Have I mentioned that I am extremely excited about the newStar Trek movie? Because I am. Extremely.
(The illustration is by the lovely and talented Kate Beaton, and you should definitely go look at everything she has done because it is awesome.)
Watchmen is great on two levels. If you’ve never read the comic (like Annie), it stands completely on its own as an excellent action movie with a fantastic plot. However, if you’ve read the comic, it’s more like a love letter. Certainly, there are deviations, but Snyder has a good feel for dropping the bits that don’t matter much and and adding the in-between bits that are needed to translate the story to a new format. The biggest change is the new ending, and while I think it’s a bit more conventional than the comic’s ending, it’s certainly true to the spirit of the story, and I think the original ending probably would have alienated non-comics fans. Apart from that, however, the movie is a goldmine for attentive viewers. I’ve seen it twice now, and I definitely caught some bits the second time around that I missed the first time, and I can’t wait for the director’s cut to get more behind-the-scenes information.
”In my movie, Superman doesn’t care about humanity, Batman can’t get it up, and the bad guy wants world peace.”
– Zack Snyder, discussing his adaptation ofWatchmen
How about a one-word review? Disappointing. The summary says “Batman takes on Deadshot, Killer Croc and other deadly foes in six anime-inspired short films.” The key words there are anime-inspired. This movie desperately wanted to beThe Animatrix, but it failed because they got American writers and animators. The six shorts all have different styles, but none of them are interesting, because they’re all direct imitations of the art styles fromthe Animatrix. There’s some potential here, especially the story about Bruce training to resist pain in India, but ultimately the delivery flops.
“If you’re good at something, never do it for free.”
– The Joker, inThe Dark Knight