Nothing funny about "Watchmen" depite well done action scenes
Charles Sullivan
Issue date: 3/30/09 Section: Entertainment
Dir: Zack Snyder
Act: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley
R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language
The much anticipated "Watchmen" has finally arrived, and it does not disappoint…much. In summary, elderly Watchmen member, the Comedian, is brutally murdered in his apartment by an unknown assailant. In reaction to this, the mysterious Rorschach begins an investigation into the possibility of a Watchmen killer. To give Zack Snyder some credit, this film was visually quite stunning, just like its predecessor, "300"; however, good cinematography was not enough to save this overlong and mediocre film. At a staggering 2 hours and 42 minutes, "Watchmen" takes its sweet time in issuing its point and does not really even succeed in doing that. During the film, the audience is taken on an epic journey, learning all about the interesting pasts of each Watchman. Suddenly, a new plot is added towards the end that utilizes very little to none of what has been learned about the Watchmen, as though over two hours of the movie were redundant. I will not reveal the ending, but many of the characters go against their qualities that were revealed during the film, which annihilates the character development.
Moving on, there were many good aspects as well. The script was interesting and contained many memorable quotations, mostly spoken by Watchmen member Rorschach. In fact, Rorschach in and of himself made the film a joy to watch, between his interesting concept of justice and his rather badass methods of pursuing it. His character is very reminiscent of a "Sin City" style like Frank Miller used many years after the "Watchmen" graphic novel came out. Also, the action was extremely well-choreographed and wonderfully fun to watch.
However, despite the good choreography present in the action, it felt a little side noted. It was as though the action was complimentary to the audience and not actually of major importance to the story. Also, some of the music seemed to be used at completely inappropriate moments, and most of it was a soundtrack, meaning little scoring music. Was this film terrible? No, by no means, but it was a bit of a letdown from the hype which it had been issued and there were many problems present in it.
?
Act: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley
R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language
The much anticipated "Watchmen" has finally arrived, and it does not disappoint…much. In summary, elderly Watchmen member, the Comedian, is brutally murdered in his apartment by an unknown assailant. In reaction to this, the mysterious Rorschach begins an investigation into the possibility of a Watchmen killer. To give Zack Snyder some credit, this film was visually quite stunning, just like its predecessor, "300"; however, good cinematography was not enough to save this overlong and mediocre film. At a staggering 2 hours and 42 minutes, "Watchmen" takes its sweet time in issuing its point and does not really even succeed in doing that. During the film, the audience is taken on an epic journey, learning all about the interesting pasts of each Watchman. Suddenly, a new plot is added towards the end that utilizes very little to none of what has been learned about the Watchmen, as though over two hours of the movie were redundant. I will not reveal the ending, but many of the characters go against their qualities that were revealed during the film, which annihilates the character development.
Moving on, there were many good aspects as well. The script was interesting and contained many memorable quotations, mostly spoken by Watchmen member Rorschach. In fact, Rorschach in and of himself made the film a joy to watch, between his interesting concept of justice and his rather badass methods of pursuing it. His character is very reminiscent of a "Sin City" style like Frank Miller used many years after the "Watchmen" graphic novel came out. Also, the action was extremely well-choreographed and wonderfully fun to watch.
However, despite the good choreography present in the action, it felt a little side noted. It was as though the action was complimentary to the audience and not actually of major importance to the story. Also, some of the music seemed to be used at completely inappropriate moments, and most of it was a soundtrack, meaning little scoring music. Was this film terrible? No, by no means, but it was a bit of a letdown from the hype which it had been issued and there were many problems present in it.
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