Watchmen Round-Up 2/19/09

With only a couple weeks to go, expect there to be tons of Watchmen news sprouting up every day.

Today, we bring you a whole bunch of goodies so get ready.

1. Courtesy of G4 - The first official Watchmen review

Some key points:

"Watchmen is not a bad film, but it’s not a great one either."

"I left the theater thinking, 'Well, it could have been a lot worse.'"

"Obviously, Snyder was shouldered with a difficult task. Watchmen is not an easy story to understand, although you can turn back the page and re-read something: The intricate layers of interpersonal relationships, the slow build up of action, deep characterization and back story. How do you fit all of that into a three hour film?

The answer is, you don’t. And Snyder didn’t. While it’s clear that great pains were taken to try and stay as true to the graphic novel as possible, this is almost to the film’s detriment. What the Watchmen ends up becoming is a series of enjoyables to watch, yet plot-bare vignettes featuring characters you know little about, unless you’ve read the book."

"All of this -- weird montages, no sense of time and place, little character development -- leads to the pacing of the movie being horribly off."

"As one girl put it to me after the movie ended, 'It was like I almost fell asleep and then boom! I was awake! And then it got all weird and sad, and I wanted to sleep again.' Ouch."

"While watching, I couldn’t help but think the people who didn't read the novel were probably completely lost. "

"...parts were enjoyable and boy, was it beautiful to look at. The cinematography was fantastic and it was amazing to see the images from the book come alive so vividly and with such painstaking precision. Great costumes and meticulous attention to detail gave the film an incredible visual appeal"

"Oh, then there were the fight sequences. Every time someone got punched in the face, I found myself wondering how they weren’t dead on first, brutal, vicious contact. Wonderfully choreographed and beautifully executed, no one can say that this film skimps on bone crunching. There are plenty of well-placed and -- dare I say -- classy moments of blood and gore that will leave you reeling and wanting more."

"Snyder also pulls amazing and genuinely heartfelt performances out of his actors. The cast is incredibly strong -- most notably, the pairing of Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach, and Patrick Wilson, as The Nite Owl."

"Other highlights include Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian, who brings sincere darkness to the role, and Billy Crudup as Doctor Manhattan."

"If there is one weakness in the cast, it’s the performance of Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre. Akerman’s performance sums up the entire movie -- great to look at, but hollow."

"Initially, I didn’t have a problem with its ending. Now, I’m starting to have a huge problem with it. Its ending doesn't carry the same kind of emotional weight or message as the book. It also seems forced. It’s less character-centric and more centered on creating big action."

Well. Okay. So I'm beginning to lower my expectations, that's fine! Listen. I know this movie will have problems. I just don't think I....care. Well, we'll see.

2. Courtesy of Io9 & Collider.com, six new clips featuring Sally Jupiter, a lot of the Comedian being a badass & parts of the Dr. Manhattan sequence I saw a couple months ago. Which, by the way, is gorgeous. Here they are for your viewing pleasure:













3. Courtesy of MTV, Zach Snyder explains why he is such a fan of slo-mo

MTV Shows

So why does he like using slo-mo?

”[It] helps me to enjoy the face-smashing even more”

That's all for today, folks!

Are you nervous? Or do you not care and plan on enjoying it anyway?