Showing posts with label Alan Moore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alan Moore. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Watchmen Movie Review 22


Watchmen is a new movie based on the graphic novel of the same name and I guess you have heard of this before? You have not? Well then read my review of the Graphic Novel and the story if you know nothing about it first here! If you have read this and know all about the story then you are probably wondering have they made a mess of the movie?! Did they spoil it and totally wreck a classic? Was the whole thing just too hard to film and a disjointed mess? Well, I have been a huge fan of the graphic novel for years and these thoughts did cross my mind before I saw the movie.For the hardcore Watchmen fans out there who have not seen the movie yet, I can assure you that your dreams have come true!

This is a great movie from start to finish with only a few niggles along the way.More on them later but taken on just a movies merits this has everything.There is a great story,action,love interest and tragedy all together here and it all works well.It is directed by Zack Snyder who also directed 300 and he must be commended for putting this all together.The source material is long and complex and I was wondering would it just turn into a straight superhero type movie but the original story is kept just with a few changes.

I
was especially interested in the casting choices as before seeing this movie I read a review in the paper of this and the reviewer basically said the cast was wrong and the movie was rubbish.I knew before I read the review that he would hate it as he is the type of person who loves The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and I hated it!! I am beginning to believe there are two types of people in the world, those who love Benjamin Button type movies and those who love Watchmen type movies!!!!!

M
ore importantly the reviewer said the casting was wrong in Watchmen so I was watching the cast straight away.I could not disagree more as they seemed spot on to me.

The Comedian is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and he seemed perfect! See above pic! He looks uncannily like Robert Downey junior and I kept thinking it was him! I did notice on the tombstone in the movie Edward Blake's middle name was Morgan!

Silk Spectre II is played by the beautiful Malin Akerman (Pictured here for your pleasure! How she squeezes into her suit I'll never know!

Billy Crudup plays Dr.Manhattan, see above pic!.Crudup is an actor I like a lot as he does different stuff each time I see him and I especially liked him in the movie Without Limits which was about the runner Steve Prefontaine.Very interesting Biopic that you should check out if you get a chance!!

Patrick Wilson plays Nite Owl II and he was previously in Lakeview Terrace that I reviewed here! I couldn't help but think that Nite Owl II looks very like Die Fledermaus from The Tick and it makes me laugh when I think about it! What do you think? Nite Owl II is on the left and Die Fledermaus is on the right!

Ozymandias is played by Matthew Goode.Yes, I didn't know who he was either but he played his part well.Matt Frewer pops up as Moloch the Mystic.He was the guy who was Max Headroom and in Lawnmower Man 2!!! I recognised Rob Labelle in this also and he was in one of my favourite sci fi shows First Wave playing Crazy Eddie!

The important part of Rorshach was played by Jackie Earle Hayley and he was brilliant.He looked like him and sounded like him and you do believe that he WAS him! I think a lot of people might have him as their favourite character as he takes no cr@p and really kicks @ss!!!! The scene where he is in jail was done exactly like the graphic novel and it really works great! If you have read it then you know what I mean.No compromise!!!!!!!!!!

This is a great movie and was put together very well but is not without a few small faults.Rorscach's mask is never explained although this is a small omission.Ozymandias' Tropical Vivarium was cut out entirely.The biggest omission was the story arc of Tales of the Black Freighter was left out entirely.It is coming out as a separate animated short but I wish it was squeezed in somewhere or at least a reference to it.Another glaring change is the ending.The ending is different to the graphic novel and while it works well they should have left well enough alone.The scene with Rorschach and the child killer was different also where he gave the killer a hacksaw a la Saw whereas here in the movie he is hacked in the head.This leaves me to one last gripe.This was a 16 certificate where I saw it and should have been an 18 certificate at least.It had violence and sex scenes that should have made it an 18 certificate.

It does have the above niggles but that is because I have read the source material.If you did not know the graphic novel then you would hardly miss any of these except Rorshach's mask.Amanda said to me after seeing this that they never explained how or why he had that mask that kind of morphs.It may seem I was unhappy but I can assure you that Watchmen is a great movie and was always going to be hard to make.I definitely recommend you check this movie out as soon as possible.Even if you know nothing about the graphic novel you should go see this.You will not be disappointed!

Watchmen (10/10)

And also here is Malin Akerman and she gets 10/10 also!


Saturday, January 10, 2009

Watchmen Trailer - New Footage!!!!!!!!!

Here is another Watchmen trailer with new footage!!!! Yes that's right! Yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!! You might have seen it already but maybe you have not.It is the Japanese trailer for the movie and I know all of you reading this speak Japanese fluently don't you? Whats that? You Don't? Oh no!! Well good news for you some poor fool...........emmmmmm I meant fan has put in subtitles that you can turn on in the right hand corner.Of course I did not need them..............well OK I did really! The main thing here though is the snippets of new footage from the movie so Enjoy!



Well,what do you think? It is looking very good from what I can see...................!!!!!!!!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Watchmen Book / Graphic novel Review 4



Hope you like the trailer for Watchmen! As the new movie is being made based on Watchmen, I decided to dust off my copy of the famous graphic novel and reread it.I know that technically it's not a book but it is a brilliant piece of work.Watchmen is a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons.If you do not read graphic novels or have no interest in them then I suggest you start now by getting Watchmen to read! It's one of those books that you read that you cannot put down and you know is very special indeed.

It is a tale set in an alternate year of 1985 where Nixon is still the President of the United States and masked crusaders have been made illegal.There were loads of them but they were banned after the police went on strike as the vigilantes were putting them out of work! Years have passed since then and all of the masked heroes have retired or gone to ground.Then one of their original lineup is found dead having being pushed out of a top floor window.His old colleagues try to find out what happened to him and whether it is a simple murder or part of a conspiracy against the old heroes.

What follows is a very layered story as we find out what happened in each masked crusaders life and what path they took.Some people want the past forgotten while others want to return to masked crime fighting.In this alternate reality we find out the USA and the Soviet Union are locked in a power struggle and the person keeping the USA on top and war from happening is Dr. Manhattan! He is a man who was in an accident that now has godlike powers.He can multiply himself,teleport and grow bigger among other things! Very handy guy to have around! He helped the Americans win the Vietnam War so the USSR won't do anything aggressive while he is around.So when Rambo asks do we get to win this time? The answer is Yes!

Among the Watchmen are:

The Comedian is the hero found murdered and he was a brash,cigar smoking guy who liked nothing better than to shoot first and ask questions later!

Then there is Rorscach (on the right) who has a mask with black ink over his head and does not compromise on anything! Whatever he thinks is right is the only way to live!!

Nite Owl is a guy dressed up like an owl who took over the mantel from the previous Nite Owl.He has all the gadgets and flying ship but is now overweight and retired.

Silk Spectre is the female hero and Ozymandias who is supposedly the smartest guy in the world and has highly developed human abilities.

This graphic novel has a great story in it with a lot of layers that is really worth rereading if you have done so before.Especially with the movie coming out its always good to read the novel first and Watchmen really is a great read.The writing by Alan Moore (pictured on the left) is brilliant and the illustrations by Dave Gibbons (Pictured on the right) are top class with each panel having incredible amounts of detail.It's best to take your time with each of them as they are definitely to be savoured! Dave Gibbons is a great artist and combined with Alan Moore they make a great team.There is also a graphic novel called The Black Freighter within this graphic novel to get your head around so Watchmen truly is a classic! I would recommend you getting a copy and reading it now!!!!!!

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (10/10)