| Overall Grade: |
C+ |
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| Story: |
B- |
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| Acting: |
C+ |
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| Direction: |
C- |
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|
| Visuals: |
B+ |
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I've read the Graphic Novel, now read my review!
by Kris W (movies profile)
Mar 5, 2009
373
of
518 people found this review helpful
The graphic novel, The Watchmen, is an excellent read even for people like me who stay as far away as possible from books. That being said, I was really looking forward to the movie, especially after seeing that a lot of research was done to try and make the movie more like the graphic novel. Unfortunately the movie wasn't as good as I had hoped, but I don't think it was a waste of my money either.
The pros of the movie would be that for roughly 90% of the film the movie stays true to the graphic novel in almost every sense. Yes this also means you'll be seeing Dr. Manhattans genitalia but it also means that they did the original illustrations justice. Also, the visuals and sound in the movie make some moments really stand out. I was very impressed when Dr. Manhattan's narration took over. The action is also pretty intense in the movie, and there are some scenes that'll make you giddy over the action just like in the book.
The cons of the movie would be that the last 10% of the film has some key differences that make the movie feel a bit shallow when compared to the book. I won't go into detail but lets just say the Curse of the Black Freigther's author is missing for a reason (that's for all you book lovers out there). Furthermore, the world is supposed to be on the brink of Nuclear War yet the sense of terrible dread that is present in the novel is missing from the movie. In other words, it makes the plot feel hollow. One big problem is that in the novel you get to see everyday people freaking out from all the stress but in the movie you only have the government and the superheroes freaking out. If Nuclear War, the end of human civilization, is on the brink of happening, you can't show a cliche scene of the President in a war room to get the point across. There has to be more to it, but the real world, the one outside of the government and the superheroes is completely absent and therefore the audience is not going to feel the epic struggle to save the world like they should.
The acting doesn't help the cause because the characters aren't dripping with emotion or stress like they should be. The guy who played Rorschach did pretty well but there won't be any scenes that capture you like there are in the Dark Knight. Plus, the portrayal of Richard Nixon is almost laughable and on top of that the soundtrack is laughable too. I dunno who thought it'd be a good idea to have the song "hallelujah" going on during a sex scene but it made the whole thing a big, cheesy joke. This happens many times throughout the movie too, they'll play inappropriate songs during what is supposed to be an important scene and it just totally trashes it. It's quite a shame that they let something so simple happen. I mean you can't even take the funeral scene seriously, heck, they did a better job in the movie trailers showing the funeral scene than they did in the movie.
It's hard to judge this movie from the perspective of someone who has not read the novel. I understand that it can't be as good as the novel since it's hard to fit almost 400 pages of book into a 2.5 hour movie. But even though I set my standards lower for the movie I have to say I was hoping for quite a bit more. The movie is definitely worth seeing, especially if you are a fan, but it won't be one of those movies where you have to see it twice or three times. It's a good action movie, but I doubt others see it good enough to withstand the tests of time. Instead we'll look back and see all of the simple missed opportunities the movie had from becoming something truly great. |
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