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CINEMA SEEN - "Lewdly Patriotic!" By William Margold That I am dedicating an "entire precious page" of Cinema Seen space to WATCHMEN might suggest to you that I really liked the movie. Well...that’s not exactly true. But after all I went through "preparing" to see the film...I at least "respect it" enough to give it the back cover that you are looking at. It all started when a number of hyperventilating "fanboys" of the highly acclaimed WATCHMEN graphic novel (published in 12 parts during 1986 and 1987 by DC Comics), began challenging me to "read the book before I saw the movie"---or I "wouldn’t be able to understand the real meaning of the film." So I plunked down my $20...and picked up the hefty---now compressed into one complete combination of images and text for easier handling---publication (the cover of which is justifiably featured on this page), and waded into what I thought would be a "simple" comic book reading experience. Almost immediately however, I realized that this was going to be a far cry from the comic books that disturbed my youth during the early 1950’s. But then again, since I cut my mental teeth on what was ghoulishly served up between the highly suggestive covers of many EC comics---which eventually wound getting banned---maybe what I was paging through wasn’t going to be that different after all. However, within a few pages, I became impressed by the fact that, while not all that different, what I was embarking on was going to be anything but "simple." Indeed...as I began to penetrate writer Alan Moore’s and illustrator Dave Gibbons’ formidable amalgam of mind rattling images and thought provoking text, I realized that I was never going to be able to finish the task, or in fact, give the proper time and attention to Moore’s and Gibbons’ creation that it so obviously deserved...before I saw the movie. So I opted to just read...and try and absorb as much of the picture and word portion of WATCHMEN as I could...and skip the considerable amount of compelling connective text between each drawn chapter. Of course...I promised myself that one day in the not so distant future...when I was blessed with a considerable amount of "free time"...I would return to the book and "out of respect"...I would give it the thorough studying that I could sense it had earned during my initial visit. That the Zack ("300") Snyder directed production is too faithful to the book unfortunately is the double-edged sword that finally what makes the film ultimately fail as entertainment. And I wonder now if I hadn’t read (or known) almost everything before watching the movie, would I be slitting its throat, as well as my interest nerves, with that very same weapon. It is the Cold War era bleak world on the verge of termination that the film’s storyline is immersed in, and those who were once heroes and amusingly costumed defenders of good have become archaic. But when one of them (The Comedian played with very convincing/cigar chomping charismatic damnation by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is brutally murdered, the rest of the fearless family rise from their exiles, and venture off to save mankind...in spite of itself. Indeed...there is something lewdly patriotic about WATCHMEN that is as compelling as it is disconcerting, and because of that, it is very hard to like... but certainly not all that difficult to "respect"---or perhaps I should say "perversely admire." Leading the way against an unknown enemy is the seemingly soulless Rorschach, a nightmarishly masked man magnetically etched by Jackie Earle Haley. He is Heath Ledger’s Joker taken to even deeper levels of dementia, but damn if he isn’t the purest soul of the entire group. Joining him are Patrick Wilson as an appropriately square Nite Owl, Malin Ackerman as a fittingly slinky Silk Spectre, and Billy Crudup as the accidentally irradiated, but therefore incredibly wise Dr. Manhattan. Eventually they discover that the unknown enemy is one of their own---the preening Ozymandias (Matthew Goode)---whose master plan is to frighten the world into peaceful submission. And while I don’t want to give everything away here...although I "respected" the intent of the message...I remained unmoved as it was delivered. There are always going to be enough wild dogs out there that are impervious to being afraid. And they will be the ones who eventually push the buttons that will reduce this planet back to the cosmic dust it came from. And at that point in the tortured tissue of time...all of us will become WATCHMEN...futilely trapped in the fact that all we can do is watch...until our eyes explode. end NOTE: Originally published in LA Xpress, March 26, 2009 issue. |