Who watches the Watchmen? Apparently a lot of ultra-conservative crazies. The violence, sex, and gore have been vastly overblown in reviews of this movie.
I have read some ridiculous things about this movie. I’ve seen reviews claiming midget drowning, fetus killing, and graphic rape. All three are irresponsible exaggerations of what actually goes on in this movie.
I’m not saying that this movie is for children, but it’s hardly so disturbing that you need to worry about your eternal salvation after watching it. Every heinous act in the movie is important to character development; and in my book, that makes it ok.
I’m a Watchmen nub. I’ve never read the comics, and what little I knew about the film going into it was from previews, trailers, and reviews.
I can see how fans of the comic book might be disappointed. I can only imagine that many of themes were more poignant and better conveyed. I also imagine that waiting for each issue made the whole experience different.
But knowing nothing about the Watchmen universe, I found this movie to be absolutely amazing. It had some technical flaws, but its story was thought-provoking and well constructed.
The acting was better than I expected, as all of the Watchmen turn in believable performances — which is no small task given the complexities of most of the characters.
I was especially impressed with the subtlety with which they conveyed Dr. Manhattan’s falling away from mankind. The concept, to me at least, was revolutionary. Why would an all powerful being care about humans at all? He has transcended the ‘human condition’ as it were.
I also liked the love triangle between Nite Owl, Silk Spectre and Dr. Manhattan. It worked; I was never mad at Silk Spectre for her decisions; because it made sense. How was she to be with a man who was more or less a deity; and how was Nite Owl to compete with the same?
The character who really stole the show for me, though, was Rorschach. I feel that he was the lens through which the entire dystopia of the Watchmen universe is seen. Can you be both a superhero and sane? Rorschach proves that it’s just not really possible.
Jackie Earle Haley deserves a lot of credit for bringing Rorschach to life. Other than a few scenes in prison, Rorschach’s face is completely obscured, yet Haley brought remarkable humanity to the character. It was an impressive feat.
The Comedian was also a well constructed character; both a hero and a villain at the same time. But Watchmen builds its case on that argument — superheroes cannot be normal. The Comedian is no exception, and though he performs some heinous acts in the movie, it’s hard not to like and sympathize with him.
The only issues I had with Watchmen were technical. The movie runs a bit long, and the editing was done in a way that made you feel like you were reading a comic book. There was a 20 minute flashback of Dr. Manhattan’s story that slowed down the pace of the movie.
I’m sure when it was published, there was a whole issue about Dr. Manhattan but in a movie such things need to be more masterfully constructed. A flashback should not be so long that you nearly forget what’s going on in the main plot.
But that’s just picking nits. Overall, Watchmen is an excellent film and I recommend it for anyone who can stomach the darker universe that it inhabits. There are blood and themes that are not particularly comfortable to watch. But those themes are a poignant and worthwhile reflection of society.
Verdict: A- Tilt: A+
You are correct, the Dr. Manhattan flashback was a single issue. I think the point of it is not just a flashback, but a window into how he now thinks, in that all those events are taking place simultaneously for him.
I actually liked the Dr. Manhattan flashback better than the others, but agree that the movie definitely needed to be trimmed down overall. Way too long. My biggest problem (other than length) was the ordering, I would have preferred to have the flashbacks more up front rather than interrupting the movie throughout, practically to the end. It made it feel like the movie was always just getting started the whole way through, and the pace would slow way down as soon as things started moving. I started to feel at times like “oh great, here comes another flashback.”
I didn’t read any of the reviews that you mentioned you felt were overly damning of the films gratuitousness, but man, that was one graphic movie. It may not have had the “density” (in terms of graphic scenes/minute) of something like Kill Bill or Sin City, but it was as graphic as anything I’ve ever seen, during those times when it chose to be. Like I said, not in terms of density or number of occurrences, but I’m having trouble coming up with something mainstream I’ve seen with more graphic depictions of violence or sex.
Rob,
Care to comment on some of the “non-mainstream” things you allude to having seen?
LOL, I’d make a your momma joke, but I know you’d get mad at me ;)