The Pullbox

The Pullbox | The Pullbox Podcast

Directed by: Zack Snyder
Screenplay by: David Hayter and Alex Tse
Written by: Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons (original graphic novel)

SOME SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD

I’ve been waiting for this movie for a long, long time. Because I’ve read the graphic novel, I tried to keep as far from the spoilers on the production of this movie. Other than the trailers, I didn’t see anything else on this film. I was excited for it. I knew that even though it’s regarded as the unfilmable graphic novel, if anyone could do it, Snyder could. I was concerned about the possibility he wouldn’t pull it off, but I was optimistic that he could.

Thursday Night/Friday Morning at 3:45am, I was lucky enough to catch the flick with a few friends. My feelings toward this movie are so mixed up and convoluted, its hard to explain, but I’m going to try my hardest here.

Its a good movie. It captures the spirit of WATCHMEN. It portrays the general story. Its a beautifully shot film and deserves a watch if for no other reason than that. The performances by the cast are absolutely wonderful. Malin Akerman who plays Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre II is the only cast member I can think of that had a few emotional scenes that she didn’t quite pull off very well. Other than that, the performances were top-notch. And of course, the special effects are absolutely ridiculous and insane and a feast for the eyes. While watching the movie, I never felt like I wasn’t watching WATCHMEN live on the screen.

There are some amazing scenes that were taken straight from the book and put right up on the screen. The opening fight scene with the Comedian and his mystery killer was expanded from the comic, as were most of the fight scenes, but they were all still very true to the book. Most of Rorschach’s scenes are almost EXACTLY as they appear in the book.  And the Mars scenes with Dr. Manhattan are just amazing to look at.

So there are definitely many positives to the film and I do recommend everybody go out and watch it.

However, despite all its positives, I have to say, I left the theatre incredibly disappointed and when I’m asked what I thought of the film I can’t help but answer by letting my head drop down with a sad look on my face. Sometimes I even add in a little head shake before finally adding “I didn’t like it.”

What’s wrong with it? Well, its difficult to explain, but I can sum it up by saying: Alan Moore was right. It’s the unfilmable graphic novel. It just cannot be done. I racked my brain all day yesterday, trying to figure out where Snyder went wrong and what he could’ve done to make it better. Truthfully, short of making it a 9 hour film, it just cannot be done. Its not Snyder’s fault. There’s nothing really he could’ve done differently. There’s just so many things in that book that are a product of its medium. Plot devices and story telling techniques used by Moore that are only possible in comic books and they did not and could not transfer onto the screen.

It was a strange thing when I’m sitting there, watching the film, thinking to myself, “Wow, this is starting to feel pretty long and slow and something needs to happen!” But at the same time, I also felt that I was missing two thirds of the story, and half the cast of characters. There are so many layers to that book. So many story-lines and plots that it is literally impossible to put them all into a 3 hour movie.

In the film, we get no mention of the Black Freighter Comic Stories, we don’t get any scenes with the News Vendor and the kid reading the comics in the book, both named Bernie, save for one very quick cameo at the very end of the film. We don’t get anything with Joey and her Lover, and the psychiatrist only shows up for two scenes with Rorschach in the prison. We don’t get any follow up with him at home with his wife. These are all very important stories in the book. Especially the Psychiatrist and the Black Freighter story. The Psychiatrist’s story mirrors Rorschach’s and the Black Freighter story mirrors Ozymandias’.

While we’re on the subject of Ozymandias, I felt his story wasn’t done justice. We didn’t get enough time with him to grow to care about his character or his journey. And I felt he should’ve been portrayed a little more likable throughout the earlier parts of the movie, in order for more important scenes and reveals at the end of the story to hit the audience a little stronger.

Rorschach was portrayed BRILLIANTLY by Jackie Earle Haley. However, the fact that nobody knows who Rorschach really is wasn’t made into a big enough deal, and his secret identity wasn’t shown in the back ground at key scenes enough times to make people gasp in surprise at his unmasking. There should’ve been a whole “WOW! ITS THAT GUY WE’VE BEEN SEEING THIS WHOLE TIME!” That simply wasn’t the case and I feel the ball was dropped on that one.

Dr. Manhattan’s story felt a bit rushed. The significance of his nudity never came across to the audience and the importance of the fact that he sees and lives his entire life from beginning to end, all at once wasn’t really driven home. Therefore, when the fact that he cannot see a particular event in time is announced to the audience, nobody really understood just how big a deal that really is. Nobody understood that if Dr. Manhattan doesn’t “know” something, then the whole world is in big trouble. The fact that everything is predetermined, including his reactions, wasn’t made clear either. I think a lot of people left that night slightly confused by his particular story. Although Billy Crudup did a wonderful job portraying the big blue naked guy.

Nite Owl II was done pretty well. As was the Comedian, although I think he needed a little more screen time. Silk Spectre II, again, was great for the most part but  lacked in a couple of more emotional scenes.

The attempted love scene with Dan and Laurie as funny in the film as it was in the book, although they missed out on Ozymandias’ gymnastic performance on the TV which would’ve made it all the more entertaining. Those of you who have read the book know what I’m talking about.

Then the successful love scene was very cool. Shot very well, very sexy. Malin Akerman is absolutely gorgeous. However, Snyder’s choice in music for this scene, Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” while an emotional piece of music, came across to the audience as funny. I’m not sure Snyder meant it to be humorous, but it was. Still pretty amazingly sexy though.

With that, I’d like to talk about the music in this movie. Snyder chose to use 80’s songs throughout the movie, and I can appreciate that since it is set in an alternative 1985.  I just didn’t always agree with the choices or placement of each song. Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’” played through the opening credits and fit wonderfully. I really enjoyed the scenes in the credits and that comes from somebody who HATES opening credits. I prefer Nolan’s style of just jumping straight into the story. But then songs like the previously mentioned “Hallelujah,” while being good songs, were just placed at the wrong places. I can’t remember what song played during the Edward Blake funeral scenes, but I remember it being too upbeat and positive for such a dark sequence of scenes.

The Special effects were almost flawless. However, the make-up on some characters was downright horrible. The absolutely GORGEOUS Carla Gugino, played Sally Jupiter (aka the original Silk Spectre). Her make-up as her older self was horrible. It looked like she was wearing a rubber mask on her face. The same can be said for the make-up on the older Edward Blake. Then there’s Robert Wisden as Richard Nixon. Why they couldn’t just cast a look-alike, I’ll never understand. He looked terrible. He literally looked like one of those bank robbers with the rubber president masks.

As it is, I can find more negatives in the film than positives. However, other than the make-up jobs and the musical choices, there really isn’t anything story-telling-wise that Mr. Zack Snyder could’ve done to make this movie work. Its not his fault. He tried his best and he did a decent job. Its completely out of his hands. The book is simply unfilmable. It cannot be done. I feel like what we got is the closest anyone could ever get, so that’s pretty decent. But its just not enough.

So, its time for me to rate this bad boy. I’m going to give it 2 separate ratings.

As a reader and fan of the WATCHMEN graphic novel, I give this film a 2 out of 5.
As a movie fan, and detaching myself from the source material, I give it a 4 out of 5.

In short: If you’ve never read the book, you’ll probably enjoy this film a lot. If you’re a casual fan of the book, (maybe you’ve read it once) then you’ll most likely enjoy it just fine. If you’re a die hard fan of the book, have read it many times and always find new things you’ve never noticed, then you most likely will not enjoy this movie.