At the Movies: Watchmen

Liz and I finally got around to seeing Watchmen last night. We’d heard mixed reviews before entering the theater: It’s looks amazing, but it’s too long, not emotionally engaging, too true to the comic book in look and feel. And while those critiques proved somewhat true, I enjoyed the film way more than the haters would have me expect. Since everyone has already “reviewed” the movie, I’ll just give you some of my thoughts because I know that’s what you live for:

The Look: The film, as all Zack Snyder’s films do, looks amazing. I didn’t have a problem with it looking too much like the book at all. I thought it was a fantastic balance of comic book and cinema.

The Cast:

Jeffery Dean Morgan is great as the Comedian, Billy Crudup looks ridiculous (in a good way) as Dr. Manhattan (Liz and I discussed how much of his body was real and how much was CGI. I’m going with 50/50, but how much would it suck (or rock, perhaps) to have your junk enhanced for the big screen?), Patrick Wilson is dreamy (as always) as Night Owl, Malin Akerman shows off one hell of a wax job as Silk Specter (I’ve always like MA…going back to her hilariously sweet turn on The Comeback), and Jackie Early Haley is absolute perfection as the Rorschach. Gingers every where should be proud to claim him as one of our own. The only real disappointment is perhaps Mathew Goode as Ozymandias who is rather more forgettable than bad, I suppose.

My Favorite Parts:

The opening credits. Perfectly set the tone and mood and incorporated one of the greatest songs in history, Bob Dylan’s “The Times They are A’Changin’.” Really, the song choices throughout are pretty great…even if, as Garney noted after he saw the flick, Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” during the sex scene is a bit much.

Patrick Wilson’s ass.

Night Owl and Rorschach flying into Antarctica while “All Along the Watchtower” plays. This prompted me to turn to Liz and say, “Battlestar!!!” God, we’re nerds.

Rorschach kicking ass and bludgeoning people to death (what? I have a darkside.)

The new ending…which I think actually makes more sense than the ending in the book.

Really, the only thing I didn’t like was the length, but I don’t know what could have been cut…other than some of the overwrought dialogue. Overall, I’d recommend seeing Watchmen, if for no other reason than to be awed by the visuals. However, if your name is Falwless and you hate action/comic book movies, you should probably skip it.