Okay, so I've seen Watchmen twice in the past three days, so I consider myself somewhat of an expert on the movie (compared to others). I saw it the first time with two of my NERDOUT brothers who are serious enough to read the whole graphic novel before going to see the movie, and then the second time I saw it with a guy who used to like comics (including a real love for the Watchmen graphic novel) and a girl who is cool as shit but sadly has never been into comics.
I can't begin to tell you how different the reactions were. The NERDOUT crew couldn't stop complaining about "no bird-octopus" and "why keep this line but not that line" to the point of ridiculousness. The second group took it for what it was, and loved it.
To really see the devotion the graphic novel inspired, watch this fake intro to an imaginary Watchmen cartoon:
So here's my deal with the movie--
Better ending than the original comic ending that sucked. Come on!!! Bird octopus??? Fuck that. That was dumb, and even Alan Moore should know that.
Much better after seeing it twice to really catch everything (because I DIDN'T re-read it before going - although on a nerdy tip I'm reading it now). I totally forgot most things from the comic so there was a lot to digest. I wonder what the reviews would be like if every critic had to see it twice.
There was wayyyy too much blue penis. Even though I love that semi-omnipotence has led Dr. Manhattan to stop caring about clothes, I really was happy to only see his blue wangbone a few times in the comic. Here, it could have been listed as the third lead. But really, that couldn't have been avoided in a live action setting without getting too Austin Powersy. Speaking of which, did Mike Meyers really come out of the closet?
Patrick Wilson was pitch perfect as Night Owl Malin. Akerman, the girl who plays the new Silk Spectre, is totally hot, but a terrible actress. Billy Crudup was sort of not in the movie because I think it was all CGI but he was awesome anyway. Jackie Earle Haley was sick as Rorschach (who was definitely the audience favorite opening weekend). Jeffrey Dean Morgan killed it as the comedian and somehow made me actually like the character and even want to grow a mustache, so go that guy. Carla Gugino was there for five minutes; kind of a waste because she's so awesome and deserved more screen time.
My beef was that it was too short. I know, I know - it was almost three hours long. But who cares?? There was so much source material that it was crying out for a two parter a la Kill Bill. I heard the DVD version will have a ton of shit from the graphic novel that didn't make the cut so I'm happy about that.
Other than filling it with Oscar winning actors, I'm not sure how this movie could've been much better. I liked it; and not just cuz liking it means some Alan Moore fundamentalist will hate me. I actually think it's gonna have a place in my DVD collection one day. Take that, fanboy!!!!
Later, haters.
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