Movie: The Watchmen

[amedia]

Our first in-theater movie of 2009, also our first first-run movie of 2009. We saw it with our philosophy colleagues and discussed it afterwards over Chinese food, which added a lot to the experience.

As for the movie itself? I didn't really have any expectations, except that it would be dark and violent (which it certainly was), but I was somewhat disappointed. They did such cool sophisticated things with the superhero tropes as well as the alternate history that I wound up being disappointed by how simplistic the political aspects were. I was also really annoyed by the self-righteous Dr. Manhattan and the Mary-Sue-Powerful Ozymandias. [TODS asked me afterwards if it was exciting to see him walking around naked and I have to say - NO! It was interesting to have a movie in which female nudity was all shadowy glimpses while full frontal male nudity was right out there, but it was CREEPY male nudity.]

Comments

[lash-larue.livejournal.com]

"but it was CREEPY male nudity."

Is there some other kind?
L

[amedia.livejournal.com]

ROFL!!!!

No, but really - I mean he had this proportionately large penis, as if it were erect, but it was pointing down, as if that was just how it was all the time. It was just *wrong* (shudder). But it was just ... out there all the time! Weird.

We were at the comic book store today and I noticed that the doll action figure has the black brief-thingy on. Wise choice.

[blackletter]

Well, we couldn't possibly have sexy or exciting male nudity in a show with a male audience, because that would be gay.

/cynical sarcasm

[amedia.livejournal.com]

I join you in your sarcasm!

[neohippie.livejournal.com]

I think Ozymandias was supposed to be a parody of those Lex Luthor type billionaire supervillians, so I thought it fit.

I really wonder if Dr. Manhattan was a shallow jerk before the accident, or if the accident made him that way. People tell me I need to read the comic to find out.

You mean you AREN'T turned on by glowing radioactive penises?

[amedia.livejournal.com]

I like thinking of him as a parody. He did seem to have read the rules for supervillains - setting off the charges 35 minutes BEFORE the heroes showed up, so he could tell them his plans and they had no way to stop him. That make me chuckle.

Dr. Manhattan was a shallow jerk, wasn't he? Grrr.

You mean you AREN'T turned on by glowing radioactive penises?

LOL! Well put! (and the answer is definitely not!)

[nonniemous.livejournal.com]

What's funny about the creepy male nudity? It seems to have creeped a LOT of male reviewers out. That's been my most amusing realization about the commentary on the movie.

The political stuff was a bit simplistic, and I've always had a few issues with the fact that this book was written by an Englishman in the first place. Ah, well.

Laurie has always been my least favorite character, she and Nite Owl. That didn't chagne with this movie.

[amedia.livejournal.com]

It seems to have creeped a LOT of male reviewers out.

HA! That almost makes it all worthwhile. ;-)

[shawan-7.livejournal.com]

You want a movie that didn't live up to its political potential? V for Vendetta.

Grrh.

I have promised myself Watchman on Netflix.

[amedia.livejournal.com]

V for Vendetta.

People keep telling me I should watch that, but it seems too much like work.

It was nice to see Watchmen on the big screen, but I could see definite advantages to watching it on DVD. I didn't have anything to drink for four hours before the movie ... two hours and forty-three minutes is a LONG time in the theatre!

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

I didn't watch Watchmen for sophisticated political analysis. It's a superhero adventure, in the noir style rather than the more traditional bright shiny four-color style. Its plot turns on the same twist as that of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: that in the end the people investigating the secretive conspiracy that's threatening the world discover that the conspiracy is justified and they have no choice but to join it, even though the conspiracy's actions have an incredibly high cost (killing millions of people all over the world, or wiping out the industrial base of the American economy—which of course also would mean millions of deaths, though they'd be more drawn out). This story made a big difference to the American comic industry, along with The Dark Knight Returns, by establishing the grim, gritty superhero as a recognized type . . . one that unfortunately has become just as big a cliché as the old cleancut superhero that preceded it, though the comments of some reviewers have suggest that people who watch films largely weren't aware of the formula.

[amedia.livejournal.com]

It wasn't so much that I expected the politics to be *really* sophisticated - it was the contrast between how unusually simplistic they were, and how thoughtful and intriguing the rest of it was. It was an odd lack of consistency. I'm wondering how much of that is a result of cutting down a huge graphic novel into a 163-minute screenplay. We bought the novel at the local comic book store - looking forward to reading it!

Speaking of Rand and other seminal works, it was great to see the 1984 Macintosh commercial running continuously on Ozymandias' video display - I thought that was a great touch.