Watching the Watchmen... woohoo!!
Feb. 27th, 2009 12:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jencatHmm... I think the massive sugar high is finally starting to wear off now (and ooh, its my birthday already) but mainly I walked out of the Imax press screening tonight very, very buzzed that Watchmen didn't suck.
Honestly, it's very hard to pick holes in what they did with the adaptation and the choices Zack Snyder et al made - except Malin Ackerman, of course - and the result is seriously impressive. In Imax, it's an incredible amount to take in, but it looks fantastic.
The adaptation aspect - pretty much worked out well; gawd knows you don't need the subplots. Most stuff gets covered that needs to be covered and quite frankly, well, we were never gonna have the giant squid pop up at the end in all seriousness. The alternative is elegantly brutal, and much more sensible.
Rorschacht... Oh lordy, he was the best thing about the book and when the boy kicks off on screen, complete with Christian Bale raspy Batman voice, he's just gold. Love it. The film lends him much more class and elegance, less scrabbling around in the gutter; so much more backbone than the entire rest of the super muscled hero wannabes. I have to admit, it's weird rooting for the guy who kills people with a deep fat fryer and an angle grinder vs toilet scenario, but he's the best of the lot. When he strips off the mask and faces down Jon at the end, it kinda breaks your heart a little. Just fantastically efficient, and painfully honest. I think they probably toned down his abrupt dialogue in the first half, so when he starts talking in proper stripped down Rorschacht speak later on, it sounds great.
And when he runs into Dan and Laurie during their little Prison Break re-enactment: "Hello Daniel. Miss Jupiter. Just have to use the bathroom", and the door swings back and forth and we never quite see how he elicited so much bloodshed in such a short space of time.... lulz.
Heh. Dan is better onscreen - amusing that Patrick Wilson usually plays pretty boys, given he's decidedly... not doing that here.
Imax at one point = four very tall Dr Manhattans. All bright blue and stark naked... boy, you really don't know where to look just then!
And, oh dear, Malin Ackerman...
I'm sure she does look lovely in the Silk Spectre II costume (complete with amazing flame-retardant hair, heh) but my god she can't act it. Her first line is a dull monotone delivered too fast and she kinda kills dead most of her scenes. Carla Gugino steals all the scenes they have together, despite being buried under layers of aging make-up... The girl's just not right for the part. Her accent was off (she's starting to sound like Diane Kruger) and her dialogue falls flat 90% of the time. It was off-putting, and I can't believe she was really the best they could find for that role.
(Having said that, we spent most of the journey home thinking of better alternatives, most of which ended up being Michelle Monaghan, Yvonne Strahovsky (from Chuck) or Angelina Jolie ten years ago. Go figure.)
I still have major issues with the sexual politics, but then this is an Alan Moore adaptation so that figures. The scene where the Comedian attacks Sally is unflinchingly brutal, but there's an odd edge to it - the fetish wear, and the backstory of what happens later. It's arguably complicated but mostly leaves a very nasty taste in my mouth.
The production design is amazing - the period costumes and odd details everywhere are so lush and there is a fantastic array of songs on the soundtrack - I was absolutely rocking along to All Along the Watchtower as Archie hits the Arctic. Everybody Wants to rule the World is playing as Ozymandias outlines his plans for world domination, and the title sequence was really beautifully done to Dylan. The one exception would be the Dan/Laurie sex scene - noooooo to using that version of Hallelujah. It was weird and creepy and way too slow... not good at all.
There, I'm bitching again but I don't mean it. Hell of a lot more fun than dragging through the whole graphic novel, and if you're going to adapt something, this is the way to do it. Have no idea what someone who hasn't read the book would make of it - it's not exactly.. accessible - but it's remarkably faithful to the script and the visuals, and perks some parts of it right up.
And highly amusing to see the credit sequence, where a lone 'co-created by Dave Gibbons' marks the spot where Alan Moore's name refuses to be. Shame, cos this one is actually worth it, after all the failed attempts we've seen before.
Honestly, it's very hard to pick holes in what they did with the adaptation and the choices Zack Snyder et al made - except Malin Ackerman, of course - and the result is seriously impressive. In Imax, it's an incredible amount to take in, but it looks fantastic.
The adaptation aspect - pretty much worked out well; gawd knows you don't need the subplots. Most stuff gets covered that needs to be covered and quite frankly, well, we were never gonna have the giant squid pop up at the end in all seriousness. The alternative is elegantly brutal, and much more sensible.
Rorschacht... Oh lordy, he was the best thing about the book and when the boy kicks off on screen, complete with Christian Bale raspy Batman voice, he's just gold. Love it. The film lends him much more class and elegance, less scrabbling around in the gutter; so much more backbone than the entire rest of the super muscled hero wannabes. I have to admit, it's weird rooting for the guy who kills people with a deep fat fryer and an angle grinder vs toilet scenario, but he's the best of the lot. When he strips off the mask and faces down Jon at the end, it kinda breaks your heart a little. Just fantastically efficient, and painfully honest. I think they probably toned down his abrupt dialogue in the first half, so when he starts talking in proper stripped down Rorschacht speak later on, it sounds great.
And when he runs into Dan and Laurie during their little Prison Break re-enactment: "Hello Daniel. Miss Jupiter. Just have to use the bathroom", and the door swings back and forth and we never quite see how he elicited so much bloodshed in such a short space of time.... lulz.
Heh. Dan is better onscreen - amusing that Patrick Wilson usually plays pretty boys, given he's decidedly... not doing that here.
Imax at one point = four very tall Dr Manhattans. All bright blue and stark naked... boy, you really don't know where to look just then!
And, oh dear, Malin Ackerman...
I'm sure she does look lovely in the Silk Spectre II costume (complete with amazing flame-retardant hair, heh) but my god she can't act it. Her first line is a dull monotone delivered too fast and she kinda kills dead most of her scenes. Carla Gugino steals all the scenes they have together, despite being buried under layers of aging make-up... The girl's just not right for the part. Her accent was off (she's starting to sound like Diane Kruger) and her dialogue falls flat 90% of the time. It was off-putting, and I can't believe she was really the best they could find for that role.
(Having said that, we spent most of the journey home thinking of better alternatives, most of which ended up being Michelle Monaghan, Yvonne Strahovsky (from Chuck) or Angelina Jolie ten years ago. Go figure.)
I still have major issues with the sexual politics, but then this is an Alan Moore adaptation so that figures. The scene where the Comedian attacks Sally is unflinchingly brutal, but there's an odd edge to it - the fetish wear, and the backstory of what happens later. It's arguably complicated but mostly leaves a very nasty taste in my mouth.
The production design is amazing - the period costumes and odd details everywhere are so lush and there is a fantastic array of songs on the soundtrack - I was absolutely rocking along to All Along the Watchtower as Archie hits the Arctic. Everybody Wants to rule the World is playing as Ozymandias outlines his plans for world domination, and the title sequence was really beautifully done to Dylan. The one exception would be the Dan/Laurie sex scene - noooooo to using that version of Hallelujah. It was weird and creepy and way too slow... not good at all.
There, I'm bitching again but I don't mean it. Hell of a lot more fun than dragging through the whole graphic novel, and if you're going to adapt something, this is the way to do it. Have no idea what someone who hasn't read the book would make of it - it's not exactly.. accessible - but it's remarkably faithful to the script and the visuals, and perks some parts of it right up.
And highly amusing to see the credit sequence, where a lone 'co-created by Dave Gibbons' marks the spot where Alan Moore's name refuses to be. Shame, cos this one is actually worth it, after all the failed attempts we've seen before.
