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Let's just clear something up right here, right now. Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" is less a love letter to Alan Moore ...
Let's just clear something up right here, right now. Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" is less a love letter to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' seminal graphic novel and more a stalker awaiting a restraining order so slavish is it to The Greatest Comic of All Time (TM). And perhaps, just maybe, that's its downfall in the mass market. Needless to say "Watchmen", regardless of tone and aesthetic, will split audiences right down the middle. Everything from its running time to the revelry in its source material will divide opinion and set tongues wagging long after the credits have faded. The film's execution however is beyond reproach. Snyder, almost taking a cell-for-cell, shot-for-shot approach has delivered on all of his promises. Setting the action in one of the most vividly realised worlds ever committed to screen, "Watchmen" opens with a blast of energy. The fight scene prologue, followed by several back-story snapshots of superheroes in their pomp, played out to the strings of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A' Changing", is quite simply awe-inspiring. Of course this fight, as brutal and unrelenting as anything you're likely to see this year, results in the infamous, bloodied Smiley Face - the enduring symbol that pockmarks the remaining two and a half hours. It's 1985 and an alternative vision of America with Richard Nixon still in power, still posturing with the Russians and gripping a nation with fear as the Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight. People once felt safe with masked vigilantes roaming the streets but thanks to a government act these so-called 'superheroes' have been outlawed. The likes of Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), Silk Spectre (Malin Ackerman) and Doc Manhattan (the only real super-being to speak of, played by Billy Crudup) have been either forced into hiding or, in the case of the latter, coerced into working for the government. Only the unhinged Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) remains on the beat after The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), with his blood-stained badge, is murdered. Someone is watching these Watchmen and Snyder's epic turns from detective story to political conspiracy via a masochistic look at the superhero in his/her most base, naked form (and there is quite a bit of nudity in there too!). It's a startling film that perhaps tries to be all things to all people - fans of the comic and newcomers alike. Moore and Gibbons' work was perhaps too dense to ever really take on head-to-head but what Snyder has done here is nothing short of remarkable. Explicit, darkly chaotic and suspenseful, "Watchmen", just like the graphic novel, cuts to the heart of the superhero. Bold, ballsy and utterly brilliant
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Destined to be more divisive than race, religion and politics combined, Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel "Watchmen" has finally made ...
Destined to be more divisive than race, religion and politics combined, Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel "Watchmen" has finally made it to the screen, more than two decades after it was first published. Perhaps the first genuine blockbuster of 2009, it certainly doesn't skimp on sex and violence, has a sound central thesis and a strong undercurrent of dark humour. Add to all that the visual flair of Zach Snyder, fresh from the success of "300", and Paramount (or should that be Fox?), are on to a winner, right? Wrong.The film flies out of the blocks faster than Usain Bolt, delivering a gem of an opening sequence that rewrites modern history to take in a third term for Richard Nixon, American victory in Vietnam and the rise and fall of masked vigilantes, all set to the strains of Bob Dylan's ballad of social change "The Times They Are A-Changin'". By this point, fans will already be picking themselves up off the floor from the thrill of seeing their heroes up on the screen. However, even "Watchmen" novices will sit up and take notice at this audacious and pitch-perfect marriage of music and visuals that positively throbs with subversive confidence. Cut to 1985 and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's ageing Comedian, easily the most interesting character, is thrown from his apartment window, setting what is essentially a whodunnit plot in motion. As Snyder's camera swoops and soars through New York, hopes are high that he can deliver on this early promise.Unfortunately, this dynamic introduction to the world of "Watchmen", only throws the wildly inconsistent tone and self-indulgent mess that follows into sharper relief. Sprawling doesn't even begin to cover it, as a surfeit of characters collide and entangle with little explanation, all with more flashbacks than Hunter S Thompson, but barely given room to breathe. The morally ambiguous creations fare best, with The Comedian chuckling his way through an attempted rape and copious amounts of violence, whilst the man in the blotted mask, or Rorschach (Jackie Earl Haley), seethes with bitter intensity. Unfortunately, much of the bloated three hour running time is devoted to Patrick Wilson's bland hero Nite Owl and the spandex-clad Silk Spectre (Malin Ackerman). Both have proved accomplished performers in the past, but are unable to imbue their characters with any real interest, their burgeoning relationship reaching it's anti-climax with a ridiculously overblown sex scene, bizarrely set to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". It feels like "The Red Shoe Diaries" in space, not the intelligent blockbuster we were promised. In fact, other than the use of Dylan, much of the soundtrack typifies the lack of cohesion. You'll tap your foot to the likes of Hendrix and Simon & Garfunkel, but wonder why they are here. Snyder also boldly evokes "Apocalypse Now" with his attempt to graft Wagner to his feverish battle scenes, as the superhuman Dr Manhattan (Billy Crudup) vaporizes the Vietcong. It's a ballsy statement of intent, but there are very few films that would not suffer from this comparison.The film's ultimate downfall is really Snyder himself. A self-confessed fan, he is unable to give neutrals an easy way into the myriad plot strands. No doubt his fellow fans will enjoy "Watchmen" as a stylish extension to the graphic novel, but it has to be taken on its own terms and in that sense has to go down as a disappointment. The blackly comic and sometimes just plain black portrayal of humanity is sound in theory, but this is nowhere near as smart as it thinks it is.Often brave and always beautiful, "Watchmen" is still a bloody mess. A film of contradictions.
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