Watchmen

Watchmen (2009)

[Sure]
Trash-o-rama

Went to see this movie in Fredericton a little while ago, and just finished reading the comic last night. I was told to see the movie first to avoid disappointment or something. I guess that makes sense on some level.

This movie is essentially a murder mystery. An ex-superhero (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is murdered and his former comrades must find out who done it. It's much more complex than that but I'm not even going to bother trying to sum it up. It would take too long and besides, it's beyond my ability.

Needless to say, the movie is pretty fuckin crazy. I enjoyed about the first ninety minutes (although I thought the best part of the movie was the opening credit sequence which set up the alternate universe in which the the story is set as well as the characters' backstories to the sounds of "The Times they Are a-Changing". Brilliant). I started to get confused in the last forty five minutes, and was not entirely sure what the hell happened and why (having now read the comic, this seems clearer to me).

Moving on. I'm not crazy about Zack Snyder's choice of material so far (300, the Dawn of the Dead remake which, though much better than it should have been, was totally unneccesary), I do quite like his style. It's really cool to look at. Also, I have to say that the CGI was pretty good. There was an awful lot of it, but mostly they managed to blend it effectively with the live actors, avoiding the Sky Captain look (I fuckin hated that movie).

I just didn't really find the characters that interesting, with the exceptions of Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley - I just read he might be playing Freddy in the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. Good choice. The guy is scary) and the Naked Blue Guy (Billy Crudup). That guy was awesome. Malin Ackerman was pretty but not very good. Patrick Wilson was decent was alright but sort of boring. Blah.

Still, the movie was pretty cool. It kicked plenty of ass I guess. I liked it more than 300. That's not really saying much. 300 was fucking boring. This flick was alright. The book was better, although I can see why it's sort of unfilmable. This movie was way too long already (I drank one of those giant cups of root beer during the trailers, making the last ninety minutes of the movie hell), and it was really simplified and condensed.

I dunno. They did a pretty good job with it though. And there's plenty of violence and sex (sleaziest sex scene ever - "Hallelujah"? Ewwww). Fun for the whole family.

END

Directed by: Zack Snyder. Written by: David Hayter and Alex Tse based on the graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Starring: Malin Ackerman, Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Carla Gugino, Stephen McHattie, Matt Frewer.