May I make a request? Would somebody please point me to a review of Watchmen that actually reviews the movie?
Dear A.O. Scott, and even my normally-beloved Anthony Lane: you do not like the book. Fair enough. I disagree with your statements that it appeals only to 19-year-old boys living in the 1980s (do we only like movies and books that are set in the present? Really? Or is it just that the '80s wasn't as "interesting" a decade as the suburban '50s? And go to ComicCon sometime, the demographic is more varied than you might think) and with, frankly, your reading of the book as a childish, violence-loving celebration of the grossness of humanity. I believe that it is a denunciation of violence, perpetrated both by the government and by the Watchmen. I also disagree with your interpretation of the genre as "cod mythology and rainy dystopias, patrolled by rock-jawed heroes and their melon-breasted sidekicks." Clearly the genre must speak to somebody, hence its popularity and critical acclaim elsewhere, but never mind that.
You were being asked to review the movie. Not the book, not graphic novels in general, but the movie. Would somebody please tell me how Jackie Earle Haley's performance was? How the plot flows without the breakup and reflective commentary of the pirate comic? How the grittiness and pungency of the artwork translates into live action (or live action combined with many special effects)?
I don't have high hopes for the movie. I can't imagine how the above will be accomplished. But I am curious about it, and would like to read an intelligent discussion of the film as opposed to the book. I've read the book, I know what I think of the book, the book has been available for over twenty years. The movie came out today. Does anybody have anything to say about it?
This post has been written by two 27-year-old women.
Dear A.O. Scott, and even my normally-beloved Anthony Lane: you do not like the book. Fair enough. I disagree with your statements that it appeals only to 19-year-old boys living in the 1980s (do we only like movies and books that are set in the present? Really? Or is it just that the '80s wasn't as "interesting" a decade as the suburban '50s? And go to ComicCon sometime, the demographic is more varied than you might think) and with, frankly, your reading of the book as a childish, violence-loving celebration of the grossness of humanity. I believe that it is a denunciation of violence, perpetrated both by the government and by the Watchmen. I also disagree with your interpretation of the genre as "cod mythology and rainy dystopias, patrolled by rock-jawed heroes and their melon-breasted sidekicks." Clearly the genre must speak to somebody, hence its popularity and critical acclaim elsewhere, but never mind that.
You were being asked to review the movie. Not the book, not graphic novels in general, but the movie. Would somebody please tell me how Jackie Earle Haley's performance was? How the plot flows without the breakup and reflective commentary of the pirate comic? How the grittiness and pungency of the artwork translates into live action (or live action combined with many special effects)?
I don't have high hopes for the movie. I can't imagine how the above will be accomplished. But I am curious about it, and would like to read an intelligent discussion of the film as opposed to the book. I've read the book, I know what I think of the book, the book has been available for over twenty years. The movie came out today. Does anybody have anything to say about it?
This post has been written by two 27-year-old women.
2 comments:
Not an official review or anything, but my friend Amanda has a quick one here: http://stillsostrange.livejournal.com/637465.html
Amen to that!
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