As I mentioned before I was really excited to see The Watchmen. I read the book which I enjoyed for the most part. I understood it. It was an intense, complicated and at times convoluted story but I found the ending to be a bit of a copout. It seemed like an easy way out type of ending. But I think why it was such a big deal when it originally came out was because it was different. Superheroes were not presented as infallible beings. They were presented as people with flaws and problems. They were bad even if they were supposed to be good.
This movie you are either going to love it or hate it. I am glad I read the book before I watched the movie. I think if I didn’t I would have been on the side of hate. Because I read the book it gave me more of a background of the story that they couldn’t have had in a one shot film. It would have been drawn out into 2 maybe 3 movies that may have seemed watered down and unnecessary.
The movie was almost 3 hours long and it still failed to encompass all that was necessary. I think they included everything that was essential for the story to be told but there were smaller parts that were changed, glossed over, or omitted that would have made a difference in the film. Viewers would have better understood an emotion, reaction, or course of action. Because of this general viewers of the movie are going to be lost. They are going to be presented with a choppy film that has an unnecessary amount of graphic violence and nudity. But for people who are fans of the original book they will understand the characters and their minds will automatically fill in those missing gaps.
The movie is esthetically pleasing. It is presented in a glossy, crisp, stylish way that makes you go oh and ah. The colours, textures, and lighting used creates a vividness, a realness to this environment that is alien and familiar at the same time. The movie is also well casted. Everyone seems to fit in their place but my only complaint is that most of them seem young. These people are supposed to be in their mid to late 40’s and they all look to be in their late 20’s maybe 30’s.
There is also a big brouhaha about Dr. Manhattan. Dr Manhattan is the only actual superhero in this movie and he prances around naked for most of his screen time. He was once a scientist who through a tragic accident was dematerialized but found a way to literally pull himself back together. He is now of course different and has the ability to control the matter around him. And because of this change he has become detached from humanity. He is not trapped by the concept of humility, shame, or fear. And having him in the nude it the ultimate example of that. To me it is not a big deal, I was expecting it. But to others they were shocked and either insulted by the presence of a blue schlong or found it totally amusing and focused on it. But it wasn’t like he was jumping around slapping people in the face with it or anything. He was just a dude walking around with no clothes on who wasn’t ashamed. It is not like they focused on his dick or anything. It was just there. If it happened to be in the scene so be it. But surprisingly no one has made a big deal about the soft-core sex scene between Night Owl and Silk Spectre. I guess people are just used to seeing boobs on the big screen.
Personally I liked the movie. Many of the sequences were ripped right out of the book, the movie just filled in what happened between the cells. But for those who have no prior knowledge of the story will be disappointed. They will be walking in looking to see a superhero movie but they will be presented with a somewhat fragmented story about broken people who used to fight crime.
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