directing the film, the odds were against him both legally (20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. would become embroiled in a nasty rights battle) and artistically. Perhaps it is appropriate that the man who helmed a film about 300 Spartans doing battle in the face of insurmountable odds was the man to finally succeed in doing what many thought was impossible: Making "Watchmen" into a feature film, and more importantly, making it work.
The story begins in 1985. To be more specific, it begins in an alternate "what if" version of 1985. What if men and women of the WWII era had decided to dress up as costumed heroes and battle crime? What if a horrible accident had created a god-like superhero in the late 1950s? What if that god-like superhero had intervened in Vietnam, and we had won the war? What if ordinary masked heroes had been banned in 1977 due to public outcry? That is the world that we are presented with. As the film begins, a notorious masked hero named The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is murdered in his apartment. A fierce right-wing vigilante named Rorschach (Jackie Earl Haley) quickly becomes convinced that someone is picking off masked heroes, and subsequently goes to warn other heroes and ex-heroes like Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), Silk Spectre (Malin Ackerman), and the aforementioned god-like superhero, Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup). Slowly but surely, these characters work together intentionally and unintentionally to unravel a very dark conspiracy.
Of course one could easily dedicate 10-12 paragraphs (or more) to detailing the entire plot of "Watchmen", but it would be very difficult to do so without spoiling a large chunk of the viewing experience. "Watchmen" is a unique story that is simultaneously laying the groundwork and advancing the plot forward simultaneously. It accomplishes this via non-linear means, constantly employing flashbacks, character histories, and other fragmented pieces of essential information as the murder mystery plot advances. This cinematic adaptation is a little less complicated structurally than the comic, omitting some subplots and side items in favor of focusing on the essential meat of the story. Even so, what Snyder's "Watchmen" achieves is quite impressive, offering one of the most substantive and thoughtful comic book movies to date. This is quite a change of pace from Snyder's adaptation of Frank Miller's "300", a bloodthirsty and empty version of a similarly unimpressive story. Working with infinitely stronger source material, Snyder often soars.
Some have complained that Snyder has been too faithful to the comic book, killing any sense of movement or life in the cinematic version. That's not true. Snyder has not simply duplicated the comic book (for that, see the recently released "Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic" on DVD), but rather recreated the feeling of reading the comic book. Look carefully, and you'll see that many things have been re-arranged, altered, edited, and removed completely. There are few dramatic changes, but in almost every scene, Snyder has cautiously tinkered with the available elements in order to make a comic book scene work in a different medium. Most of the time, he is quite successful. Sure, there are moments here and there that do feel a bit much like reverent line readings from the graphic novel, but the vast majority works very well. The biggest actual alteration here is a variation on the ending, and to my surprise, it actually works even better than Alan Moore's original finale (even if the film doesn't quite recapture the raw emotional power of those six famous splash pages that open the final issue of "Watchmen").
On of the most thrilling, maddening, and compelling aspects of the film is the music. While I don't think "Watchmen" often resorts to "music video-style" filmmaking, there are quite a few scenes here that allow the music to come front and center and carry the scene. Snyder's song choices (many of which are inspired by the graphic novel) are top-notch almost every single time, as images and music work together to create very memorable sequences. The Comedian's death scene is underscored by Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable", and the results are, well, unforgettable. Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changing" plays over a very interesting title sequence, and the Jimi Hendrix version of Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" turns up later on in the proceedings. Several superb selections from composer Philip Glass underscore Dr. Manhattan's origin story. Glass' cold, intellectual ideas are a perfect match for the Manhattan material. A striking love scene set to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is so effective that the audience I saw the film with burst into spontaneous applause at it's conclusion. And yet, for all these great moments, the film is also cursed with an underscore by composer Tyler Bates that can kindly be described as "dreck", and ends on a very jarring note with a horribly misfired take on Dylan's "Desolation Row" courtesy of My Chemical Romance.
The performances are quite solid across the board. Jackie Earl Haley perhaps makes the biggest impression as Rorschach, a rather frightening figure that somehow manages to ingratiate himself with viewers quite remarkably. Haley's gruff, Chandler-esque dialogue provides a gritty humanity that contrasts beautifully with the more detached philosophy of Dr. Manhattan. Speaking of which, Billy Crudup manages to make Manhattan the most soulful CGI creation since Gollum, and finds just the right tone for the character. Patrick Wilson is kind of touching as Nite Owl, a fumbly Clark Kent character without a Superman alter ego to fall back on. Malin Ackerman has been widely criticized for her performance, but I thought she was just fine in the role of Silk Spectre, if hardly Oscar-worthy. Jeffrey Dean Morgan infuses The Comedian with gleeful sense of horrific anarchy, making a very big impact in a pretty limited amount of screentime. Finally, Matthew Goode has a very carefully-modulated turn as Ozymandias, toning down the character's Christ figure aspects and coming across as more of a calculating humanitarian. WIthout saying too much about the character, let it be said that the motivations for his actions seem considerably more credible and intelligent in this version of the story, though slightly less fascinating from a symbolic standpoint. The only real weakness in the cast is Robert Wisden as Richard Nixon (the role is slightly expanded here), whose hokey impersonation of the former President is incredibly distracting (the make-up that manages to make the Prez look like Craig T. Nelson doesn't help, either).
While Zack Snyder has not made the perfect "Watchmen" adaptation, this one comes very close. Despite a few smart improvements in the cinematic version, the book remains the superior way to experience the story. Even so, I'm personally thrilled that a really good "Watchmen" film has actually been made, and I look forward to re-watching the film and examining it further in the future. A side note: I witnessed the film in IMAX, and wow, it looks and sounds incredible. If there's an IMAX theatre near you, make an effort to see it in that format.
Rating: ***1/2 (out of four)
Review: Watchmen
After some 20 years of production nightmares, failed attempts, and messy lawsuits, "Watchmen" is finally here. Ever since Alan Moore wrote his now-legendary 12-issue comic book miniseries back in the mid-to-late 1980s, it seems that naught but chaos has ensued in the aftermath. The likes of Terry Gilliam, Paul Greengrass and Darren Aronofsky tried and failed to turn "Watchmen" into a cinematic experience, but they all failed for a wide variety of complicated reasons. Many comic books of the following decade attempting to mimic the dark and gritty tone of the story, and wound up cheapening the entire industry as a result. After a while, it was more or less assumed that that "Watchmen" was a property best left alone. When "300" director Zack Snyder determined to take a stab at directing the film, the odds were against him both legally (20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. would become embroiled in a nasty rights battle) and artistically. Perhaps it is appropriate that the man who helmed a film about 300 Spartans doing battle in the face of insurmountable odds was the man to finally succeed in doing what many thought was impossible: Making "Watchmen" into a feature film, and more importantly, making it work.
The story begins in 1985. To be more specific, it begins in an alternate "what if" version of 1985. What if men and women of the WWII era had decided to dress up as costumed heroes and battle crime? What if a horrible accident had created a god-like superhero in the late 1950s? What if that god-like superhero had intervened in Vietnam, and we had won the war? What if ordinary masked heroes had been banned in 1977 due to public outcry? That is the world that we are presented with. As the film begins, a notorious masked hero named The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is murdered in his apartment. A fierce right-wing vigilante named Rorschach (Jackie Earl Haley) quickly becomes convinced that someone is picking off masked heroes, and subsequently goes to warn other heroes and ex-heroes like Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), Silk Spectre (Malin Ackerman), and the aforementioned god-like superhero, Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup). Slowly but surely, these characters work together intentionally and unintentionally to unravel a very dark conspiracy.
Of course one could easily dedicate 10-12 paragraphs (or more) to detailing the entire plot of "Watchmen", but it would be very difficult to do so without spoiling a large chunk of the viewing experience. "Watchmen" is a unique story that is simultaneously laying the groundwork and advancing the plot forward simultaneously. It accomplishes this via non-linear means, constantly employing flashbacks, character histories, and other fragmented pieces of essential information as the murder mystery plot advances. This cinematic adaptation is a little less complicated structurally than the comic, omitting some subplots and side items in favor of focusing on the essential meat of the story. Even so, what Snyder's "Watchmen" achieves is quite impressive, offering one of the most substantive and thoughtful comic book movies to date. This is quite a change of pace from Snyder's adaptation of Frank Miller's "300", a bloodthirsty and empty version of a similarly unimpressive story. Working with infinitely stronger source material, Snyder often soars.
Some have complained that Snyder has been too faithful to the comic book, killing any sense of movement or life in the cinematic version. That's not true. Snyder has not simply duplicated the comic book (for that, see the recently released "Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic" on DVD), but rather recreated the feeling of reading the comic book. Look carefully, and you'll see that many things have been re-arranged, altered, edited, and removed completely. There are few dramatic changes, but in almost every scene, Snyder has cautiously tinkered with the available elements in order to make a comic book scene work in a different medium. Most of the time, he is quite successful. Sure, there are moments here and there that do feel a bit much like reverent line readings from the graphic novel, but the vast majority works very well. The biggest actual alteration here is a variation on the ending, and to my surprise, it actually works even better than Alan Moore's original finale (even if the film doesn't quite recapture the raw emotional power of those six famous splash pages that open the final issue of "Watchmen").
On of the most thrilling, maddening, and compelling aspects of the film is the music. While I don't think "Watchmen" often resorts to "music video-style" filmmaking, there are quite a few scenes here that allow the music to come front and center and carry the scene. Snyder's song choices (many of which are inspired by the graphic novel) are top-notch almost every single time, as images and music work together to create very memorable sequences. The Comedian's death scene is underscored by Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable", and the results are, well, unforgettable. Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changing" plays over a very interesting title sequence, and the Jimi Hendrix version of Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" turns up later on in the proceedings. Several superb selections from composer Philip Glass underscore Dr. Manhattan's origin story. Glass' cold, intellectual ideas are a perfect match for the Manhattan material. A striking love scene set to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is so effective that the audience I saw the film with burst into spontaneous applause at it's conclusion. And yet, for all these great moments, the film is also cursed with an underscore by composer Tyler Bates that can kindly be described as "dreck", and ends on a very jarring note with a horribly misfired take on Dylan's "Desolation Row" courtesy of My Chemical Romance.
The performances are quite solid across the board. Jackie Earl Haley perhaps makes the biggest impression as Rorschach, a rather frightening figure that somehow manages to ingratiate himself with viewers quite remarkably. Haley's gruff, Chandler-esque dialogue provides a gritty humanity that contrasts beautifully with the more detached philosophy of Dr. Manhattan. Speaking of which, Billy Crudup manages to make Manhattan the most soulful CGI creation since Gollum, and finds just the right tone for the character. Patrick Wilson is kind of touching as Nite Owl, a fumbly Clark Kent character without a Superman alter ego to fall back on. Malin Ackerman has been widely criticized for her performance, but I thought she was just fine in the role of Silk Spectre, if hardly Oscar-worthy. Jeffrey Dean Morgan infuses The Comedian with gleeful sense of horrific anarchy, making a very big impact in a pretty limited amount of screentime. Finally, Matthew Goode has a very carefully-modulated turn as Ozymandias, toning down the character's Christ figure aspects and coming across as more of a calculating humanitarian. WIthout saying too much about the character, let it be said that the motivations for his actions seem considerably more credible and intelligent in this version of the story, though slightly less fascinating from a symbolic standpoint. The only real weakness in the cast is Robert Wisden as Richard Nixon (the role is slightly expanded here), whose hokey impersonation of the former President is incredibly distracting (the make-up that manages to make the Prez look like Craig T. Nelson doesn't help, either).
While Zack Snyder has not made the perfect "Watchmen" adaptation, this one comes very close. Despite a few smart improvements in the cinematic version, the book remains the superior way to experience the story. Even so, I'm personally thrilled that a really good "Watchmen" film has actually been made, and I look forward to re-watching the film and examining it further in the future. A side note: I witnessed the film in IMAX, and wow, it looks and sounds incredible. If there's an IMAX theatre near you, make an effort to see it in that format.
Rating: ***1/2 (out of four)