Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Watchmen II


Just got in from my second viewing of Watchmen - at the Imax.
I'm sensing a general sense of underwhelment (sorry is that even a word?) about the movie - lots of reservations from people...
I think it's a movie that needs a second viewing... You can lose that sense of nervous anticipation and just sit back and enjoy...
I loved it so much the second time. It whizzed by, I noticed more things, I enjoyed seeing the great moments again (that opening credits scene etc) and all in all I just think it's 10 out of 10 and I want to watch it again. You might know what I mean, so yeah, go and see it again!
Rorshach just blows me away. Such an amazing character. He comes across as some sort of demon serial killer superhero who destroys everyone he comes into contact with - and yet he ends up as the most human character in the movie. Stunning.
On the way home, I sat next to a foreign lady reading the Watchmen for the first time and we had a little chat, and then on my way to my house I bumped into a chum who'd just seen WAtchmen in Leciester Square. It's taking over the world!

5 comments:

JamieB said...

Just saw it myself for the first time -- on an ordinary [big] screen.

Agreed, the actor playing Rorschach was great. And I thought the Nite Owl/Rorschach team worked as well on screen as it did on the page -- perhaps dangerously so ("Hey! We got to get these guys back for a sequel!").

As for the rest...? Hmmm... I loved the opening titles -- had tears in my eyes by the end of them -- but too much of the rest of the film played the same way to me: a series of artfully-posed tableau backed by a classic rock soundtrack. There was scene after scene where I thought "gosh that looks good, but...where's the meat -- where's the emotion?" e.g. Rorschach with the psychiatrist. Perhaps they are saving the meat and the emotion for the extended edition. And don't get me started on the Dan-Laurie sex scene?!?!? :-)

Not a disaster -- a long way from being that -- but far from being a triumph, either, I think.

Mart said...

I think you hit the nail on the head, Jamie.
Definitely not a triumph but not a disaster.
I didn't mind the sex scene...but I was a bit like 'okay get to the punchline now please'...

JamieB said...

I told you not to get me started on the sex scene! :-) Did I miss it, or did they skip the punchline -- the whole costumes make it better bit? I was too busy trying -- unsuccessfully -- to erase the previous minute of the film from my memory to notice...

I could watch the film again, and probably enjoy it more the second time around, but I can't see me ever thinking that it's a great film.

JamieB said...

Oh, BTW: I didn't read Rorschach as superhuman, just super fit. His feats didn't seem to me to be any more superhuman -- in the context of the film -- than the stuff Dan and Laurie got up to in the alleyway and the prison corridor.

Mart said...

I see what you mean, but I dunno...
He seemed quite 'fleet of foot' for a 35+ year old. Wizzing up fire escapes and all...
And Laurie and Dan's fighting - I dunno, I'd probably be dead if I tried it. Plus Laurie jumping out of Archie into the building. Just seemed extra-human to me. Just a little bit.
It's a bit complex... In the graphic novel, they aren't super-heroes, but superhumans exist - Ozymandias uses a psychic's brain for his squid thingy.