tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764158821384594980.post4262898711022022132..comments2024-03-27T03:37:22.778-04:00Comments on Age of Ravens: 3/12/09Lowell Francishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359280169506945906noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764158821384594980.post-68551860738833288602009-03-15T02:28:00.000-04:002009-03-15T02:28:00.000-04:00I just saw the movie. My viewing was tinted by hav...I just saw the movie. My viewing was tinted by having watched the greatest superhero movie of all time on DVD, The Incredibles. On the commentary track, Brad Bird talks about the need to slow down the pace once in a while, to let the movie breathe. Watchmen never breathes. It had the pacing of a nine panel grid. Tick, tock, like a, gahhr.<BR/><BR/>Malin as Silk Spectre II was disappointing, but I could believe her as a young unseasoned woman who's lived her life on stage. Such people lack subtlety. Just as I can believe Keanu Reeves in Bill & Ted, but not anything deeper. I'd hope for more, but it kinda works.<BR/><BR/>I was most disappointed by Silk Spectre I. This is the most emotionally complex character in the movie and the comic book, and you needed a serious actor. Carla Gugino failed miserably (can you tell I have IMDB open in another window?).<BR/><BR/>Ozymandias needed to be both knowing and innocent. Christopher Reeve would have been perfect. Why did this British actor sound German? I expected him to start saying "So, Doctor Jones..." Too villainous, too foreign, too homophobic.<BR/><BR/>Props to Jackie Earl Haley (from Breaking Away, as my friends at the movie told me) as R. Amazing. Mr Snyder is not an actor's director. Getting a good performance past a bad director requires both great skill and a little luck. God bless Jackie.<BR/><BR/>I don't necessarily object to the plot changes, but I don't think the screenwriter understood the story, character arcs, moral philosophy, etc, well enough to fill in the gaps. Nite Owl's speech to Ozy condemning his scheme was painfully bad. Ditto on Ozy's speech to Lee Iacocca.<BR/><BR/>Still, I had fun. Quite an achievement, if not great art.Gene Hahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07389258008505629339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764158821384594980.post-59633832880143509512009-03-13T13:40:00.000-04:002009-03-13T13:40:00.000-04:00My problem with the Nite Owl seeing R's death is t...My problem with the Nite Owl seeing R's death is that it is handled so over-the-top-ly. Just about every major change that Snyder makes to the text-- and some of them have a good rationale behind them, I'll admit that-- but every change he makes comes off to me like he's screaming in my face. I feel any subtlety is lost on any of those scenes where Snyder has his fingerprints on them. <BR/><BR/>And an argument could be made: but he's doing it...going over the top...to make the point and help the audience get what's going on. I don't think that argument necessarily works given how impenetrable the film will be for anyone who hasn't read the comic-- and if they have, then in some cases they don't need that over the top "SAD, BE SAD NOW" stuff-- slo-mo? the Shatner scream...too much for me. <BR/><BR/>I should also say that your point is interesting and never actually occurred to me before: that end sequence in the original GN never bothered me, and I never had any question there about what and why. I always read that as the break point between the two of them. So I find it interesting that supposed "plot hole" bothered anyone.Lowell Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02359280169506945906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764158821384594980.post-59321798656070032562009-03-13T13:01:00.000-04:002009-03-13T13:01:00.000-04:00Oh, and I agree with Jim's assessment of Nite ...Oh, and I agree with Jim's assessment of Nite Owl seeing R die. That R & Dan moment earlier on is perhaps the most human moment in the film, so I like that NO got to see R's death and react. Hi, Jim!ART!https://www.blogger.com/profile/07881918126171098381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764158821384594980.post-45187847467122334932009-03-13T12:58:00.000-04:002009-03-13T12:58:00.000-04:00I was surprised by some of the violence, too...but...I was surprised by some of the violence, too...but then I remembered how violent the comic seemed back when it came out. By the standards then, it was quite graphic and even shocking. With that in mind, I think the graphic nature of some of the violence in the movie is about right, if you scale what was in the comic to modern movie-going sensibilities. And honestly, if you put frustrated, skilled martial artist street-fighters against random thugs, I suspect there'd be some bones popping out here and there. R's cleaver to the skull of the rapist-murderer was the only violent bit that has really stuck with me. It deviates from the comic, and R actually stops and thinks about it. I think it works, though, because it emphasizing a decision made in that moment and part of what R is.<BR/>Generally, though, my review would be much like yours.ART!https://www.blogger.com/profile/07881918126171098381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764158821384594980.post-64492982410493028872009-03-12T16:17:00.000-04:002009-03-12T16:17:00.000-04:00"Why does Nite Owl have to see Rorschach die?"Beca..."Why does Nite Owl have to see Rorschach die?"<BR/><BR/>Because this is one of the plot holes of the original graphic novel. Rorschach leaves Karnak and there is no other mention of him except for Dr. Manhattan's "I strongly doubt Rorschach will reach civilization." One would think that Nite Owl would at least ask after his friend before he presumably takes the Owlship back to America. On the other hand, Dr. Manhattan left Rorschach's bloody mess all over the hoverbikes (which I noticed this week when I re-read the book after seeing the movie), so I guess a detective-type like Nite Owl could put two and two together. I thought the scene in the movie gave Nite Owl a bit of catharsis over Rorschach instead of leaving it unresolved like they did in the graphic novel.<BR/><BR/>It's interesting to read your feelings on the hollowness of the movie. I couldn't help put inject the spirit of the graphic novel into my viewing of the movie. People I work with have asked me about it and I have to honestly tell them that I don't know how much they would enjoy the movie without first reading the book. While I was watching the movie, I was mentally filling in missing dialogue as it went along.<BR/><BR/>If you think the bone cruch was too much, you should have come with us to the IMAX theater. You could literally feel the impact with the speakers. I've never been bothered by movie violence, but when you can feel it yourself you can't help but develop empathy for the characters on the receiving end.Jim McClainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03946062676236255805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764158821384594980.post-11421845573825704032009-03-12T13:28:00.000-04:002009-03-12T13:28:00.000-04:00Silk Spectre throwing a chakram around would have ...Silk Spectre throwing a chakram around would have added to my enthusiasm for the movie.Lowell Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02359280169506945906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764158821384594980.post-53120836175165650522009-03-12T11:41:00.000-04:002009-03-12T11:41:00.000-04:00"Part of that comes from bad acting in parts: Silk..."Part of that comes from bad acting in parts: Silk Spectre is bad (even though it is good to see Lucy Lawless getting work), her mom is terrible, Ozymandius is terribly miscast."<BR/><BR/>Wait, did you mean this as a joke? LOL. Silk Spectre was played by Malin Akerman, not Lucy Lawless. Although thinking of it, I wish she had played her. She would of done a much better job.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com