Watchmen The Directors cut movie review

After waiting for a couple of weeks for my US region 1 directors cut to come through the door, (I did not see the film at the cinema and had no intention of watching the cut down UK version) I finally got settled down to watch it last night! and what a treat it was! I did not find the film dragged, It was not slow or boring at all as others have put it, I found the pacing to be spot on and in line with the comic and the motion comic film which I watched before this. I would definitely recommend watching the directors cut if at all possible because I can't imagine how the film could work without vital scenes such as the comedian rape scene, Hollace death scene, the scene in which Manhattan tells silk spectre 2 that he has no link to the world anymore without her- all these scenes show vital character development and should not have been cut out, I would be very annoyed watching the UK version without these scenes and am glad I watched this first, I think the UK version would have ruined the film to an extent, however for non fans of the graphic novel it may just work out ok as they will have no knowledge of these scenes, I still think they are important however but then again this film may not appeal so much to non-fans as they may find it harder to follow as it is a confusing story the first time around. OK i won't talk about the plot because everyone knows that the plot is good, that it broke standard superhero conventions, that it took the comic genre to new heights, that is the comic of all comics, and that is it a non conformist post modern tale I will ever be thankful for. But there is no need for me to harp on about the plot, let's get to the characters... The Comedian played by a guy that looks like a chubbier and less attractive version of Robert Downey Jr is exceptional as othes have pointed out, he completely nails the role, for me it felt as though he WAS the comedian from the graphic novel and that he had simply stepped from the paper pages to the big screen, yes he was THAT good! and I love how despite the character doing some terrible things we still feel some kind of connection to him and get that feeling of loss at his death, (this is not a spoiler- the whole plot revolves around his death, which happens at the start of the film) and even find him likable despite these flaws, they only serve to make him more human than what we would expect from a superhero character. For example in the scene where he shoots the pregnant women, (again I may as well mention this as several others have, plus it does not give away anything of the plot) in Dr. Manhattans presence, it's as if he "wanted" Manhattan to stop him, so although he did it, it was a compulsive action rather than a pre-meditated act, and a part of him probably hoped he would be stopped, but the fact that he wasn't only serves to push his F*****d up view of society and the world even further into chaos. (this scene also gives insight into Dr. Manhattan and his growing detachment/conflict with humanity) the Comedian for me was the best character in the film, followed by Rorschach. Rorschach was also exceptional and I couldn't see him being any other way, I did imagine him to be taller and sexier but we all know he is meant to be ugly under that mask, no matter how intriguing his voice may be, I still found him a likable character, they cut out some of the scenes when he was locked up and talking to the doctor, but obviously they have to cut some stuff and at least they left enough of it in to give you some idea of who he was. there's nothing else I can say about him really, I felt he handled the role well, it's a shame they didn't explain about how he got the mask and became Rorschach, I felt that part was also important but they left it out, they could easily have done it in a few minutes like the dog scene? Osimodus (sorry about spelling) at first annoyed me, because he was a scrawny, stuck up looking ponce! in the book he is a greek god type figure with long hair, however he did grow on me and I liked him by the end feeling he gave a good performance with what little screen time he had, I didn't like his cat, it should have been red. It looked a little CGI heavy for me, couldn't they have filmed a real wild cat? (tame of course) then changed it with CGI rather than the entire animal being CGI? anyway that is a minor... Night owl and Silk spectre, I liked night owl, he even looked like the guy in the comic, nothing amazing but he did the role and that's that, decent acting, no complaints, silk spectre, hmmm, some people are going to think I'm being bitchy here but I'm not, I thought she was very pretty at times, (with the fringe) but felt she could have been sexier, her body was too straight, she had bad skin, (covered with make-up) but I didn't dislike her, I thought she was OK, but in the book she is meant to b every young and absolutely beautiful, much more beautiful than Janey and clearly younger, however I felt her and Janey looked the same age, which annoyed me a little, maybe they should have just made Janey look older and less beautiful then the difference between them would have been much more obvious, Dr. Manhattan even says himself that Janey is getting older every day, however she still looks as young as silky to me? Silks mother was very pretty, in fact she was stunning! not at all the old chain smoking hag in the book, she was far more beautiful than her daughter so again this makes me question the actress playing silk spectre 2, surely she should have been absolutely stunning? anyway looks aside, they were all OK in their roles. Dr. Manhattan was great, but I felt they should have kept in more scenes about him from the book, I feel his character in this movie was let down the most in terms of development, his inner conflict with loosing touch with humanity and being in different times all at once is much better handled in the book, but I would have thought it fairly easy to convert that to the big screen? the scene in which he goes to mars and we are shown a glimpse of what time is like for him was touched upon in the film but they didn't do it right, they cut out vital parts, they did not focus on the picture of him and Janey that he carried in his hand and took to Mars with him, the one that he kept dropping, (anyone who's seen the motion comics will know what I mean) it's such a hauntingly beautiful scene that tells you so much about him with a few words and images, yes it would have taken about 5 to 10 minutes to portray but it would have been worth it and it would have given us so much more of who Manhattan was. thankfully the directors cut has more of his discussion with silky on mars, I can't imagine how disappointing the UK version must be without this... By the way, the love scene involving Manhattan and Silk Spectre could have been better handled, but again it's a good scene to have in and gives us a bit more insight into Manhattan and his relationship with Silk.) The only other thing I can talk about is the ending. It didn't really bother me that they had changed it to a more linear one for film, perhaps the original ending would have seemed silly? I don't know why they changed it but I remember reading somewhere that it was because the original couldn't be done? why not? Anyway I thought the new ending was ok, it had more emotional impact, I won't say why due to possible spoilers, and it tied things up in a more round-about way, It would have been cool if they did both endings, rather like Will smiths "I am Legend" and DVD viewers could have been treated to an alternate ending, it would have been good for fans as this ending was clearly for newcomers who may not like the comic ending. Overall I think this was an excellent adaption, probably the best adaption ever! and as close as possible as it could have been! I have read reviews complaining that the fight scene in the Alley involving night owl and Silky was too long and OTT, so because I had read this before watching it, it came to mind when watching it, however I cannot decide if I think it is too long or not, yes it may have been more effective if it was shorter and less violent, (I don't mind violence at all and personally find censorship is a pain in the butt, but sometimes some scenes don't really need it whilst others definitely do need it to be effective such as the rape scene for example) I did think hmm, superheroes breaking peoples limbs? would they do that? maybe it was to empathize their thrill at returning to the old ways again? Another scene brought up in previous reviews was the love scene between the 2 of them, (owl and silk) yes this was a bit laughable, and the music was dumb, but I wouldn't say it ruined the film or anything! maybe it was meant to be comical? either way it is not detrimental to the plot so I wouldn't worry about it too much as others have, but each to their own, other's won't be bothered as much as i was about Janey being young or Silk not been hot enough etc. (and I am not a lesbian! I just think she was meant to be young and beautiful, in a natural way, not covered in make-up, Janey seemed to be more naturally beautiful than her but in the book she is an aging nagging wife type etc and the young girl is enticing etc, you know what I mean! if you had a solid gold or platinum rock, would you chuck it away for an piece of silver?) anyway I would highly recommend this film, to fans and non-fans, despite the slight ending change I still think fans will like it, some non fans may find it confusing, but it beats Batman, spiderman and all the rest out there, this is a superhero film for ADULTS and nothing else comes close, I am so glad they did not sell out and make it a 12 or a 15 just to generate young viewers as Raimi's "Drag me to helll" did! Superb film and I will be watching it again soon! PLEASE CONSIDER GETTING THE DIRECTORS CUT IF YOU CAN- I wouldn't want to waste anytime on a cut down version, yes in some cases films are better cut down but not in this case, watchmen is a complex story which needs at least 4 hours to do it justice so at the very least get the 3 hour plus version, and for those who find it boring to sit through a long film and moan about it dragging I say give it a miss then and stick to Emmerdale farm rather than watching something you simply cannot appreciate and then bashing it because you don't have the attention span!