At Midnight, All The Agents...
Just got back from seeing the midnight preview showing of Watchmen in Danville. The verdict: I enjoyed it. I think I may have to see it a second (or even third?) time to fully wrap my brain around it, but I thought it was really entertaining.
I must admit that I'm a bit embarrassed, though. Assuming there would be a big crowd akin to Star Wars: Episode III and Twilight, as mentioned in my last post, my dad and I arrived at the theater somewhere in the neighborhood of 9:30. Turns out the crowd didn't start arriving until 11:00 or so. So we were sitting all by ourselves in an empty theater lobby for an hour and a half before anything interesting started happening. Way to go, Matt, you big dummy. You got all worried for nothing. You'll know better next time.
Anyway, back to the movie. It's long been said that Watchmen was a movie that couldn't be made. The book was so complex that a cinematic adaptation would not pick up on every little detail and nuance, it was said.But while some things were sadly lost in translation, it is my firm belief that Zack Snyder and crew made the best Watchmen movie they possibly could have. It probably would have worked better as a 12-episode miniseries on HBO or something like that, but what we have here is a movie that hits as many of the high notes as possible, while managing to avoid nearly all of the low notes.
Naturally, some things had to be sacrificed. I have no problem with the absence of "Tales of the Black Freighter," and I miss characters like the two Bernies and Hollis Mason. But as I said, sometimes concessions are forced for the sake of the big picture. And I'm sure the faithful are wondering about my opinion on the ending's changes. While I am fond of the book's climactic reveal of how the villain would execute his master plan, the alterations made in the movie worked. Though the details may be different, the tone and the results still remain the same. And thus, it doesn't bug me.
Watchmen probably won't appeal to everyone. It actually comes across as both a love letter to and a commercial for the book. And if you haven't read the book, you might not get it. But if I may repeat myself, Zack Snyder made the best movie he was able to, and I appreciate his efforts. I don't know if it will knock The Dark Knight off the top of the superhero movie's mountain, but I'll still give it four stars out of my standard five. I'll definitely have to see it again sometime.
But first, sleep. I need it. This has been too much excitement for this late in the evening.
I must admit that I'm a bit embarrassed, though. Assuming there would be a big crowd akin to Star Wars: Episode III and Twilight, as mentioned in my last post, my dad and I arrived at the theater somewhere in the neighborhood of 9:30. Turns out the crowd didn't start arriving until 11:00 or so. So we were sitting all by ourselves in an empty theater lobby for an hour and a half before anything interesting started happening. Way to go, Matt, you big dummy. You got all worried for nothing. You'll know better next time.
Anyway, back to the movie. It's long been said that Watchmen was a movie that couldn't be made. The book was so complex that a cinematic adaptation would not pick up on every little detail and nuance, it was said.But while some things were sadly lost in translation, it is my firm belief that Zack Snyder and crew made the best Watchmen movie they possibly could have. It probably would have worked better as a 12-episode miniseries on HBO or something like that, but what we have here is a movie that hits as many of the high notes as possible, while managing to avoid nearly all of the low notes.
Naturally, some things had to be sacrificed. I have no problem with the absence of "Tales of the Black Freighter," and I miss characters like the two Bernies and Hollis Mason. But as I said, sometimes concessions are forced for the sake of the big picture. And I'm sure the faithful are wondering about my opinion on the ending's changes. While I am fond of the book's climactic reveal of how the villain would execute his master plan, the alterations made in the movie worked. Though the details may be different, the tone and the results still remain the same. And thus, it doesn't bug me.
Watchmen probably won't appeal to everyone. It actually comes across as both a love letter to and a commercial for the book. And if you haven't read the book, you might not get it. But if I may repeat myself, Zack Snyder made the best movie he was able to, and I appreciate his efforts. I don't know if it will knock The Dark Knight off the top of the superhero movie's mountain, but I'll still give it four stars out of my standard five. I'll definitely have to see it again sometime.
But first, sleep. I need it. This has been too much excitement for this late in the evening.
posted by Matt Sutton at
4:08 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home