So it's been a week, and I feel it's open game. 5 things that were good (maybe MAYBE better than the book) and bad about Watchmen:
Disclaimer: I liked it.
In case it wasn't obvious, spoilers on.
5.
Seeing Rorschach say "You're in here with me!" -- It makes one forget that in the book it's mentioned offhand.
4.
The end -- I liked it. I thought it was more plausible. Which is good. The only flaw is that you don't really see the bodies that are so effective in the book. But, as those characters are marginal at best in the movie, I don't think that's too big of a loss.
3.
The sex scene -- yeah, I liked that, too. I know a lot of critics have shit on it, but I think the porno-ness of it conveyed the fetishist reasons that partly make up some of these heroes motivations.
2.
Ozymandias vs. the Comedian -- Upon hearing that this fight scene was going to be extended, I at first was upset, as I thought it was just grandstanding for the audience. But upon seeing it, I loved it. For one, it was incredibly choreographed. I thought most of the movies fight choreography was brilliant, but in this scene, it made sense (I'll get to this later). You get to see just how competent the Comedian is, as he gets his ass kicked. Knowing it was Veidt doing the kicking, I loved how preposterously perfect he was. It really showed the whole "perfect man" thing ultra well. One of the best fights I've seen in a movie.
1.
The opening credits -- Because they were perfect. Easily the most ingenious device used in the film to bring elements smoothly and effectively from the book. And, more importantly, it made these elements work in FILM. Very cinematic. Again, perfect.
Now, things I thought were stupid. I'll try not to choose anything that has to do with time constraints (though I wish they could have worked in the psychologists soliloquy), or necessary changes for conversion from book to film. So I suppose this is "nit-picking." Though I'll try to keep away from the too, too trivial.
5.
Malin Akerman -- She wasn't good. Silk Spectre didn't really portray any of the fickle tendencies that she did in the book. She read her lines as if ... she were just reading lines. Hot though.
4.
Watchmen killing! -- Silk Spectre stabs a dude! Comedian doesn't use rubber bullets out in the open! Nite Owl has no qualms about Rorschach clearly killing Big Figure. (This last one can be argued against. My girlfriend thinks that SS2 and Dan were at a different angle as the audience when we see that bathroom door swing. I do not, citing the way Rorschach turns his head.) I feel as if all the Watchmen killing, or at least not protesting murder, takes potency away from the fact that Rorschach and the Comedian DO kill.
3.
Not-powered heroes doing ridiculous things -- After coming out of the movie, my girlfriend said to me, "John, you told me that Dr. Manhattan was the only one with powers, right?" I knew exactly what she meant. Ozymandias leaping 20 feet in the air... maybe. He's close to super-powered. But Dan Dreiberg, after years of retirement, shouldn't be able to leap 10 feet and then kick someone an additional 10 feet. Rorschach shouldn't be fine after jumping out the third story of a building. Similarly, I thought the superheroes that weren't Ozymandias showed a little too much martial arts prowess. In Watchmen, the action was grounded. In the film, the heroes are all untouchable, probably able to kick the shit out of Bruce Lee. While this is not in itself bad, it misses the most important point of Watchmen, which was to show superheroes in the real world. And some of that action did not seem real. Which I think it should have.
2.
Some dialogue changes -- I understand cutting some. I understand changing some to make it more understandable (for example, "serial-villain" to "comic-book-villain"). But some lines were really really cool, and were lost. The light is tearing me apart?! I now wish that a beautiful woman was handing me a glass of cold beer?! Nothing ever ends?! Ronald Reagan instead of Robert Redford?? C'mon! Gold! It doesn't count if Laurie says it!
1. Nixon sub-plotline -- I hated this expanded plotline for 3 reasons. One, it took time. Time that could've been used to show Hollis' murder, or expand on Rorschach's origin, or to expand to introduce the minor characters who get blasted away. Two, it was downright silly. The prosthetic nose was ludicrously big. A caricature, made to look like a comic book instead of being made to look like Richard Nixon. And finally, three. And this is the most important. In the book, Nixon does not make a decision. He says to give it a week and he'll sleep on it, but there is a connotation that after that week he would do the same. There was no urgency to bomb. The movie made him out to be almost eager to pull the trigger first. Now, I'm no Nixon fan (though triangulation between the USSR and China was a smart call), but this seemed out of character, and unnecessary. A point of Watchmen was that war, without Manhattan, was inevitable, simply due to the circumstances. The film made it out as if, without Nixon, there was still hope that things would be okay. And they wouldn't have been.
So yeah, that's what I liked and didn't. Everybody should probably make their own lists, as everyone probably thought much different things, as the critics did. Have you read Rottentomatoes?! It's like all or nothing with those guys. Again, I thought the film was really good. Probably as good of an adaption as there could have been. Certainly as good of an adaption as Snyder could have made.
