![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Who Watches the Watchmen?
Mar. 8th, 2009 01:02 amSo, went to see Watchmen, of course. Kinda glad I went later-- it makes a good ending to a day, but a little bit difficult to deal with in the middle of it.
Thoughts (as non-spoilery as possible):
-In a word, excellent. Stayed true to the book, but I don't think it felt stilted at all, as one review suggested. The best lines were all there, and while noticeable they didn't take away from anything. The visual feel of the movie was great and everything was adapted very faithfully, while keeping most things from looking ridiculous as comic book costumes tend to do. Although, I do have to wonder why they didn't make Adrian's cat-chimera-thing red? With every other detail followed that one seemed a little weird to be left out. (I also kind of missed the greenhouse, but really, quibbles.)
-Acting was also excellent. Rorschach in particular of course stands out, but everyone played their part damn well. Absolutely no complaints there.
-Pacing was, I thought, pretty good. It definitely felt a bit more like a book than a movie, where you sort of slowly unravel things as the story is revealed to you. Not an action flick by any means-- basically all the actiony bits were shoved together in the trailer; they're pretty sparse.
-One minor quibble was the sound, as some of the songs chosen were a bit...jarring. A touching scene of Jon and Laurie on Mars and then... rock music. Just a bit confusing. (Also, I didn't know '99 Red Balloons' was an 80's song. Huh.) Not a terrible thing overall, just a little weird.
-Also. Fair warning even for those who've read the novel. This movie does not pull any fucking punches. There is violence aplenty, and having it be real makes it all the more visceral in a way that drawn images just don't achieve. People get butchered and shot and thrown into everything, and I flinched more than a few times. The sex is also about as explicit as you can get without showing any actual bits. It's... no worse than anything the novel showed but still a little surprising.
(Also, if I see anybody taking their kids to this, I will smack them. IT IS R FOR A REASON. Just because it's a comic book does not mean it is safe for kids. Luckily, this was a late showing and there weren't terribly many people there to begin with.)
-Yes, the ending was changed. I can't say I minded. Honestly, it made rather more sense than the random-as-hell omg-giant-alien-squid-whut in the novel. (Yes, that's a spoiler. I guess. Honestly if you haven't read the book I can't see how you're going to guess how the squid is involved anyway.) They also cut some of the character development sections, but... eh, it worked. I don't think you could do more without making the movie like four hours long, and it was pretty long as is.
Final vote: Yes.
And now I will do... something. It's late but it's also warm and smelling deliciously of rain out, and I'm far too awake to just go to bed. Don't know what I'll do but I definitely don't want to just sleep.
Thoughts (as non-spoilery as possible):
-In a word, excellent. Stayed true to the book, but I don't think it felt stilted at all, as one review suggested. The best lines were all there, and while noticeable they didn't take away from anything. The visual feel of the movie was great and everything was adapted very faithfully, while keeping most things from looking ridiculous as comic book costumes tend to do. Although, I do have to wonder why they didn't make Adrian's cat-chimera-thing red? With every other detail followed that one seemed a little weird to be left out. (I also kind of missed the greenhouse, but really, quibbles.)
-Acting was also excellent. Rorschach in particular of course stands out, but everyone played their part damn well. Absolutely no complaints there.
-Pacing was, I thought, pretty good. It definitely felt a bit more like a book than a movie, where you sort of slowly unravel things as the story is revealed to you. Not an action flick by any means-- basically all the actiony bits were shoved together in the trailer; they're pretty sparse.
-One minor quibble was the sound, as some of the songs chosen were a bit...jarring. A touching scene of Jon and Laurie on Mars and then... rock music. Just a bit confusing. (Also, I didn't know '99 Red Balloons' was an 80's song. Huh.) Not a terrible thing overall, just a little weird.
-Also. Fair warning even for those who've read the novel. This movie does not pull any fucking punches. There is violence aplenty, and having it be real makes it all the more visceral in a way that drawn images just don't achieve. People get butchered and shot and thrown into everything, and I flinched more than a few times. The sex is also about as explicit as you can get without showing any actual bits. It's... no worse than anything the novel showed but still a little surprising.
(Also, if I see anybody taking their kids to this, I will smack them. IT IS R FOR A REASON. Just because it's a comic book does not mean it is safe for kids. Luckily, this was a late showing and there weren't terribly many people there to begin with.)
-Yes, the ending was changed. I can't say I minded. Honestly, it made rather more sense than the random-as-hell omg-giant-alien-squid-whut in the novel. (Yes, that's a spoiler. I guess. Honestly if you haven't read the book I can't see how you're going to guess how the squid is involved anyway.) They also cut some of the character development sections, but... eh, it worked. I don't think you could do more without making the movie like four hours long, and it was pretty long as is.
Final vote: Yes.
And now I will do... something. It's late but it's also warm and smelling deliciously of rain out, and I'm far too awake to just go to bed. Don't know what I'll do but I definitely don't want to just sleep.
