Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
Tripping Along The Ledge
Blog
WHO WILL WATCH THE WATCHMEN (…NO, SERIOUSLY?)
After some savage early notices, the critics seem to be warming to Zach Snyder’s Watchmen movie. Roger Ebert in the Chicago-Sun Times gave it this glowing review. Here’s my interview with Snyder from yesterday’s Ticket.
It wasn’t the forum to offer my own opinion on the film. (Donald Clarke was reviewing it.) But for the record, I thought it was tedious, overlong and preposterous. I saw it in L.A. and was jet-lagged at the screening. Frankly, it was a struggle to stay awake.
March 7th, 2009.
March 8th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
The critics have been really savage. Yer man in The Guardian gave the fairest review I think.
March 8th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Personally, I agreed with every word of that Hollywood Reporter piece myself. But it’ll be interesting to see what it takes in the US this weekend.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
What did Malin Ackerman can say at the press conference that was so gasp-inducing? I’m intrigued!
March 10th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Hey Emma, well it’s a long story and kind of a SPOILER (so DON’T read on if you don’t want to know):
Briefly, one of the key scenes in the film is a flashback depicting the brutal attempted rape of Carla Gugino’s character. It later transpires that Gugino’s character goes on to have a relationship with the man who tried to rape her and Ackerman’s character is the product of that union.
It’s a really brutal scene in a film that aches to be taken seriously. The two other journalists in the roundtable were female and middle aged, a Russian and an Israeli. They were both clearly troubled by this element of the story, asking what kind of message this sent out etc. etc..
Gugino was bending over backwards to talk about the issue sensitively. Then one of them asked Ackerman why she thought a woman would have a relationship with a man who had assaulted her so brutally. She just giggled and said “I dunno, maybe she liked it rough!”
March 10th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Brilliant!Thanks.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
They should find a way to squeeze that line in to the DVD version, it’ll give people a reason to buy it.