Film review: Watchmen

Watchmen @ IMDB

This has been a really difficult review for me to approach simply because how close I am to the source material. What source material, I hear some of you cry.

To which I say go away and learn some comic history then we'll talk.

Watchmen the comic is important because it is one of those pieces of work that changes whatever medium it's based in. It's impact on comics is akin to the impact of Jaws on film: when Jaws released it ushered in the summer blockbuster era of cinema, similarly when Watchmen came out it redefined the tone of superhero comics and the themes you could express.

It many ways it was consider unfilmmable despite the attempts that have been made over the years. Now it has been filmed but can it come close to the depths of the comic?

The overall plot of Watchmen is fairly simple: a group of costumed heroes are brought out retirement in the mid eighties following the murder of one of their number. This is set against the backdrop of an escalating cold war where Nixon is still President.

Fairly straightforward, however this allowed the comic lots of space to explore the characters and the alternate world they inhabit. The comic also had 12 issues whilst the movie has two and a bit hours. Hmm.

There are two extremes of adapting comics to films. There is the school that wants to take the comic and put it up on screen word for word, panel for panel (see things like Superman). Then there is the school of take the names and throw the rest away (see Wanted)*.

Watchmen falls firmly in that first camp. It is actually astounding how close it comes to the comic. Panels are put up on the screen that are just like the comic. The overall art direction is amazing, special mention going to Dr. Manhattan who should become on of those iconic screen images.

The performances are great, the standouts being The Comedian and Rorschach.

There are, however, issues.

Whilst seeing the comic replicated so well may tickle my fanboy bones, what works on the page doesn't always work on screen. Some scenes drag and makes it feel every bit of it's long running time.

But that's the tricky thing: as a comic fan I could probably nit pick this all day but is that really helpful for someone who hasn't read the comic? Probably not.

I get the feeling that this will be one of those divisive films that will always be a conversation starter. And as such you should watch it. You may be a fan of the comic and hate it bit you should at least watch it.

It is a very brave film that doesn't quite match it's inspiration but it tries it's hardest. And that's as much as you can ask.

In a word? Almost


* Marvel seems to be plowing a third path with it's recent films like Iron Man and Hulk. They are distilling the characters down to their essence which keeps the fans happy but also changing them enough to bring in the wider audience.

Round 2...FIGHT!

So, 2008 was actually a weird entry into the ongoing Marvel vrs DC battle but this time in movie form: The Hulk and Iron Man vrs Batman. Difficult to say who won, probably a score draw if we're honest.

2010, however, is where the shit will go down. Marvel have unveiled their release schedule, as have Warner Bros who own DC. Here it is:

Iron Man 2 (Marvel) : May 7th, 2010
Twilight: Eclipse (Warners) : June 30th, 2010
Thor (Marvel), Inception (Warners, Christopher Nolan's next film) : July 16th, 2010
Jonah Hex (DC/Warners) : August 6th, 2010
Green Lantern (DC/Warners) : December 17th, 2010
The First Avenger: Captain America (Marvel) : May 6th, 2011
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2 (Warners), The Avengers (Marvel) : July 15th, 2011

Obviously, the big one is Potter vrs The Avengers. It will be interesting to see if either studio moves the release date for those films, Iron Man/Thor/Captain America are supposed to bulid towards The Avengers so that could have huge heat. More that Potter though?

Bet none of them get any Oscars.

The Annual Late Review of The Year

BEST FILM OF 2008

For an actual piece of cinema, has to be There Will Be Blood. For a film that made me as giddy as a schoolgirl, Cloverfield.

BEST BOOK I READ IN 2008

Didn't read many new books this year but The Marvel Chronicles is amazing. 

BEST MUSIC OF 2008

For new music it would be Cage The Elephant which lept to the top of my iTunes most played list. For music I've discovered this year it would have to be finding Baby Huey thanks to the JCVD trailer.

BEST COMIC OF 2008

Have been enjoying Mark Millar's Old Man Logan run on Wolverine, All Star Superman was simply astounding, Kick Ass has been Kick Ass (sorry) and you know what? I liked Secret Invasion. Sue me.

BEST FILM TREND OF 2008

Kick ass end credits.

Seem to have seen a lot of these this year, a stand out being the end of Tropic Thunder. But it's not just action films, Wall-E's were top drawer as well. More of this please.

Film review: Hellboy II The Golden Army

Hellboy II: The Golden Army @ IMDB

How many comic book films have we seen this year? It's crazy. It wasn't that long ago they on the level of something like Steel. Something to make fast, on the cheap that would soon vanish into rental Hell.

Now we get films like Hellboy II that are practically baroque works of art.

I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit.

Hellboy returns, now with a girlfriend but still the same gruff attitude and some more bad guys to beat up.

That's my main issue with the film; the bad guys. Not that I'm bashing Luke Goss, you understand. But you never got a good feel for them, they didn't dominate the story. The fairy tale creatures and the world created is great but there was just something missing in the last third.

But it's still a great film. It's truly a character piece wrapped up in comic book clothes with a big red horned guy at the centre.

Ron Pearlmen is great as Hellboy, he fits the character like a glove and it shows. The support is also great, they bicker like real people and no one lets the side down. Everyone has room to shine, especially Doug Jones under his own latex as Abe Sapien. It's also really funny. The action is good too.

You can tell where the budget really went though: set and chacater design.

It's stunning. There a ton of animatronic characters and practical effects that look amazing. The chacaters visit a Market full of trolls and Lord knows what else that really makes the film. A whole world is created from pretty much the ground up that is faultlessly presented. It's nothin like what you would normally see in the cinema, let alone just comic book films. It's surreal and grotesqe and visionary.

It also bodes well for the director's version of The Hobbit.

So I really liked it. While it's not perfect I wouldn't hear a word against it. It's also nicely teed up for a third film that I'm very much hoping will be made.

Also, it has the best use of a Barry Manilow song for quite some time.

In a word? Devilish.

Because THAT'S a good idea.

So, we're all pretty much agreed that Superman Returns didn't quite hit the mark.

But does it really need to be re-booted as a dark version of Superman? Really?

That's not what Superman is about. It should be about wonder and heroics. The best Superman story in the last ten years is Grant Morrison's All Star Superman and that doesn't have to rely on the tired grim and gritty approach to Superheroes. All it does rely on are the core Superman concepts and good writing.

So none of this gritty nonsense please. That's what we have Frank Miller for.

They snuck that one out.

The teaser for The Spirit film has been released.

Might not be on your radar, but considering it's written and directed by Frank "300, Sin City" Miller is probably should be.

Film review: Iron Man

Iron Man @ IMDB

I love comics. I love movies. Therefore, I love comic book movies.

So if we go from Blade (taking that as the beginning of the renaissance of the comic book movie genre) it would have to go 30 Days of Night, X-Men 2, Sin City, Batman Begins and Spider-Man 2 in ascending order. Where does Iron Man fit in?

So, weapons manufacturer x war zone + sharpnel in heart = painful dose of reality.

Alright, that's too simple. Robert Downey Jr is Tony Stark of Stark Industries, the weapon manufacturer for the US military livin' the high life. Until, when showing off his weapons in Afghanistan, he gets attacked by terrorists using his own weapons leaving him with his heart powered by a car battery. One big pile of spare parts later, we get Iron Man.

First off performances: Robert Downey Jr is the best casting in a comic book film since Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. He fills Tony Stark and holds the film together. The character could easily have come off as smug but Downey Jr adds a streak of humor that keeps everything going. Gweneth Paltrow as the love interest does her best with an underwritten role, the scenery is only there so Jeff Bridges can chew on it so well.

But that's not what we're here for. We're here for a man in a robot suit beating the crap out of stuff. And in that respect, the film does not fail. Remember Transformers? The best special effects ever?

Beaten. The film looks so real, all the lines are blurred, it's faultless. It's amazing.

So it works. The story is great, the scenes when Stark is refining the armor are great, the dialogue is great. It's great!

Does it beat Spider-Man 2 as the best comic book film ever?

In a word? Yes.

About time too.

Looking forward to it.

But am I the only one that likes the old Ang Lee Hulk film? It wasn't amazing but it was still pretty good!

I still likey Iron Man

Okay, that isn't the movie Iron Man, it's an "advervideo" from a new Marvel website called Marvel Kids promoting the Marvel Adventures line which is basically the core Marvel concepts only without the decades of continuity.

Advervideos. Hmm.

Jackie Chan + Comics = Awesome

Another fine mess Warner Brothers is dragging us into

So. Warner Brothers have announced the director for the upcoming Justice League movie.

Hmm.

Not sure if this is a good idea. If we take Grant Morrison's JLA as the team benchmark that means this film will star Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter at least. Now, Supes and Bats are sorted out, everyone knows them. Wonder Woman had a TV Series, as did the Flash, but they were cult at best. The others, apart from the Aquaman thing in Entourage, no one will really know about. So let's say you dump GL and the Manhunter and cite budgetary reasons, that's still 3 major origin stories to tell and two recaps in a 2 hour film.

Have these people not seen Spider-Man 3? It's not going to work. Too much story, too little time. They should take a leaf out of Marvel's book with the potential Avengers movie. They've stated that they'll do individual films for the characters first and then, once audience is aware of the characters, make the Avengers film. That's why you've got Iron Man out next year, a Thor movie in the works and a Captain America movie after that.

It makes sense to me.

Tina Turner was wrong: we DO need another hero.

Just finished watching the first season of Heroes thanks to certain avenues *ahem*. I've got to say, my top 3 is now as follows:

3. Lost
2. 24
1. Heroes.

It is just an awesome show. But the great thing is, here is a gigantic validation of all the time and money and tears I've put into comics. The fact that something can be so influenced by American Superhero comics can be one of the highest rated TV shows in the US is, frankly, almost unbelievable.

How can this happen when comics themselves have been struggling for years in the face of crashes and bankrupcies? My wife lapped up this series, stating it was one of her favourite TV shows ever (ever!) yet won't read any of the comics I recommend for her. Is it just the format?

Taking a hard look at it, Heroes takes a lot of it's story cues from the classic comic book stories. Not that this is a bad thing: for someone like me who knows his way round comic history, it's great to see and recognize these nuggets. Yet for my wife, coming across them for the first time, the strength of the story telling comes through despite the change of medium. I love picking out all these references, like

!SPOILERS!

the episode in the future that homages the Days of Future Past X-Men story, or that Linderman's plan is basically the same as Ozymandias' in Watchmen. You get several characters named after various comic creators, the finale takes place in Kirby Plaza...awesome.

I'm guessing one reason for this reverence of comics is the fact that a major comics creator, Jeph Loeb, is the co-executive producer of the show. So he is quickly becoming one of my heroes, not just for helping to create Heroes but also because he co-wrote Teen Wolf and Commando.

I love Commando. Maybe even more than Heroes.

You can't slip anything past me

This is only really for those who saw tonights episode of Doctor Who, but it had two massive Marvel Comic references:

1) You have the Time Lords referred to as "watchers of the Universe, who vowed never to interfere". Well, that's The Watchers, the ancient race of beings who, well, watch.

2) The US President says the meeting with the new aliens will be on the US aircraft carrier Valiant. So the Doctor and his crew teleport onto the carrier and look out of the window and don't see any water. Well, blimey, it's a only a big rocket powered flying aircraft carrier.

Well, that's SHIELD's Helicarrier. Nick Fury had loads of those.

What next, the Doctor popping this adamantium claws? Or throwing this mighty shield?

At least I wasn't Wonder Woman

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 80% Superman 70% Green Lantern 65% Hulk 60% The Flash 60% Robin 50% Iron Man 50% Supergirl 45% Catwoman 40% Batman 40% Wonder Woman 30%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz


Hmm. Not sure about that. Yeah, I like Spidey but I would have liked to have been Iron Man. Or Thor. I do like to say thou.

Thou.

Heh.

Your results:
You are Magneto

Magneto 58% Juggernaut 54% Lex Luthor 52% Apocalypse 52% The Joker 50% Dr. Doom 50% Mr. Freeze 44% Venom 44% Mystique 42% Dark Phoenix 41% Green Goblin 38% Two-Face 38% Catwoman 37% Kingpin 36% Poison Ivy 36% Riddler 33%

You fear the persecution of those that are different or underprivileged so much that you are willing to fight and hurt others for your cause.

Click here to take the "Which Super Villain am I?" quiz...


Now that's not too bad. I'll take Mags any day of the week. It would have been good if I was a Spidey villain. But, you can't have everything.

Thou.

Heh. Still got it.

The Most Video-Licious Post EVER

Can't resist. Found about about a very cool series of videos of YouTube and am going to post them all here. Get ready:



Funny.



Heh. Hulk funny.



See? Superkid is stupid.



Poor Supes. Heh, rock.



Like it. Bats is funny.



A more perfect review of the film you will not find.

I'm going to raise this in the next meeting

Why did no one tell me about this? Hmm? Why did no one mention that a seven and a half minute preview of Spider-Man 3 was on the Internet? I have e-mail, this blog has a facility for leaving comments. Why did no one think to just drop me a quick note, post a link or anything?

I am disapointed in you all.

Leaving that to one side for now, that looks good. Spidey vrs The Gnarly Green Goblin* looks amazing on a teeny video clip on my laptop. I am still concerned about the film, mainly due to the amount of new characters being thrown at this film which reminds me of the worst excesses of the Batman films. But I trust Sam Raimi and that clip has reinforced my faith.

Only a few months to go.




*Why a surfboard? Why? Didn't we leave Bill & Ted behind?

When Stephen Colbert Throws His Mighty Shield

Captain America may be dead but the battle continues: