- Posted
- Aug 6th 2009
- Mood
I missed seeing Watchmen in the theater, so when I saw it available for RedBox Rental, I was overjoyed. Everyone around me said how fantastic a movie it was and how great a comic book adaption too. Nothing but praise from the fans. It’s technically stunning with visual feasts for the eyes and a moral message too. It’s epic, it’s edgy, and it’s smart. It’s everything that I should enjoy in a comic book style movie...
... so why did I not like it?
Well... here’s my breakdown of why I think it didn’t strike a chord with me...
1. None of the characters were likeable. You have to have SOMEONE to root for during a movie, because if none of them are enjoyable then there’s no emotional connection with the audience. Just when I thought I would like a certain character, they did or said something which completely pissed me off. None of them were redeemable.
2. It was overly graphic and violent. I’m sure the reason behind that was because it’s trying to make a commentary on society’s violence at large, but some of the stuff I saw I really didn’t need to see. It was just plain disgusting in it’s graphicness, and it was violent towards animals too (which is an immediate gut dislike reaction.) “If you kill an animal in a movie you’ve automatically lost 50% of your audience” as someone famous once said.
3. It was slow. The overuse of slow motion throughout the entire movie made it feel like it was longer than it actually was. Within the first 15 minutes I was getting bored with it already. I can understand using it from time to time to punctuate important pieces of information... but for almost the entire movie? That’s far too much. When everything is important, nothing is.
4. Lost allegory. The story takes place in a “what if” scenario (an improbable one at that) which didn’t really connect with today’s social feeling. I dunno, this is the hardest one for me to pin down... but the closest I could find to anything relating to today’s news topics was someone mentioning socialism towards the beginning. I guess it just didn’t feel “relevant” to me. Maybe if this was made in the 80's when it was set, it would’ve been... but for today.. I dunno...
So... that’s my verdict. There was a lot of stuff that could’ve been trimmed, edited, cut, and simply not used at all. None of the acting was bad, and the special FX were top notch, and the writing was good and the story was epic. By all rights it should’ve been an awesome movie. But in the end it just left me feeling empty.
I’m not trying to be negative... I just didn’t like it. And I don’t understand why so many comic book people were holding this movie up to such a lofty pillar of accomplishment. It was so-so, and nothing more. Am I alone in this thinking? Am I just overtly cynical? What did you think and do you agree with me?
Galloglasses Says:
The movie has spawned a torrent of debate and interpretations, so don't be too concerned if you find folks disagreeing with you a great deal on issues.
I however found Rorsarch a surprisingly likeable character, despite he seemed to have been written to be hated by the Audience, (Like a sortof Morally-warped parody of Batman), in the end he seemed to be the only one of the characters to stick to their original principles at the end of the film, which I found both surprising and all the more upsetting that it was essentially because of this Dr.Manhatten killed him.(as he felt duty bound to reveal the truth of the farce to the world), Of course it doesn't redeem him from being the murderer he was, but it was a surprisingly moving piece of his character.
Justin Frost Says:
Rorschach was a likable character...
Well at first.
He was a well made character.
PsychoCaptain Says:
I think a lot of the praise from comic book people comes from the fact that it stays so true to the comic and the fact that it is incredibly cool to se all those awesome (in the comic) characters come to life.
I like the comic very much and so the first time I saw the movie I thought it was perfect in every way. When I saw it on dvd I noticed, just like you, that the movie is flawed in quite a few ways.
So my guess is that the glory of the comicbook blinds the fans so that they can not se the movie clearly.
Still, the movie is a nice compliment to the comic and I still like it.
CatFreak Says:
I love Rorschach man.
All there is to it really, but your opinion is your opinion I am not going to give you a lecture.
Hellucard Says:
You know what movie it reminds me?
Mystery Men.
Yeah like most, Rorschach was a very likeable character for me.
I'm not saying it's the greatest piece ever, but have you read the comic then? If you liked the comic then I have no idea why you wouldn't like the movie as it mostly sticks true to it, besides the ending.
Maybe it's me, but, I felt it the story connected a lot with today's social feeling, a bit over the top sometimes but to be honest it's how I see the most of the world today. You can't disagree that too many people are cowards, oblivious and the media has such a bad influence on people and their behavior.
Still, it's understandable, it's very different then your average movie/comic and it has a more specific audience I think.
Admein Says:
Socialism is still a nasty thing to worry about, even more so today then back in the 80s. It's no longer the main spectical of intrest to the puplic eye...I would guess that being the reason why it's not relevat for todays "problems".
Olin Lembara Says:
You do have some good points, especially regarding the violence. I thought there was too much that was taken away from the original story and the ending was just horrid.
The Mobile Sponge Says:
The major root no one liked it was because of the symbolism
every page had nothing but drenched images expressing something important for the story, subtle, powerful, meaningful
And Ol' Zack gives us a 10 minute, overly acted sex scene
Wolfe Says:
I think you went looking for a super hero movie and didn't find it.