Watchmen (2009)
Mar 25th, 2009 by Ashley
All the whores and politicians will look up and shout “Save us!“… and I will look down and whisper, “No.”
B+
A super-powerful non-human, a smart narcissist, a charming villain, a lonely poet, a babe, and a dork who has a secret crush on the babe.
The moral of the story is…
the dork can get the babe (after she’s done with the superman).
Okay, be serious. I like the movie. But I have to get the part I don’t like out of my head before I can talk about it. Frankly I was sort of disappointed at Zack Snyder, who brought us the magnificent 300 three years ago. Connections between scene were sometimes awkward and obstructed the flow of the movie, and the pace was sometimes, just sometimes, not right. I guess it was too complicated a story comparing to 300 and it’s hard to fit so grand a story into 160 minutes without making it seemed fragmented. However, the music selection was great; combined with visuals, it’s a feast in itself. The scene where the Comedian dies was heartbreakingly beautiful. Throughout Nat King Cole’s Unforgetable, the Comedian embraced his fate, fought and was overcome. The smiley face stained with a drop of blood fell into the crimson river next to his body; My Heart Aches. After their spontaneous superhero-save-the-day play act, Night Owl II and Silk Spectre II made love to Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, which was made famous by Jeff Buckley’s cover. Wagner’s Walkürenritt (The Ride of the Valkyrie) righteously strung their victory of the Vietnam war. Jimi Hendrix’ All Along the Watchtower walked with Night Owl II and Rorschach into Ozymandias’ “base”. Nevertheless, The Sound Of Silence at the funeral scene was a little bit cheesy even for my taste.
The Babe and the Dork
Silk Spectre II and Night Owl II are the feel-good heroes. You can see the life shone in their eyes after the street fight. Laurie is almost as brainless as one can get. She first fell for the super powerful blue man like a teenage girl with a crush and then, hyped from the pumping adrenaline after performing heroism, hooked up with Night Owl II. Night Owl II is your typical do-what-they’re-told person. He wants to do something for the world but he’s easily persuaded to do otherwise or look the other way.
Non-Human
The only character who really has superpower. Dr. Manhatten. He seems to be a kind and gentle “person” at the beginning. However, we gradually learned that he isn’t human anymore. He doesn’t feel the way most human beings feel. Therefore, he is not a character that I like. (I wanted to make a The Big Bang Theory reference, but I forgot what it was.)
the Narcissist
Ozymandiaz. You have to be either something or really arrogant to give yourself the name Ozamandiaz. Even though it wasn’t addressed in the movie. Ozy, Adrian, is the ultimate human. He is supposedly the smartest man on earth and he trained himself physically as well. I’m not sure whether his purpose for this plot is really for the “greater good” of mankind or in fact for his own gain (after all, he must have profited from the reconstruction of NY.) Let’s just assume he does believe that the destruction of mankind was unavoidable. So he reduced lives to numbers and decided it’s worth sacrificing a city to bring peace to humanity.
the Charming Villain
The Comedian. First off, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is not Robert Downey Jr. Morgan was the charming Denny Duquette who won Izzie’s heart in Grey’s Anatomy. He is not Iron Man.
The Comedian is not really a “villain” since he’s always more or less on the justice’s side. However, you can’t help but despise what he did to the people around him. It’s said that his insight on the true humanity rendered him cynical and therefore nihilistic. But for me, there is no excuse for being cruel and hurtful. Nevertheless, you can see his bad-boy charm. Jeffrey Dean Morgan totally pulled it off.
the Lonely Poet
the city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face.
No wonder I fell in love with Rorschach. He was from head to toe an old-fashioned hardboiled avenger who was tough on the outside but ultimately a hopeless romantic at heart. He’s very adamant about right and wrong, and his view is absolute. That’s why he couldn’t accept the peace which was based on a lie. His journal, which recorded the events and eventually reached the editor of New Frontiersman, strung through the movie. His poetic language covered the story with a sorrowful mist. You can taste the loneliness of an idealist. Jackie Earle Haley’s portrayal is perfect. I can’t imagine Jude Law as Rorschach (he expressed his interest in portraying Rorschach or Night Owl.) Haley’s voiceover was hypnotizing and entrancing (in a very manly way).
Back to the movie. As the mystery unveiled, it came to the age-old moral question. Is it ok to sacrifice few to save many more? One man over a school of children; An army over a country; where do you draw the line?
Does truth really matter? Do people need/want/deserve to know everything?
I know I don’t.
(In grander scale, not in personal aspects. Don’t lie to me and tell me “you yourself said so.”)
“You know you don’t” as the last sentence may have a better rhetorical effect, depending on what you want to achieve. I would use that. :p
I’m just stating the fact. No dramatic effect intended. What the *beep* do I know or care what other people think? XD