Review/Scattered Opinions: Watchmen

[bofoddity]

Overall opinion: Well, it wasn't a waste of money. But of course I'm cranky.

So. Dear Zack Snyder,

Thanks for eliminating Laurie's significance and storyline as well as the full force of her personality for the sake of turning her into eye candy.

Thanks for making Daniel a tool. I'm not even sure whether it's the actor or how the character is handled, but I know I loved him a lot in the comic and I barely felt any of that love here, except for his scenes with Rorschach.

Thanks for stripping Daniel/Laurie-romance of all its substance. I know, I know, we don't have time for everything, but if you had time for two sex scenes between them then I'm sure you would have found the time to give them some emotional meaning to what they have.

Thanks for setting up the rape as sexily as possible so that the audience would be properly turned on. I also loved the emphasis in Sally's story was on how Comedian was actually a woobie rather than on her relationship with her daughter.

Thanks for all the fawning over Comedian's "bad-assery". I do get that the "bad-assery" in question is part of the point, but I think there could have been, you know, less emphasis on it.

Thanks for making Ozymandias a sly dick instead of somebody truly charismatic and dangerous. I didn't dislike the actor, but my impression of Ozymandias was that he was a little overwhelming, and that's not what I got from this guy.

But, I have some real thanks to give too.

Thanks for the most amazing opening credits I've seen since Casino Royale. They did a nice job of making me want to know more about what's going on in this universe.

Thanks for making the visuals very yummy. I especially liked how the violence was both aesthetic and brutal at the same time.

Thanks for casting Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach and doing Rorschach in general justice. He might have been a little too much on the hot side, but he managed the psycho parts of Rorschach just fine. It disturbs me a little that I felt for him as much as I did, not to mention how inc

Thanks for casting Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Comedian. With the way he made Comedian both repulsive and intensely charismatic there was no reason for you not to point out more what a horrible dick he was.

Thanks for reaching that nice balance between human and inhuman with Dr. Manhattan. I also liked how his human side was so present in the movie, and yet it was obviously frustrating as hell to be around him.

Thanks for giving the Daniel/Rorschach-dynamic what it needed to work. Daniel could have been less sidelined in their scenes, but it worked.