pirateygoodness

So, Watchmen. I. . .still have no idea.

The movie was definitely a more visceral experience than the comic book. I cannot decide if this made it better or worse, but I do know that during that scene where Walter Kovacs becomes Rorshach, I was fighting nausea.

The music selection was god fucking awful, and if you disagree I will make you rewatch that scene of Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II fucking to a poorly-done acoustic cover of Hallelujah for an ENTIRE HOUR.

I think swapping "GIANT ALIEN SQUID" for "DR MANHATTAN DID IT IDK" made things no more or less ridiculous. I take issue with the fact that Ozymandias' plan is built on a crumbling foundation of ego and flawed logic, but I think that's more or less the point.

I don't know if this is inappropriate or not, but I think I would like an icon of that bit from the credits where LESBIAN WHORES is written on the wall in blood.

The jump-forward, jump-backward storytelling timeline works less well on film than it did in print.

I, on the one hand, like that they softened the "BTW, rape!" thing by having Laurie as the product of her mother sleeping with Comedian again after she was raped. However, I take issue with the fact that it - the Laurie-as-a-product-of-a-relationship-built-on-sexual-assault thing - appears to be the emotional core of the story, in this weird way that I didn't notice when I read the graphic novel. Like, the fact that John's revelation re: humanity not sucking is that Laurie is a miraculous occurrence out of a chaotic series of meaningless (and morally bankrupt) events seems really sweet on its own? But in a way, it also completely absolves Blake (and, presumably, dozens like him) of sexual assault, because whatever - rape is just human nature because we're all disgusting, fornicating murderous fucks, and also something totally awesome came about as a result.

I also take issue with Moore's assertion that at it's core, humanity is violence and brutality covered in rape with a creamy prostitute center, and that this is a) only solvable with violence, yet b) not solvable with violence, and therefore c) entirely endemic and incurable.

And this may be my point. I don't know if the Watchmen movie was good or bad, because I am still trying to decide whether or not I even respect the story that Moore is trying to tell, and I suspect the answer is "no, I totally don't."