Mar 7 - Watchmen Review

Zack Snyder carried the book around the set as a bible and it shows in the film. While sections are compressed into film friendly(er) chunks, you still get the same ideas shown. 

With respect to Sex, violence and profanity - all are rife. While the F-bombs feel at home, the actual F-ing is a bit over the top. I'm no prude but a 2 minute SLOW MOTION sex scene aboard Archie was a little too much. The music is horrible during that scene too. Also we see blue penises which are mildly distracting but you get over it quickly - until the Doc walks. Then it's hilarious. The gore has been amped up. In some places it fits but at times feels gratuitous. This is certainly not a PG-13 rated venture for a reason and it's certainly because of the violence and sex. 

With respect to sound and music, it's wholly bipolar. There is some subtle music but at times we are bombarded with Bob Dylan or Simon and Garfunkel which can either feel at home or a tad too much depending on your own opinion. 

The ending has changed but it works. So much so I prefer it over the book's ending - It just gels better with the world created in the first 2 hours. The Black Freighter and the newsstand man's rants are missing but it doesn't feel like it. While the comic within a comic was almost a Greek chorus within the book, it is unnecessary and the film feels wholesome without it 

The time does fly while you're watching this but it flows just as well as it did when you sat riveted to any of the Lord of the Rings films and it really could not be shorter without feeling incomplete. The characters are believable enough to suck you in to an incredibly faithful adaptation with good performances from JEH and Patrick Wilson. Crudup is bland on purpose which fits so well with his character. 

I do feel some plot twists were explained with throwaway lines and my uninitiated company was left wondering what happened there as they missed the reference or the line that explained it. Although I can only spot 1, maybe 2 occurances where this happened so I was mostly satisfied. 

I give it a solid 8/10 - It will not change your life and be the best movie you've ever seen but it is satisfying in it's conclusion and execution and I feel that's what the ending should be like - satisfying. Even the most nit-picky of fans will enjoy themselves during this epic, well rounded and faithful adaptation.