44: Twelve Movies - Watchmen

CAUTION: Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.




Originally posted: 18 March 2009.

12 Days: 12 Movies
Day Six: WATCHMEN
(2009, 158 mins (fuck, yeah!), Dir Zack Snyder)



Put Simply: As long, complicated and dark as the book. With a little bit more gore.
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Matthew Goode

I'm going to make this review a short one, largely because you can read reviews of Watchmen all over the internet at the moment. This film fucking ROCKS. I loved the book, and I've seen it twice now (many more to come), and this shit only gets better each time (book and movie). Thoughts:

• Alan Moore was wrong. The piece isn't inherently unfilmable, because they've done it. And how.

• I did read a review at EmpireOnline that mentioned the movie's inaccessibility. In fairness, it's only as inaccessible as the book. That's not a criticism, but it's not a conventional "comic", and subsequentally, neither's the film.

• No doubt the film will get wildly different reviews. While I've yet to read many at all, I'd like to point out that someone who genuinely "dislikes" the film, would dislike it whatever they'd done - this is as close to the source text as you're going to get (with the exception of the one change they made, obviously).

• The closest thing I can compare this to, in spirit and feel, is Blade Runner. It's a beautiful film, you can't take it all in the first time you watch it, and if you go to see it 'cold' you won't have a clue what's going on the first time you see it; but watch it again (even if you are familiar with it), and it just gets more gorgeous in its' detail. For example...

• Noticed Dreiberg's Snow Owl variation on the second viewing. And noticed way more Pyramid Transnational references. Mint :)

• Can't wait for the extended DVD versions with the integrated 'Black Freighter'

• While Silk Spectre II's outfit seems impractical for obvious reasons, I couldn't help but think that someone wearing latex maybe shouldn't go into a burning building?

Ultimately, nothing I say here will change your mind if you haven't seen it yet, you'll either want to see it or you won't. But if you're on the fence about waiting for the DVD - do yourself a favour and catch this at the flicks. It'll be a different version that's released later, and Mars looks fantastic when the screen's 60 feet wide :D
Go see this film.

And while we're on? I would pay money to watch an actual version of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w
But then, I still watch Droids on a regular basis. Anyway...

I reckon: 9/10

Tomorrow: Maybe Love Actually or maybe Paul Blart - Mall Cop

DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.

• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organizations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.