First Review of Watchmen Is In!

Latino Review just broke the news about a fan of their site who was apparently lucky enough to attend a screening of Watchmen last night in Los Angeles. That fan, “Bentley Mustafa,” has been kind enough to share his experience of watching Watchmen with the wondering public (along with plenty of SPOILERS about what we can expect to see in the finished film).

So did Watchmen exceed expectation? Or did it leave one fan feeling the pain of a dream denied? See for yourself–but again, be warned, there be SPOILERS here.

According to “Bentley,” Watchmen is as awesomely awesome as everyone with a pulse has been saying it was going to be for some time:

“I have to say Snyder knocked this one out of the park.  There is some gruesome, brutal stuff here that is hard to watch.  The fight scenes are awesome, and, like in 300, Snyder continues the use of ramping the frame rate to accentuate the movements of the characters. I knew there was going to be some slo-mo, but I didn’t think he overdid it. All in all, fans of the book are going to more than pleased with the film.  For a book that was for years considered un-filmable, he certainly managed to hit almost every beat and did not compromise any of the material (except for the squid).”

I was recently lucky enough to attend a screening of the first twenty minues of Watchmen at the New York City Comic Con and that was exactly my impression. Snyder is slavishly loyal to the original concept that Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore put forth in their graphic novel; yet, at the same time, Snyder manages to stamp the film with many of the stylistic choices that have become his own unique trademark. And it is a happy marriage, IMHO.

As for those SPOILERS Bentley was kind enough provide:

There were approximately 200 people at the screening.

1.  No Black Freighter, although we do catch glimpses of the newsstand and the kid who reads the comic, but only briefly.

2. The ending is different, no squid.  I was one of the people who never really cared about squid/no squid, but I feel the ending will work better for mainstream audiences that have never read the book.

3. They do not imply a sequel anymore than the book does…

4.  The montage covering the heroes of the past is done exceptionally well, and was longer than I expected.  Allows the audience to understand that this is an alternate version of the past and everything they know should be thrown out the window.

5. It is dark, but not the stark realism that fills the Dark Knight.  The Watchmen reality is a little more surreal in its feel, like a dream.  It really has the feel of the comic in it.

6. Look for the cameo by Snyder’s son. He also played young Leonidas in 300.

7. It was fantastically close to the book; even the framings of shots were lifted directly from the book.

8. Jackie Earl Halley is the shit in this.  He IS Rorschach.

9. This movie is gory.  I’m a gore hound and I was surprised at how graphic some scenes were.  Really had people squirming.

10. NAKED Sally Jupiter. (CORRECTION NAKED Silk Spectre)

11. Only character I didn’t like was Veidt/Ozymandias.  I thought the actor was weak.

Wow, too bad for Matthew Goode, the guy who plays Ozymandias–but good for the rest of the cast and crew of Watchmen. According to at least one person, they’ve done a stellar job.

(And BTW, if you haven’t noticed yet, the TV spots for Watchmen are finally running with the R-rating stamped on them. Trust me when I tell you, this isn’t a superhero movie for the kids (nor was it ever meant to be). YOU WILL CRINGE AT PARTS OF THIS MOVIE.

Well that about wraps it up for me, no need to say anymore–I already have a guy playing tribal drums in my apartment in countdown to March 6, 2009, when Watchmen is going to blow the roof off of theaters everywhere.

Source: Thank you, Latino Review