Watching Watchmen Again
Went to see Watchmen again, alone on an early afternoon, and I was slightly surprised by the incredibly small audience. Only slightly, though. I may be a Watchmen freak, but clearly this is a minority taste. After a decent opening for a nearly three-hour film, ticket sales for Zack Snyder's adaptation dropped by two-thirds; and while Watchmen will make money over the long haul, it doesn't have the legs of The Dark Knight, or other, more familiar fare.
None of which bothers me. I don't have a stake in the film's profits. I've contributed twice to the cup, and will again should Snyder's even-longer director's cut appear in July. And then there's the special edition DVD set, and maybe a Rorschach mask, though I'm much closer in temperament and body type to Nite Owl II (who, let us not forget, has mad sex with Silk Spectre II). So to those like comedian Patton Oswalt, one of the film's most vocal champions, I've done my part to help Watchmen along. But again, we are a small, geek collective. There's only so much to give.
To be expected. As I watched the film a second time, sinking deeper into the experience, now that I know what Snyder kept and changed, I realized what a weird, off-putting mainstream vehicle Watchmen truly is. If you have no prior knowledge of the book or the characters, it must come off as bizarre if not boring. And to those who flocked to see Watchmen the first weekend, expecting a typical superhero popcorn flick, it doubtless confused and angered them, poisoning word of mouth.
The problem with these expectations is that Watchmen really isn't a superhero story. It's a meditation on power, political and personal corruption, the morality of the end justifying the means, which in this case entails mass murder on a global scale, all wrapped in an alternate timeline where, among many twists, the US wins the Vietnam War, a victory that keeps Americans from going crazy, as Edward Blake observes. Being The Comedian, Blake was clearly joking. Despite that Cold War prize, Americans of the Watchmen world are already around the bend. Mixed in among them are a handful of adults who dress in masks and costumes and assault and kill criminals and psychos, when not turning on each other.
I don't know if any version of Watchmen could grab a mass audience. When one of your main characters talks about the futility and meaninglessness of human existence while on Mars, you're not going to appeal to the Good vs. Evil demographic. As my friend Dwayne, another Watchmen nut, told me, the one thing we can be grateful for is that Zack Snyder always stays true to his source material. In the hands of a more "creative" director, who knows what kind of Watchmen we would've gotten. A better version? Maybe. But a truly better version would have to be much longer and more detailed. In that case, I definitely would want someone loyal to the original story. Imagine Joel Schumacher's cut.
Here are the opening credits to Watchmen, a montage that even the film's critics lauded. Snyder does a nice job establishing the alternate history, and perfectly captures the look of the original Minutemen. The first Nite Owl, the first mask you see, doesn't appear as dorky as he does in the book, though he was an especially savage fighter. I could've used more Silhouette, the sleek dyke who falls to the prejudice of her time. I've never understood Moth Man, who as you'll see goes insane. His costume makes no sense. Then again, he was crazy. And poor Dollar Bill. Another victim of a useless cape. And no body armor. You can get hurt going out like that.
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I took my 16 year old daughter to see the movie, or rather she dragged me. I had no idea what it was about so I went in "blind". I had seen Sin City and 300 so I figured the violence (and some sex) would be there. I didn't expect the full frontal blue guy (lol) but it didn't bother my daughter so it didn't bother me. I was more concerned about her being uncomfortable but it didn't happen, we both were so engrossed in the story.
The day after that we both headed to Barnes & Noble to find everything Watchmen we could read! I think it's a great movie and will definitely buy it when it comes out on DVD.
One thing I had to add is that we did go to a later show and you can not believe how many people brought young children to this movie. I'm talking 4-10 years old. This is an "R" rated movie and the parents should have forked out the dough for a babysitter! Unreal.
I never read the comic books.
I really enjoyed this movie because it was deep and thick, and was visually captivating.
Children suckled on saccharine Hollywood fare need not apply.
Below, 96Bravo has it right. It's a beautiful movie. I just saw it for my third time, and its gotten richer with each viewing. (Like any great, or even effective, piece of art.)
While my first viewing had me in awe and wonderment, my third viewing had me tearing up in three places... and still in awe and wonderment.
The book is a fantastic book. The movie is a fantastic movie. They are two different mediums. It's hard for me to imagine it being a better 2'40'' movie; the pettiness of some complaints that it left out something shows, I think, a lack of sophistication about understanding the differences between producing works of art in literature or celluloid.
Who watches the Watchmen?
Only me in the theater I went to. My cousin went to a showing in his hometown the same day and he was the only person in that theater as well.
Too many "mature" things were left out. For example what happened to the anti-mask rioters who slaughter Hollis Mason in the comic? And where were the Goddang pseudo-aliens?
The opening titles are pretty cool, but they also highlight some of the problems with the movie. For example, the shot of Silhouette kissing the nurse is kind of cute, but it makes no sense. Silhouette's coming out of the closet to the rest of the Minutemen is what got her kicked out in the first place. Moore was drawing a parallel between the alter-egos of superheroes and the "double lives" that closeted gay people have to live. So having her brazenly kiss a woman in the middle of a *very* public event doesn't make much sense.
The other example from the titles is having the Comedian shoot JFK. This annoyed me because in the comic it was an aside by the Comedian, not neccessarily the truth. But Snyder seems incapable of understanding subtlety. If this was the best Watchmen movie we could hope for, I'd rather have no Watchmen movie.
While I am a fan of the comic (sorry but illustrated/graphic novel or whatever just doesn't cut it) and I liked the movie, it definitely was really not for the masses. It was advertised to make it look like a typical super hero movie but wasn't. I saw far too many parents taking their kids out and they were none to pleased. The second show I went to has almost no one under 16 or so.
The first show had far too many kids and I saw a a lot of unhappy parents.
So without that support, making it a huge hit isn't easy.
But it was indeed a very good movie. Just not for everyone.
Those parents should only be unhappy with themselves for taking their kids to an R rated movie.
The first show shouldn't have had any kids, and yep, no one but the parents are to blame. A hand holding rating system isn't enough? Rated R for STRONG GRAPHIC VIOLENCE, sexuality, nudity and language. That wasn't loud and clear enough of a warning? Even if they didn't have time to read a bit about it, even if they didn't know about the rape and the violence and the pedophiles
I complained to the management, after there were kids of all ages, even toddlers at the 11pm showing. They claimed they warned all parents, that the parents got so irate the cops had already been called twice. I made a huge scene and one lady with a child backed off real quick.
My dog was sick when Dark Knight came out so we took turns going to it. If we can do that as dog parents, why can't the humans? Right...pr
I don't care about all the tearing down of superheroes and stuff. I just thought Watchmen was a really beautiful work of art that happens to be about superheroes. The opening (posted above) is perfect example of how oddly powerful and even emotionally complex this film is. I never even read the famous graphic novel.
Just beautifully done.
Well there goes ambitious big budget R rated movies. Get ready for more terrible Transformer, G.I Joe, and Michael Bay fiascos. Big budget summer movies get more gutless and bland every year. You can thank all the people who supported Lucas' horrible new Star Wars Movies and Transformers. These fans support junk while ignoring or ragging on ambitious work. Regardless of what you think of Watchmen it's lack off success will mean more big budget dogs.
Uhhhh--it's March. This was never intended as a summer tent pole movie. It was filling the same slot in the year as Sin City and 300.
"Well there goes ambitious big budget R rated movies. "
I find it amazing that people are harping about what this will do to R rated movies. Who really cares? More sex and violence does not automatically make a movie more mature. One of the best movies of last year was Wall-E, and it was truly for all ages.
Then get thee to thine word processor and write a better movie to show us all how it's supposed to be done. Otherwise clear the deck.
http://ima
Despite it's weaknesses the film deserves a wider audience even if only because it isn't Batman.
This is a meta-hero film that explores the ethics of intervention in human affairs and of appropriate means to an end. It’s the kind of philosophical discussion that the Greek gods might have had on Mount Olympus. The ancient world permeates the whole production. As well as the Greeks we have Egyptians and Persians. Very much the stuff of modern sci-fi.
More of my thoughts at 'Watchmen: Not Everybody Wants To Rule The World'. http://cin
The movie's real problem is that other movies beat it to the punch when it comes to tearing down the superhero myth and reconciling it with the real world, even though the original source material predates those other movies. And those other movies did it for laughs, making it a far more enjoyable experience. You reference ancient mythological gods; HANCOCK already touched upon that comparison when Charlize Theron explains to Will Smith what they really are.
Incidentally, Malin "Silk Spectre" Akerman said she'd date Batman.
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