I know my review of Watchmen was many things, among them rambling, indecisive, faintly hypocritical (with regards to the objectivity), and exceedingly, exceedingly lengthy. I concede that it’s a tricky movie to review, and that I didn’t allow enough time for my thoughts to truly settle before writing it. This, therefore, is an attempt at two things: to sort of condense some of my points of the first review, without retreading things like the plot synopsis; and to sort of show how some opinions have changed slightly with a second viewing.
Yes, I felt I was ready to see it a second time, and did. And overall, I felt a little more warmly towards it this time around. Some of the changes I feel like I understood better, I was able to truly appreciate the efforts that were put into it a bit more, and by not having such a self-stated focus on “viewing it objectively,” I found myself suddenly actually able to do so. So, with that said:
- I partially rescind any of my earlier comments about the movie possibly being confusing to people who are entirely unfamiliar with the book. Parts of it definitely still will be, but many of them are details—I think a second viewing helped me see how Snyder fit the pieces together, and the results are more coherent than I first felt.
- I more readily accept some of the song choices, though a few of them, I feel, still don’t fit—“99 Red Balloons” fits from a content perspective but has the wrong feel, and the use of “Hallelujah” is still a bad choice.
- I still think the parts where additional violence was utilized—most particularly Rorschach’s “birth” scene and a brief moment in the prison scene—are gratuitous and unnecessary, and the changes could have been implemented in other ways.
- The Dan/Laurie Owlship sex scene is as poorly handled, laughable, and farcical as ever. Sorry Zack, you still fail here.
- I rescind my comments about some of Jack Haley’s lines as Rorschach coming off as “melodramatic.” I think I was more trying to get used to his voice. On the flipside, however, I did start to notice more that they made Nite Owl more melodramatic, but I’m okay with this in the context of the film.
- I felt a little more positive towards how Matthew Goode portrayed Adrian, but overall he’s still the weakest character in the film, and still a bit mischaracterized.
- Malin Ackerman(Laurie)’s lines actually felt a bit flat to me this time around, something I don’t think I noticed in my first viewing.
- The results that come from the new ending still don’t quite work, entirely, if you stop to think about it.
- Whoever they got to play Nixon still looks and sounds ridiculous, though I’m still not entirely sure if that wasn’t the intent (i.e. if it’s supposed to be more of a caricature of Nixon rather than a realistic representation).
All this said, I would like to revise my original score. My first review gave Watchmen a 3 out of 5 crickets. I would like to bump that up to a 4. There’s still a few too many issues with it to give it a shot at fivedom, but I think I was a bit quick to judge it as much as I did—I needed a second viewing, to watch it with my inner fanboy now calmed down. No matter what, though, I still recommend reading the book. I’m glad it’s getting the exposure that the film is now giving it. Every time I see another person on a bus reading it for what seems like the first time I smile.
Holden Out.
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