Bass' journal. March 6th, 2009. Just saw WATCHMEN movie. Was taken aback at how good and bad it was at same time. Hurm. Warrants further explanation.
Opening surprising. Why show Comedian's death? When actor gave that weird look before being put through the coffee table, I understood. Actor is delightful. One of the best scenes in the movie, because it has time to breathe. It's natural. Then opening credits which are brilliant. Great way to show the Watchmen's world without dialogue boring audience. Well done.
After that, movie continues well enough. Unfortunately, too much in movie. Should've been HBO miniseries instead of film. Film squashes too many scenes, trying to keep too much in. On the whole, first half of movie very entertaining. Comedian in particular, was engaging. Nite Owl and Rorschach also very good. Ozymandias okay but downplayed too much. Silk Spectre fine but not amazing. Dr Manhattan – unfortunate. At times, genuinely eerie and worrying. Othertimes, nothing more than CGI spectacle. Didn't find balance easily. Actor good.
Impressive additions; swearing and graphical violence. Original comic forced to adhere to bizarre, outdated comics code authority. Movie free. Free to swear, to show blood and pain. Dr Manhattan's dispatching of the mafia goons went from "paff" cloud into exploding body parts. Good addition. Swearing too. The physical power of the more 'human' heroes perhaps too much. It is a change not needed, but seemingly desired by director. Empty one that did some harm. Except for Ozymandias, Comedian and Rorschach. Crazy men who can fight. Specifically Nite Owl and Silk Spectre. Problem because slow-motion kung fu, while entertaining, make them appear 'superhuman', which makes Dr Manhattan less impressive and just another 'effect'. Music choices were good. Made film very operatic. But too much. Too much of every good thing, deafening the senses. Too much in too little time. Film didn't need more time. Film needed less in it. Almost very good. Terrific set design.
Ending problem. Lacked pace. Fell apart. Not because squid-less. Because no atmosphere. Key moments glossed over. Scenes in post-bomb New York should show gravity of the deaths. The pulped masses, the flowing blood, the crushing weight of death. None present. Just a clue in an already revealed conspiracy. No meaning. Almost had it: psychiatrist and news vendor and kid – even though we never saw them, their hug spoke many words – worked as grassroot appeal. Threw it away with no mourning. Stupidly ruined choreography of fight with slow-motion effects. Ozymandias eating great character trait. Forgot to set-up the bullet with great line, "I guess I'd have to catch the bullet, wouldn't I?" Forgot to set-up the bullet with Silk Spectre scavenging for gun as the small, insignificant termite she is. Ending so well done in comic. Had to work hard to screw it up. Manhattan as cause is fine. Good use of humanity's fear of Manhattan. Good pay off to Comedian's line, "You're out of touch, Doc. God help us all." Should've played it up more. Make Manhattan seem just as dangerous as nuclear war, not as its saviour. Make him seem like he could go either way, a closed hand of God with the thumb pointing sideways, waiting to turn. Ending also removed line, "I DID IT!" with Ozymadias' hands in the air. Important beat. Only true emotion Ozymandias shows in the entire story. Stupid to leave it. Stupid to cut away to Nite Owl and Silk Spectre acting like married couple in happy suburban home. Lie. A haphazardly cut piece of paper pretending to fit in with the jigsaw. Almost added good bit to ending: Rorschach's death. While both Manhattan and Rorschach's actors – particularly Rorschach's – play the scene perfectly, the addition of Nite Owl was good in theory. But like many theories, ultimately useless. Nite Owl just watching wasn't in character. Also, his scream at the end feels added on because he's not part of the scene. He shows up before scene starts. Scene happens. Then he says something. He should've spoke to Rorschach and Manhattan when it was clear Rorschach was begging Manhattan to kill him. Good idea. Nite Owl should've been there in comic. Always felt bad his reaction to Rorschach's death never shown. Good idea, poorly executed. Made worse with Nite Owl punching Ozymandias. Out of character for both. Needless. Cliché. In comics, Nite Owl makes his peace with horror. In film, he makes peace with deaths of millions in his home town, but gets upset when his friend is killed. Makes him seem stupid. Capricious. Inconsistent.
Odd choice. Of all parts of the comic, ending should be changed least. Most important part. This is why reviews so mixed. Ending is a good, solid story ending. Film is good and solid for the most part. Unique and distinct. Genuine. But ending is so badly put together, people walk out wondering why they didn't enjoy it as much as they thought they would.
Ending butchered. Pace ruined. Structure holds well enough, but exposed as shoddy, ridiculous, and infantile. All things WATCHMEN is iconically antithetical to. Shows up major problem with WATCHMEN fanbase: most prefer to talk about how much they like comic than to actually enjoy the comic. Fans look up and scream, "This is the best comic ever" but in their hearts, they whisper, "I prefer the X-Men". Never captured heart. Only mind. Legitimized medium on academic level. Movie not academic. Medium of film in no need of legitimacy. Movie superhero genre in no need of legitimacy since BATMAN BEGINS. Remove academia, and WATCHMEN is absurd.
Never really liked WATCHMEN.
Until movie.
