Watchmen (2009) ***1/2
About a month ago my friend John gave me his extra copy of Watchmen (2009) on Blu-ray. I told him that I couldn't watch it until I read the graphic novel (which I've been meaning to do for years) because I was dead set on reading it first. Luckily, my neighbor/friend Jon owned a copy of the GN so I was able to start reading it that same weekend. And, expectedly (largely because I'm not really a "superhero comic book" guy), I loved it (I bought a copy yesterday). It's unconventional, it subverted my expectations, I love the emotional resonance it conveys, and the art is pleasing and unique. It certainly deserves all the praise it gets and it's unquestionably a ***** book, in my opinion. The movie is another story…
Zack Snyder (a director I have no particular love for) and team did a commendable job of adapting the comics into a film (in the director's cut, which is how I viewed it). It's a daunting task and it didn't completely work (and I know it raised a lot of fanpeople ire). Overall, Snyder's style doesn't work for this story. The whole point is that Watchmen is not a standard "superhero" plot, so when he injects his signature slo-mo and frenetic action, it feels out of place. Luckily there are few scenes like that.
Some more thoughts—I did not like the change to the NYC destruction scene (very weak), I thought the finale was a bit tepid, and I did not like the color degrading. The comics really pop because they used offbeat colors for the time (purples, greens as mains). Everything is so desaturated in the film that when I watched the behind the scenes footage it made me long for a film that looked more like that. The costumes don’t get their due in the final film at all.
The elements that Snyder left out or changed are sometimes puzzling, when, in general, most of what's in the comics is brought to the screen. But overall, I did enjoy it a lot (especially considering it's Snyder) and I settled on my star rating based on the good aspects of the film, of which there are many. I'm not sure that any director could have made a film as good as the GN. I am excited to begin the TV series (which continues the storyline) tonight.
Zack Snyder (a director I have no particular love for) and team did a commendable job of adapting the comics into a film (in the director's cut, which is how I viewed it). It's a daunting task and it didn't completely work (and I know it raised a lot of fanpeople ire). Overall, Snyder's style doesn't work for this story. The whole point is that Watchmen is not a standard "superhero" plot, so when he injects his signature slo-mo and frenetic action, it feels out of place. Luckily there are few scenes like that.
Some more thoughts—I did not like the change to the NYC destruction scene (very weak), I thought the finale was a bit tepid, and I did not like the color degrading. The comics really pop because they used offbeat colors for the time (purples, greens as mains). Everything is so desaturated in the film that when I watched the behind the scenes footage it made me long for a film that looked more like that. The costumes don’t get their due in the final film at all.
The elements that Snyder left out or changed are sometimes puzzling, when, in general, most of what's in the comics is brought to the screen. But overall, I did enjoy it a lot (especially considering it's Snyder) and I settled on my star rating based on the good aspects of the film, of which there are many. I'm not sure that any director could have made a film as good as the GN. I am excited to begin the TV series (which continues the storyline) tonight.
Comments
Post a Comment