watchmen 2: electric boogaloo

i left in a state of bliss.
the opening credits montage came straight out of the brain of zack synder. not only does it establish the fact that this world has super heroes, it also shows how gritty and grim things can get for the people who put on a costume and fight crime. it is not a normal thing to do, even here. and there are prices to be paid. yup, there are serious consequences to superherodom.. you do not get that in spider-man the musical.

i say this film is about 92 to 95% faithful to the graphic novel. this only shows how awesome comic book films can be when they do not stray from the source material. just look at the punisher films, they got progressively better as they followed the comics more and more. i understand they had to trim things down, that means all the secondary characters have been dumbed down to the status of cameos. shame really since it takes away from the human tragedy of putting a name and a face to the victims at the climax.

want plot synopsis? in a world where superheros really exist, wear masks, always have effed up personal lives. one night, one of them gets thrown out a high rise building and it is Rorschach to put together the retired superheros together and solve the mystery. and tragedy ensues.

some real mindfuck moments come from dr. manhattan waxing poetically on quantum mechanics, time/space, and the relationship of termites to humans. hence he never wears pants. seriously, who the hell is going to tell him to put some goddamn pants on. unless they want to get exploded all over their friends' faces.  give it a second watch if it all goes over your head. when it kicks in, trust me.

now for fanboy squee momments:
Rorschach. everything scene he is in is an exercise in intensity and subtext. it takes a lot to act well and be expressive when wearing a faceless mask (see how hard ed norton rocked in kingdom of heaven). i think the reason why Rorschach is so popular  with the fans is how singleminded he is. he needs to find answers, he breaks fingers till he gets them. real simple like.  i personally thought it was cute when child rorshach beat the living hell out of the two older bullies.  even when rorschach is getting attacked by mobs of swat, he puts up the good fight.. grats to him.

laurie, aka silk specter II becomes a bigger whore as things go on. maybe Rorschach is on to something.
her mom, sally... i am so in love with her. something like a cross of bettie page and wonderwoman. but more domestic with age. but still a total flirt. awesome.

the comedian is a total asshole. really. no joke.  shooting a rioter in the back with a canister of gas was really sadistic and funny. however, i was the only one in the theather who laughed when he shot someone in vietnam.  wont spoil who it was, but it was not nice. not nice at all.

i giggled everytime i saw dr. manhattan's penis. after a while, it even got on my friends nerves. i heard a few "GAWD, frank" my work here is done. i have never seen so much cock outside of porn. it was great. american films have no problem with exploiting the female form but when it comes to full frontal male nudity, oh nose, think of the children!!! guess what, the world did not explode. i guess it is ok to show blue wang.  maybe next time, it will not be CG. fangirls can only hope.

ozymandias, aka adrian viedt, is a total dick. what do you expect from "the world's smartest man"? as he should be. honestly, every scene he was in was fierce and played a one-man ambiguous gay duo. not that there is anything wrong with that. i would not like to run into him in a dark alley. for a multitude of reason.

so if you wonder what the world would be like if superheros were real, check out watchmen.