« Hope I'm Not Paying for This | Main | Buckley Tries, Fails to Explain His Vote for Obama »
March 06, 2009
"Watchmen"
Every time I watch a Hollywood adaptation of a book I like or have fond memories of, I'm always looking for 'the moment.' For me, 'the moment' is when a particular scene communicates that the filmmaker gets it. Until then, I find it hard to relax and enjoy the movie as a movie. For example, when I watched "Fellowship of the Rings," 'the moment' was when Peter Jackson revealed Hobbiton, and the scenery matched my imagination.
'The moment' in "Watchmen" came pretty early. After a vicious fight scene and a truly amazing credit sequence, Zack Snyder recreated the image of the detectives looking down at just how far the Comedian fell to his death. The image on the screen matched the image in the comic book, and then when I heard Rorschach's voice and narration I knew this was going to be faithful.
And was it ever. Hours after watching it, I'm still amazed that Snyder was able to fit so much of the book into a just-under three hour running time. Even the Mars sequence, one of my favorite from the book, was kept intact.
I agree largely with John Nolte's review - the movie is great, but a bit overly-violent. Plus, I could have done without such an, er, enthusiastic representation of the love scene between Silk Spectre and Nite Owl II. Still, those are quibbles.
The music choices were sometimes odd, but always worked in the moment. I especially loved the subtle use of Tears for Fears "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." This movie is not for everyone - the violence is harsh and the themes are dark. As my brother said when we saw some kids in the line with us, 'They do know this isn't Spiderman, right?'
On that note, what on earth are some parents thinking? At the screening I attended, there were kids who looked maybe 10-12 years old watching this movie. This was not a movie for kids, and I almost hope the kids who were allowed to see it keep their parents up for the next few nights with their bad dreams as punishment.
Update - Trailer addict has the opening title sequence for the movie available online. Outstanding. Okay, maybe not. Lawyers have been busy.
Posted by slublog at March 6, 2009 10:31 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.slublog.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/4097
Comments
I just saw it today. I gotta say it wasn't what I expected. I don't know what I expected, but that wasn't it. And would it have killed Dr. Manhattan to put a pair of shorts on once in a while?
Posted by: Enas Yorl at March 8, 2009 06:33 PM