Watchmen was good

I saw the movie Watchmen last night and i have to say that i really liked it.  Here are some thought why.

The movie was….

  1. Merciless.  Some will say that the movie is too violent but i think that it actually ads to the character of the film. This is a world where superheros have grown disconnected from their human counterparts.  Showing the amazing painful battles they engage in and are subject to you can sympathize with their pespective but then to also show the other side of the coin – on how they have become cold-hearted, makes the movie quite interesting.    This applies especially to Rorschach who actually explains the exact moment he ceased being human and morphed into a full-time vigilante.
  2. Interesting.  The plot was really interesting.  Or, better yet it actually had a story that actually mattered to the characters which is unusual for a comic book movie.  I enjoyed for once watching a comic book movie where i cared whether missles were launched or not.
  3. Self-confident. The movie didn’t care about being too graphic, too violent, too campy, too strange, or too unconventional.  It put itself out there on the screen completely.  Bold choices in use of music (more below), in use of graphics (Rorschach’s face), and in use of story-telling.  All of which is completely refreshing.  I don’t see many movies like that and the unusualness makes it better.
  4. Sexually unusual. From a three-some with 2 cloned glowing super-humans to showing 40 minutes of shlong, the movie was so unusual, which again made it really interesting.  There was pretty much a comic book porn sex session in the movie which was surprising (and appreciated).
  5. Full of blue penis. i’ve never seen so much blue penis.  This is related to the last point, I like how they gradually introduced me to Dr. Manhattan’s penis.  First it was a nude shot of Dr. Manhattan but only above the waist.  Then, it was another naked shot of him, full profile but from afar and with only a glimpse of shlong.  10 minutes later it was an up-close shot of him staight-on with shlong and eveyrthing for a few seconds.  And finally, they would leave the camera on the shlong for minutes at a time.  I think the movie studio probably had a few meetings to determine how best to show it to the audience. I can just picture it now, a 11am meeting on the lot with people sitting around a conference table focusing on the unveiling of Billy Crudup‘s penis.  There are storyboards on the walls and one associate director wants to throw it right at the audience from the beginning for shock value while an older producer doesn’t want to show it at all and a fight ensues.  Ah, that’d be a fun meeting.
  6. Visually compelling.  The movie looks great.  Coming from the director of 300 (Zack Snyder), I was worried there’d be too much slow motion.  There was quite a bit but it worked. Even though it was 3 hours i’d even go back and watch it on IMAX

Some things i didn’t like:

  • The music was horrible. Songs like “The Sound of Silence,” at a funeral and “Me and Bobby McGee” were just so out of place and strange.  Why use such familiar tracks in an completely new fictional world?  Everyone i talked to after the movie noticed it and how weird it was.  I hate thinking about the music in the middle of a movie unless i’m thinking, “wow, this is great” which is a tought that definitely did not go through my head.  Each time a song began, i thought, “whoa this is strange.”  Maybe that was the point.
  • It was too long. While it was unbearable, it could have been 20 minutes shorter and my ass would have appreciated it.

All in all it was a good movie.  I give it an 8 out of 10.  What did you think?

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