LowerTheTone.com

Yeah I’m back…again. I’m supposed to be somewhere else though this morning but it was cancelled in a way. So no better opportunity to update the world’s most pointless yet wildly entertaining blog. No not that one, this one!

So Watchmen has come and gone. It was talked about alot. Reviewers were divided on it. Some gave 1 star, some gave 5. And I realise I’m talking about it way after the dust has settled. But I think that puts me in a better position to talk about it. Because I have absorbed it, embraced it, watched it twice, delved into my inner feelin…. no you are right, I was just too lazy to post until now!

I did watch it twice though. My first viewing was somewhat distracted and I don’t think I sat down to watch it as a movie but as a recreation of a book. The second viewing killed me off though. The film is poor. I’d say shite but I have to give Kudos for Synder for the effort he put in. Yet despite his big biceps and extreme gym workout, he is still a nerd. And blue penises look funny on a big screen. Especially if there are skangers in the cinema with you. (Skangers is an Irish slang phrase for chavs or townies etc)

Despite the overtly boring and dire performances by Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre) and Patrick Wilson (Nite Owl II) there were some pieces I did enjoy. I felt that Dr. Manhattan’s back story was handed well and the “voice of God” as it is often touted worked for me. You could feel the subtle sadness in his dulcet tones. His backstory did feel sad but nerdy at the same time.

The ending was changed as expected and it made so sense really. Granted a giant squid on screen would look as ridiculous as an non moving blue penis in the wind, the new ending failed to capture the essence of Ozymandias and the purpose of the novel from the start.

So was it worth sitting through the 2 hours 45 minutes? Well unfortunately it was if you are a fan of the comic book but alas I think Alan Moore was right about this one.

And on a final note, the soundtrack didnt work for me. It didn’t feel 80’s enough and Nixon looked like he belonged on Spitting Image.

Anyway you have probably seen it by now and if not. Who cares!

Special thanks to the cool people over at movies.ie who sent me tickets for the preview screening!

Movie Reviews blue penis, Dr. Manhattan, Watchmen, Watchmen review

Fanboys erupted during the week, and Alan Moore rolled his eyes as 2009’s “Watchmen” director, Zack Snyder confirmed that the ending of the movie is different from the novel. You may recall my origina article linked here, where there rumours abound, well those rumours have been confirmed by Snyder.

Synder in an interview claims that the ending had always been different from the novel in every draft of the script he read. He also debunked rumours that a number of endings were films and tested. He went on to say that he “embraced” the revised ending. Which of course he would, with the paycheck he’s getting to direct!

My own personal view on it is mixed. I’m not a purist when it comes to these things. Despite many discussions when Transformers was being released about the robots looking more like Lego Bionicles and exo-skeletons, I was of the belief that it was the best template given we dont live in 1980 something anymore.

However, when I read the graphic novel, there were themes and the pirate sub plot which I felt did carry great meaning when reviewed in context of the ending. Sure the ending is a bit of the wall and one of the arguments for the side who welcome the change is that its not a realistic/believable ending in the vein of the realism in the story up that point. My counter argument is that superhero blue men making themselves big and small at random, who take holidays on Mars, is no less realistic than the novel’s ending!

OK nerdyisms aside, Im not put off by a revised ending. I’m not the type to picket the cinemas with Fr. Ted “down with this sort of thing” banners. I do hope though, that one of the rumoured endings surrounding Dr. Manhattan does not come to fruition.

Maybe I am a nerd afterall?

Movies Giant Squid, Watchmen, Watchmen Ending, Zack Snyder

To many fanboys, the forthcoming screen adoptation of “Watchmen”, has internet message boards alight with “Please dont screew it up” and “It cant be done” talk. Even one of the original graphic novel (a really long comic to those of us unfamiliar with comicbooks) author’s, Alan Moore, has distanced himself from any adoptation of his novel, listed in the New York Times, Top 50 novels of the 20th Century.

Zack Synder who brought us a previous comicbook adoptation with 300, has really immersed himself in the material. Video diaries from the set show us landscapes that look like they were directly lifted from the novel. Actors being interviewed speak of the enthuaism on set, their new found love for the source material. And all that good jazz.

What is interesting for me, is that when I first watched the trailer many months ago, I hadn’t read the novel. The movie to me just looked like a bunch of Batman wannabes. It wasnt until a friend begged me to read the novel (and I make no apologies at this point for calling it a novel, although it might be just laziness on my part), that I picked it up. And I didn’t put it down until I read the last page. It was definitely like no other hero story I had read previously. So I myself join the fanboys in anticipation of the movie’s release.

Recently another panic hit fanboy world. A secret press screening rumoured that the ending of the movie differs greatly from the novel’s ending. And while Kevin Smith on watching an early rough cut commented that the ending had changed slightly, this “new” rumoured ending was very different and for the most part non sensical.

I will avoid entering into any commentary that would reveal either the novel or rumoured movie ending, a simple internet search will bring you that information. In my opinion, I believe Synder either filmed the alternate ending or has plants to throw off the fanboys rather than go for such a dramatic change to the story. After all all his interviews do allude to his desire to stay close to the original source material. When you consider some people’s arugement the novel’s ending was too far fetched, you only have to point at the Dr. Manhattan character, who is really the only “super” hero in the story. And he is blue and, er, floaty.

Assuming the the 2 studios can reach a happy resolution in court next year to avoid delaying the movie release (Fox claims they had the rights to release this), next year we all will be watching the Watchmen, assuming of course its any good.

Trailer below.

Movies Watchmen, Zack Synder