by Terry Keefe
Watchmen is finally opening tonight at midnight, and I had the opportunity to see it two weeks ago, but honored the promised press embargo until now. And I absolutely loved it in a way I haven't loved a film since The Fellowship of the Ring back in 2001. It transported me to a new world and reminded of what watching a great movie was like as a kid: the feeling of being imbued with wonder, and the promise of a chance to touch the infinite. I'll go into this more in a longer article later, but for now, feast on the Watchmen words of Ubercine's Gregory Weinkauf. Here's the intro of his just-posted (click on to read the full article at Ubercine.com):
"The promise of Cinéma -- its grandeur and glamour, audacity and complexity, impact and after-effects -- is well within the grasp of a young upstart director called Zack Snyder. Upon emerging from his latest (and greatest) motion picture, the quarter-century-in-development comic-book-adaptation Watchmen, I must admit, I was awestruck. Throughout, and of course immediately thereafter, I was nitpicking -- and I have found plenty of details (technical, narrative, ideological) which reasonably may be called flaws. But nonetheless, this movie is perfect -- fulfilling its obligations to its audience 100%, and even cajoling a determined nitpicker (yes, I have some negative comments, below) to stay engaged throughout its generous run-time, whilst feeling very much like I was being, well, rocked. Watchmen is cool as hell. Watchmen is epic in every sense of the word. Watchmen rules. A high new bar for pop cinéma, by it, has been set."
Check out our in-depth interview with Watchmen star Jeffrey Dean Morgan, which will be appearing in this month's Venice Magazine. Morgan plays the Comedian, the aging hero/vigilante/commando/psychopath whose murder in the opening of the story gets the plot rolling. We've also got a bunch of fun Watchmen related links and videos to come.
Unlike any film in recent memory, Watchmen is dividing critics wildly and will likely have a similar effect on audiences (although I think it's poised to make a bundle this weekend regardless). Some of the pans of the film have occasionally been rabid and overly nasty, as if the critic were attacking the very notion of a super hero film which aspires to both high art and entertainment. I can certainly understand not liking Watchmen. I would not recommend it to most of my older family members. It will not be for everybody, and there have been many thoughtful negative dissections of it which have appeared so far, from critics who I respect. I am an unabashed fan of the original source material and someone who grew up reading super hero comics. I am very predisposed to like the film in a way I may not be, let's say, He's Just Not That Friggin' Into You. So, I understand a reaction considerably less enthusiastic than mine. What I cannot understand is the failure to acknowledge that the film shoots for the stars (and beyond), is wildly original, and has long stretches of pure cinematic rhapsody. Just the opening sequences alone are more thrilling and innovative than anything I've seen in the past five years in a theater.
The Rotten Tomatoes page for Watchmen can be found here. As of this writing, the culmulative reviews are in the positive camp at 66%, with 90 positive reviews and 49 negative ones.
In the positive camp, there are raves from Roger Ebert (4 stars), Kyle Smith of the N.Y. Post, Richard Corliss of Time, and Mick LaSalle of the San Franciso Examiner. For the record, I would not put any of these critics in the fan/predisposed-to-like-the-material category.
One of my favorite reviews of the film thus far comes from Drew McWeeny of HitFix, formerly Moriarty of Ain't It Cool News. Like myself, he's a fellow major fan of the graphic novel and fully understands how difficult an adaptation this was and what Zack Snyder has really pulled off here.
In the negative camp, there are some intelligently written thumbs-downs from J. Hoberman of the Village Voice and Variety's Justin Chang.
Then there are a few pans which are bewildering. I'm going to spare mentioning the writers by name, as I have to see them at screenings. But history will not forget your lack of foresight, my colleagues. The internet is forever.
A lot of you will be seeing the film this weekend. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Watchmen is finally opening tonight at midnight, and I had the opportunity to see it two weeks ago, but honored the promised press embargo until now. And I absolutely loved it in a way I haven't loved a film since The Fellowship of the Ring back in 2001. It transported me to a new world and reminded of what watching a great movie was like as a kid: the feeling of being imbued with wonder, and the promise of a chance to touch the infinite. I'll go into this more in a longer article later, but for now, feast on the Watchmen words of Ubercine's Gregory Weinkauf. Here's the intro of his just-posted (click on to read the full article at Ubercine.com):
"The promise of Cinéma -- its grandeur and glamour, audacity and complexity, impact and after-effects -- is well within the grasp of a young upstart director called Zack Snyder. Upon emerging from his latest (and greatest) motion picture, the quarter-century-in-development comic-book-adaptation Watchmen, I must admit, I was awestruck. Throughout, and of course immediately thereafter, I was nitpicking -- and I have found plenty of details (technical, narrative, ideological) which reasonably may be called flaws. But nonetheless, this movie is perfect -- fulfilling its obligations to its audience 100%, and even cajoling a determined nitpicker (yes, I have some negative comments, below) to stay engaged throughout its generous run-time, whilst feeling very much like I was being, well, rocked. Watchmen is cool as hell. Watchmen is epic in every sense of the word. Watchmen rules. A high new bar for pop cinéma, by it, has been set."
Check out our in-depth interview with Watchmen star Jeffrey Dean Morgan, which will be appearing in this month's Venice Magazine. Morgan plays the Comedian, the aging hero/vigilante/commando/psychopath whose murder in the opening of the story gets the plot rolling. We've also got a bunch of fun Watchmen related links and videos to come.
Unlike any film in recent memory, Watchmen is dividing critics wildly and will likely have a similar effect on audiences (although I think it's poised to make a bundle this weekend regardless). Some of the pans of the film have occasionally been rabid and overly nasty, as if the critic were attacking the very notion of a super hero film which aspires to both high art and entertainment. I can certainly understand not liking Watchmen. I would not recommend it to most of my older family members. It will not be for everybody, and there have been many thoughtful negative dissections of it which have appeared so far, from critics who I respect. I am an unabashed fan of the original source material and someone who grew up reading super hero comics. I am very predisposed to like the film in a way I may not be, let's say, He's Just Not That Friggin' Into You. So, I understand a reaction considerably less enthusiastic than mine. What I cannot understand is the failure to acknowledge that the film shoots for the stars (and beyond), is wildly original, and has long stretches of pure cinematic rhapsody. Just the opening sequences alone are more thrilling and innovative than anything I've seen in the past five years in a theater.
The Rotten Tomatoes page for Watchmen can be found here. As of this writing, the culmulative reviews are in the positive camp at 66%, with 90 positive reviews and 49 negative ones.
In the positive camp, there are raves from Roger Ebert (4 stars), Kyle Smith of the N.Y. Post, Richard Corliss of Time, and Mick LaSalle of the San Franciso Examiner. For the record, I would not put any of these critics in the fan/predisposed-to-like-the-material category.
One of my favorite reviews of the film thus far comes from Drew McWeeny of HitFix, formerly Moriarty of Ain't It Cool News. Like myself, he's a fellow major fan of the graphic novel and fully understands how difficult an adaptation this was and what Zack Snyder has really pulled off here.
In the negative camp, there are some intelligently written thumbs-downs from J. Hoberman of the Village Voice and Variety's Justin Chang.
Then there are a few pans which are bewildering. I'm going to spare mentioning the writers by name, as I have to see them at screenings. But history will not forget your lack of foresight, my colleagues. The internet is forever.
A lot of you will be seeing the film this weekend. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment