Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Watchmen: A Non-reader's Perspective

Sure, if you've read the book all this talk about Watchmen must be great. But what about those who haven't read the book? We here at VFH like to please audiences of all kinds, so here it is: Watchmen: A Non-reader's Perspective!

Let me start off by saying that I was somewhat disappointed in Watchmen. Not to say that the movie was bad, far from it, but it just felt as if the film was missing something. At times it just got boring, the characters seemed to keep talking and talking, and in the end it felt like I just listened to a whole lot of nothing. There's also parts where I really think that they could have gone in depth a bit more with the characters past. There was one scene that really sticks out to me, I won't say to much. But you were suppose to feel horrible that something like this would happen, but in the end you felt no remorse whatsoever. I can only pray that the book showed us more of the plot then this movie did.

On the other hand, there were a lot of things I liked about the movie. I liked how there were no "super heroes" nor "super villains." Everyone had their own difficulties that they dealt with however they saw fit. Another thing that I loved about the movie were the fight scenes. They kept you wanting more and more, but unfortunately, you don't get much more. The movie had twice as much talking as there was fighting, which was an extreme disappointment.

Another thing that I rather enjoyed was the music in the movie. The funny thing was that the music is the farthest thing from what you would expect from a movie like this. In the end I can't explain why the music seemed to fit the movie so well, but something about it just felt right. Of course, music in the film didn't come around often enough. It was also overthrown with an overdose of talking, and talking, and talking.

And of course, the visuals in Watchmen were breathtaking. The special effects were definitely the high point of the three hour's. If there is one thing that you will love about this movie, it will be the visuals that the film displays.

In the end, I found the best movie to relate Watchmen to was Lord of the Rings. Or in other words: talk, talk, talk, sweet battle, talk, talk, bored. At the same time, I enjoyed Watchmen MUCH more then Lord of the Rings. Overall, if you haven't read the book, I'd say wait till this one comes out on DVD and judge it from there.

For a reader's view, see VFH's official Watchmen review

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should rent "Tales of the Black Freighter" on DVD which releases on the 24th. If you haven't read the Graphic Novel, TotBF is a comic within a comic that is actually a narrative that directly pertains to the culmination of the "plot" of The Watchmen.

Also, without the excerpts from Hollis Mason (Night Owl I) and Adrian Veidt's (Ozymandias) biography books, which were the "book ends" to the chapters of The Watchment graphic novel, there is DEFINITELY going to be something missing in the film.

I've also heard a lot of complaints about the music. It seems that many people don't realise that the film takes place in a parallel 1985, so with the exception of My Chemical Romance... the music fit the era. I was a wee lad of 10 in 1985 and remember hearing most of those songs (even the few that were a bit old) still played on the radio.

I've yet to see the movie due to some issues I have, so I can't make any judgement there, but the talking is definitely part of the "noir" narrative Alan Moore set for The Watchmen. I think too many people are going to go see this movie expecting to see X-Men, not Citizen Kane... or blue dangly-bits.

JDW said...

Ryan, I hate to be THAT guy, but there's no THE in Watchmen!!!

Anonymous said...

Touche. The first time it was supposed to read "the Watchmen Graphic Novel" (sans the extra t at the end of 'Watchmen') and the second time was actually supposed to read "set for the Watchmen (novel), but as I'm not registered here I couldn't edit my comments :P

Of course, the irony is there's no Watchmen in Watchmen anyway. At least not officially referred to as such. In fact, I've NEVER understood where the term came from. The much mis-translated "quis custodiet ipsos custodes" (as first written by Juvenal) literally translates into "Who guards the guards themselves", not "Who Watches the Watchmen" like so many people believe.

In any case, I stand corrected in my typos.

JDW said...

yeah, i mentioned that in my review of the film, that they refer to them in the film as the Watchmen, but in the book it's the crimebusters.. idk, hollywood for ya