Pyat reviews a super-people movie

[pyat]

There are some mild spoilers.



The acting in a few scenes seemed a little flat, particularly in the scenes between Silk Specter II and her mother. Akerman’s portrayal Silk Specter II seemed a little subdued in general, and it gave a few of her scenes an odd tone. I got used to it, though, and her readings weren’t bad, just slightly restrained. I’ve heard criticism that the actress was too young, though I believe she was supposed to be six or seven years younger than Nite Owl II and Rorschach in the comic. So, that’s okay then.

I agree with the thebitterguy’s dislike of the sudden bone-breaking fight scene with Nite Owl II and Silk Specter II. We were introduced to them as ordinary people, though well-trained, and suddenly they were throwing people around in a sort of brutal, cartoonish way. I realize that this is how fight scenes look in the movies these days. However, it meant that Ozymandias, to be better than Nite Owl II and Rorschach, was pretty clearly operating on a super-human level.

A lot of people thought Ozymandias was miscast. I agree that I was expecting something closer to Doc Savage than David Bowie, but Matthew Goode did a fair job with the role. He was a lot more sinister than the Ozymandias of the comic, I fear, which makes the ending less of a surprise. Also, he appears to have gay porn on his computer. At least, one of the folders on his desktop was labeled “BOYS.” While the character in the comic was at least sexually ambiguous, I think that (and the scene where he's hobnobbing with Bowie at CBGB's) sort of changes the characterization a bit. Also, it may explain the lavender sport coat. Though that can also be explained by "It was the 80s."

Haley’s Rorschach was quite uncanny. Judge for yourself whether that is bad or good. I was very impressed, though I fear it means we’ll get a lot of really depressing people validating unpleasant worldviews by identifying with the character. I mean… even more so.

FUN FACT: Haley played the son on "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home."

The death of Hollis Mason is not shown in the film. It would have been useful to see that loss driving Nite Owl II, though he did not seem to lack for motivation.

I quite liked the interaction between Rorschach and Nite Owl II. It rang very true, and for some reason I’d not read a certain undertone of Rorschach trying to keep Nite Owl as a friend. It simply didn’t occur to me when I read the comic, which admittedly was 20 years ago now. Rorschach realizes he has no friends. His hero died alone and hated. The one person whom he used to regard as a friend has drifted away, and, worse he shows signs of going back into “the business.”

Rorschach was okay with Nite Owl II being a failure and a has-been. But he fears Nite Owl II returning to the adventuring life, and hooking up with Silk Specter II. His reaction reminded me of a bitter Libertarian comic book collector realizing that his old high school buddy is getting married and moving to Alaska.

I quite liked the scene wherein Rorschach and Nite Owl II arrive in Antarctica. It was quite possibly my favorite scene in the film. I don’t know why, but the image of two men walking alone toward a fortress rather resonated with me on some level. It’s all tied up with glorious last stands and The Man Who Would be King, and RPG games, and J.R.R. Tolkien, I think. Sort of, “All right, we’re here, and all we’ve got left is our brains and our fists, and we’re coming to shake the pillars of heaven.”

I give it an 8/10. I would see it again.

Comments

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Let's skip work and see it!

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I am tempted!

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

I have the day off!

Sadly my boss might be taking me out to a food thingy for the industry. Not that I MIND but it means no wandering off :P

[seritaph.livejournal.com]

Several very valid points there, and I do especially agree with your notation of unlikable sorts stating their angry worldviews must be ok due to resonating so well with that of Rorschach.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

As circuit_four notes, it may be an example of Misaimed Fandom (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MisaimedFandom).

[seritaph.livejournal.com]

Oh most like. I recall there being a few interviews where the author expressed frustration that anyone would view the viewpoints and personality of Rorschach in a positive light, but then again his is a rather polarizing style of writing.

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

I disliked the cut for Hollis Mason's death. It was my one big cut gripe when I left the theatre.
And agreed, I loved that little scene showing that Nite Owl II and Rorschach are trying to stay friends and like each other in a bizzare way. It made me feel.. happy? Yeah, happy.
I enjoyed Rorschach waay too much and feel the actor's performance was, if not fully oscar worthy, deserving of at least a nod next year.

edit:
I really wanted to hear John tell Adrian nothing ever ends..

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I really wanted to hear John tell Adrian nothing ever ends..

Yes! I didn't realize I missed that line till you just mentioned it.

[catsarah.livejournal.com]

That line was in there... But I'm not sure that John says it to Adrian...I'm thinking he says it to Silk Spectre...when they're on Mars?

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

SS says it to NO as something Dr. M would say

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

Strange, that line was in the cut I saw.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Hollis Mason's death, or Jon telling Adrian nothing ends?

Hollis Mason's death was filmed and a bit of that scene appears in the Japanese trailer, FWIW.

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

Jon telling Adrian nothing ends. Hollis Mason's death is going to be in the director's cut, so I've been told.

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

See, Silk Spectre said it to Nite Owl near the end, but Dr. M himself never says it to Ozy

[leonard-arlotte.livejournal.com]

The line was there, but it was SS2 who said it, saying "Jon would say, 'Nothing ever ends'."

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

I know... I wouldn't have missed it so much had it NOT been said by the wrong person. My brain went 'WTF?' as it's one of my all time favorite scenes in the book.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

That's not _quite_ how fight scenes appear in the movies these days. Usually, bones don't get broken, nor is there that much blood. I found it a refreshingly realistic portrayal, even with suspension of disbelieve somewhat strained.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I meant, people getting thrown a dozen feet and one-punched into unconsciousness, etc. It's not particularly realistic.

[catsarah.livejournal.com]

But this is a comic book movie...why does it have to be realistic?

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Well, one of the points of the comic in the first place was to depict a real world. So, in the comic, the fights are a lot more like the bar fight in "Treasure of the Sierra Madre." Ozymandias fights a lot better, but he is supposedly to be the pinnacle of human achievement. Nite Owl is just a well-built nerd who with a black belt. :)

[leonard-arlotte.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine who did not read the comic said that the statement that there was only one superhero in the world (Doc Manhattan) was not true. All the costumed people were CLEARLY super powered. I told him that they were supposed to be Batman-level of normal human, and Ozy is supposed to be The Best. He didn't buy it though, as he said there's no way normal humans can take as much abuse as they did. Case in point, the beating that Comedian took in the opening scene, where hard furniture was being easily broken with his head and body, and he was not only still alive, but conscious.

I chalked it up as a case of the hollywoodification of the fight scenes.

[ladyceleste.livejournal.com]

I agree with most of what you've said, and don't really disagree with the rest. I didn't HATE the casting of Ozymandias or Silk Spectre II, and the latter character is pretty two-dimensional (read: useless) in the novel so I don't think I even noticed anything except how annoying her wig was. I also expected someone more stocky for Ozymandias, but Matthew Goode was okay... I had a hard time with his wavering accent more than his stature.

[leonard-arlotte.livejournal.com]

One thing that was significantly missing was Silk Spectre's smoking habit. That was her justification for pushing the flamethrower button in the comics. In the movie, she's just stupidly pressing the button with a picture of fire on it.

[ladyceleste.livejournal.com]

I noted that too. My thought is that this was deliberate. There was a big "smoking is bad" disclaimer at the end of the credits. Not that the Comedian doesn't smoke, but...

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

Yeaaah, I disliked Silk Spectre in the comics so the total woodeness of the actress didn't horrify me.

And I assumed they took out the smoking because it would just, well, confuse modern audiences. People just DON'T smoke UNLESS they're rugged/evil or both. Simply having her smoke a lot would have imposed stuff on her that wasn't there in the comic because of 2000's assumptions.

[leonard-arlotte.livejournal.com]

The Comedian smoked, but he smoked cigars. They have not been given the same evil taboo that cigarettes have gotten in the last two decades.

Mind you, in the comics, they had that detachable glass ball that you lit like a crack pipe for cigarettes. They may have wished to avoid any confusion on the matter.

Of course, they could have just wanted to avoid having any hero, no matter how grim and gritty, smoke on screen.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

They may have wished to avoid any confusion on the matter.

I suspect that's part of it. Cigarettes have at least been partly reformed in movies - it's okay for films set in certain time periods to have smoking heroes.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Was there really a disclaimer?

[thebitterguy]

Plus you could track her character arc when she tried to quit.

[thebitterguy]

Was there a lot of computerized porn in 85?

[pyat.livejournal.com]

The editor of my school paper used to download porn from a local BBS in 88 or 89. I don't imagine there was a lot in 1985, but, if there were digital pictures, there was surely digital porn.

Maybe it was ASCII porn!

[thebitterguy]

He'd see PATTERNS in the numbers.

Snyder's subtlety seems to be a little laboured on occasion.

[leonard-arlotte.livejournal.com]

I remember ASCII porn. letters and numbers arranged on a screen, to make naughty pictures. They looked even better when printed out on the greenbar paper on the dot matrix printers.

um...

At least that's what my roommate in college told me!

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

Yep. The reason guys hung out in the high school computer room.