Director- Zack Snyder
By the way- Spoiler Warning (that is, if you haven't read the book)
Arguably the most influencial piece of fiction in the past 20 years, Watchmen first started out in 1986 as a comic mini-series later published together as a Graphic Novel. Let's start out with the premise at the start, and see where we can find places that directly lifted from the comic. Masked heroes are outlawed and someone is picking them off (The Incredibles). Eventually, a plot is discovered to destroy part of New York City in order to unite the world in peace (Heroes: Season 1). However, what makes those two works different is that those stories were almost all about superheroes. With the exception of one character, these are people who decide to put on a mask and fight crime. Watchmen is about how those people would actually be like in such a world. Watchmen's answer- they'd be kinda fucked up. In that, the movie gets it right. In others.....not so much.
Let me start with the good:
The Opening Credits- Laying the setup for the world the audience is about to enter is flawless. A series of images of past heroes set to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin' " gives you a sense of what is about to come. If this didn't work, the entire movie would fall flat.
Jackie Earle Haley- The guy is Rorschach, no doubt about it. Every little thing about him screams Rorschach. If there's any reason to watch the movie, it's him.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan- Playing The Comedian with enough charm and cynicism , JDM is...well, I don't want to say joy because some of the things his character does are atrocious, but he's another actor that should be watched in the future.
Billy Crudup- He's pretty much the voice of Doc Manhattan, and he does it extremely well. Making Doctor Manhattan sound distant and out of touch with humanity while still maintaining one last sliver of it. Well, he is the narrator of the Mastercard ads and the voice of Prince Ashitaka in the American Dub of Princess Mononoke.
Parts of the Soundtrack- I've already said about Bob Dylan's song, but there's another song that he wrote that's also in the film. "All Along the Watchtower" as played by Jimi Hendrix. But to be fair, I could hear that music with a guy reading a book, I'd really enjoyed it. Another is the use of Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" during Edward Blakes funeral.
The "What the Fuck?" Department:
The Sex Scene on Archie- It's not so much a complaint as more a statement of confusion. I like seeing more of Malin Akerman any day, but what did it show? That Dan can get an erection? That could have been done without the sex scene especially with "Hallelujah" playing over it, which brings me to my next point.
Parts of the Soundtrack- That's the giant one but there's others that just feel out of place like Nat Cole's "Unforgettable." It just felt really out of place.
Ozymandias character change- In the novel, it's actually a surprise to find out that he's behind all the shit going on in the Watchmen universe, but in the film all that's missing is the mustache for Matthew Goode to twirl. Novel Ozzy- A brilliant man who believes that the ends justify the means to disasterous consequences. Film Ozzy- A smart pompous twat who believes that the ends justify the means to disasterous consequences.
The rest of the movie falls between decent and dull. But I'm going to elaborate on the Ozymandias character change. It's part of the dumbing down that occured. Don't get me wrong, parts of it had to be done. That's the only way Watchmen gets condensed into a near 3 hour movie. Some were just pointless and actually bothered me. In the novel, the character is actually human. There's this wonderful scene that when the plan goes through and millions are killed, Ozymandias asks Doctor Manhattan if what he did was good in the end, and the Doc answers something along the lines of "Adrian. Nothing ever ends," which I always read in the intonation of "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids." That line is in the movie, but it was done poorly. And further dumbing down was the crazy action sequences. All these people should be like Chris Nolan's Batman: able to beat the crap out of people while still escaping minimally harmed. Not being able to punch a dude ten feet. It loses the idea that these people are only fucked-up dudes in tights. Now they're juiced-up, fucked-up dudes in tights. Finally, the last scene I'm going to talk about dumbing down that bothered me was Laurie finding out The Comedian was her father. I could go on a long diatribe about how the scene is better in the book than the movie (It is, btw), but I'll just go ahead and say it's the classic mistake of telling rather than showing.
Some last thoughts: I wasn't bothered by the ending change. It fit well enough, and the makers probably thought they were already asking the regular viewing audience a lot already (A blue dick? For cereal?), and maybe sending a giant squid into Manhattan, blowing it up, and blaming extraterrestrials which would unite the USSR and USA against a single enemy would have put them right over the edge. Also, despite my complaints, I enjoyed the film. I'm of the "Giant Blue Dick Watchmen Instead of No Watchmen" group. I'll see it again, and I'll probably buy the Director's Cut. Hopefully it'll add some things for explanation and take out some things that dumbed it down. Right now it's a:
7/10
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
5 Best Brotherhood Friendships in TV
Getting back into the swing of things is a list of the aforementioned subject. By the way, there will be spoilers, so you have been warned (though if you automatically go to wikipedia after just getting into a tv show because of your damn curiosity, I guess I'm making the trip a little shorter).
1. Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo in Rome- They're number one on the list just because of how much shit they've been through, and how it could have gone so possibly wrong after the first episode, but it never does. Last thing's first, it starts out like some kind of weird buddy cop relationship set in the Roman period: Vorenus is a high ranking soldier while Pullo is a fuck-up drunk who only cares about killing people and fucking women and the two of them are paired to find Caesar's missing Golden Eagle (with crazy hijinks to ensue (well, more bloody than crazy, but still)). But it becomes so much more than that after it gets through the relationship's growing pains (Pullo keeps getting into trouble and it's up to Vorenus to fix it), when Pullo finds out about Vorenus's wife's infidelity and kills the guy in secret out of respect for his friend (It's Rome, a much simpler time. Also bloodier and more boobs (I just lost everyone because they went to Blockbuster to rent it now, didn't I?)) Then when Pullo becomes an assassin for hire and gets caught and put to death in the arena, Vorenus saves him from a giant out of love and brotherhood for his friend. And that's about half of it. They've each tried to kill each other at least once, and debated leaving the other for dead, and yet they still come back to each other. If this was on a network (read "lack of boobs and coitus"), the audience would have half a mind that they were gay for each other. It's a shame the series only lasted two seasons (HBO seasons, mind, which practically makes it one network season, except with the blood and boobs) because in a show that was mostly a political drama set in the Roman era, Vorenus and Pullo was the human face of it.
2. Angel and Wesley Windham-Price in Angel- Like the former, it started out with a jokey premise, except this time with actual jokes. Wesley was the clumsy dude, while Angel was the badass straight man making Wesley looking even more foolish. It wasn't bad, but it wouldn't be this high on the list if that was the only thing to their relationship. As the series progressed (brogressed?) Wesley started becoming more of a right hand man, not only helping with the research but the fighting as well. But even that wouldn't make it that high on his list. No what makes them on this is list is that Wesley stole Angel's kid, which resulted in Angel trying to kill him on his hospital bed, only for Wesley to save him after said kid left him at the bottom of an ocean. That's devotion right there.
3. Colonel Saul Tigh and Admiral William Adama in Battlestar Galactica- It was hard deciding #2 and #3, but after a few hours (ok, seconds) of deliberating within myself, baby snatching and almost killing> thinking your friend is human only to find out he's/it's a Cylon. If it was baby snatching or almost killing, this would have been #2 hands down, but since it's both, here it is. Like the Roman pair, these guys got the war buddy thing going on along with drinking buddy, that is when Tigh feels like drinking with people. Dude's the Lucille Bluth of the Galactica. And like the previous two, they've fought each other, once over a woman (though to be fair, one of them was drunk. I think you're smart enough to guess who) then shared a laugh about 30 seconds afterwards. Then again, when you're one of the last survivors of the human race, you can't really disown your friends unless you're a really antisocial fuck (who writes blogs that barely anyone reads- what?)
4. Ted Mosby and Marshall Ericksen in How I Met Your Mother- It started the first day of college when they were roomates. Marshall was stoned and thought that the pretentious Ted (who wore glasses because it made him "smarter") was the Dean for the first week. Ted was there for Marshall and his girlfriend (later fiance and even later wife) Lily's firsts: first time they met, first time they kissed, first time....other stuff (it's simple physics, if the top bunk moves, the bottom bunk moves also). They've never really fought, except for the time where they fought for the stuff in the apartment using swords on the walls. But that doesn't count because they kept commentating on how awesome it was (you know you wanted to also). Barney would be here, but he's done some....questionable acts (and Ted's ex) that disqualify him.
5. Sam, Sock, and Benji in Reaper- Life kinda blows when you're a grim reaper for the devil and there's no way to get out of it because your parents sold your soul to him in exchange for his father's health (that sentence came out well). But Sock and Benji make it bearable. Sock being the lovable screw up while Benji keeps Sam and Sock in line (I swear to God, I almost typed "it real." And for those who haven't seen the show, Benji's the Hispanic one). Even though it's Sam's job and could very well kill him (a fact that Sam states), Benji and Sock continue to help Sam in his job of capturing escaped souls. That's friendship right there.
Honorable Mention: Sam and Dean Winchester in Supernatural- I better pair of brothers on TV is a rare find, and they should have a spot on this list.....Except, they actually are brothers which disqualifies them just a bit.
1. Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo in Rome- They're number one on the list just because of how much shit they've been through, and how it could have gone so possibly wrong after the first episode, but it never does. Last thing's first, it starts out like some kind of weird buddy cop relationship set in the Roman period: Vorenus is a high ranking soldier while Pullo is a fuck-up drunk who only cares about killing people and fucking women and the two of them are paired to find Caesar's missing Golden Eagle (with crazy hijinks to ensue (well, more bloody than crazy, but still)). But it becomes so much more than that after it gets through the relationship's growing pains (Pullo keeps getting into trouble and it's up to Vorenus to fix it), when Pullo finds out about Vorenus's wife's infidelity and kills the guy in secret out of respect for his friend (It's Rome, a much simpler time. Also bloodier and more boobs (I just lost everyone because they went to Blockbuster to rent it now, didn't I?)) Then when Pullo becomes an assassin for hire and gets caught and put to death in the arena, Vorenus saves him from a giant out of love and brotherhood for his friend. And that's about half of it. They've each tried to kill each other at least once, and debated leaving the other for dead, and yet they still come back to each other. If this was on a network (read "lack of boobs and coitus"), the audience would have half a mind that they were gay for each other. It's a shame the series only lasted two seasons (HBO seasons, mind, which practically makes it one network season, except with the blood and boobs) because in a show that was mostly a political drama set in the Roman era, Vorenus and Pullo was the human face of it.
2. Angel and Wesley Windham-Price in Angel- Like the former, it started out with a jokey premise, except this time with actual jokes. Wesley was the clumsy dude, while Angel was the badass straight man making Wesley looking even more foolish. It wasn't bad, but it wouldn't be this high on the list if that was the only thing to their relationship. As the series progressed (brogressed?) Wesley started becoming more of a right hand man, not only helping with the research but the fighting as well. But even that wouldn't make it that high on his list. No what makes them on this is list is that Wesley stole Angel's kid, which resulted in Angel trying to kill him on his hospital bed, only for Wesley to save him after said kid left him at the bottom of an ocean. That's devotion right there.
3. Colonel Saul Tigh and Admiral William Adama in Battlestar Galactica- It was hard deciding #2 and #3, but after a few hours (ok, seconds) of deliberating within myself, baby snatching and almost killing> thinking your friend is human only to find out he's/it's a Cylon. If it was baby snatching or almost killing, this would have been #2 hands down, but since it's both, here it is. Like the Roman pair, these guys got the war buddy thing going on along with drinking buddy, that is when Tigh feels like drinking with people. Dude's the Lucille Bluth of the Galactica. And like the previous two, they've fought each other, once over a woman (though to be fair, one of them was drunk. I think you're smart enough to guess who) then shared a laugh about 30 seconds afterwards. Then again, when you're one of the last survivors of the human race, you can't really disown your friends unless you're a really antisocial fuck (who writes blogs that barely anyone reads- what?)
4. Ted Mosby and Marshall Ericksen in How I Met Your Mother- It started the first day of college when they were roomates. Marshall was stoned and thought that the pretentious Ted (who wore glasses because it made him "smarter") was the Dean for the first week. Ted was there for Marshall and his girlfriend (later fiance and even later wife) Lily's firsts: first time they met, first time they kissed, first time....other stuff (it's simple physics, if the top bunk moves, the bottom bunk moves also). They've never really fought, except for the time where they fought for the stuff in the apartment using swords on the walls. But that doesn't count because they kept commentating on how awesome it was (you know you wanted to also). Barney would be here, but he's done some....questionable acts (and Ted's ex) that disqualify him.
5. Sam, Sock, and Benji in Reaper- Life kinda blows when you're a grim reaper for the devil and there's no way to get out of it because your parents sold your soul to him in exchange for his father's health (that sentence came out well). But Sock and Benji make it bearable. Sock being the lovable screw up while Benji keeps Sam and Sock in line (I swear to God, I almost typed "it real." And for those who haven't seen the show, Benji's the Hispanic one). Even though it's Sam's job and could very well kill him (a fact that Sam states), Benji and Sock continue to help Sam in his job of capturing escaped souls. That's friendship right there.
Honorable Mention: Sam and Dean Winchester in Supernatural- I better pair of brothers on TV is a rare find, and they should have a spot on this list.....Except, they actually are brothers which disqualifies them just a bit.
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