Day Ninety Eight: A couple of nerdy things.

Firstly, sorry for the lack of update on Friday. The Natives in America have been showing extreme tenacity, and the Spanish and French are attempting to punish me back in the Old World as well. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that Empire: Total War is absolutely fantastic nerd fuel, a glorious continuation of the Total War series and the most entertaining game that I've ever played where you have to consider the economic ramifications of abolishing slavery as being more important than all that moral goodness crap.

So, tonight I finally saw Watchman tonight, something that I've been looking forward too for a little while. And so, here's the millionth review of Watchmen that you'll read on the internet. Spoilers, probably, so don't read on if you'd like to wander into the film with a clean slate.

-The opening thirty minutes of this film were maybe the best thing I've ever seen. No, really. There was such a massive demand, not only to introduce this universe, but to make it believable, and the title sequence was absolutely fantastic at showing the audience this complete other universe.

-The main four dudes, Nite Owl, Rorschach, The Comedian and Doc Manhattan were all fucking fantastic in their roles. The Comedian had such a tough job in making a character who is essentially a terrible person into someone that the audience is sympathetic to, but he pulls it off with ease. Rorschach and Nite Owl were completely pitch perfect, and scenes with either of the two rocked. Manhattan was always going to be tricky, because hey, it's a blue naked dude who is maybe God and doesn't care about people, but both the effects and the acting underneath were excelllent. Also, props to the filmmakers for maintaining the level of blue dong in the film.

-Silk Spectre kinda sucked, and I'm not sure whether it was a script problem or the actress, but she didn't really do a whole bunch for me. Well, I mean, in terms of character development. She did plenty for me otherwise though. IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.


(She was really hot, okay?)

-Ozy was done I think as well as he could have been, and the extended throwdown with him Rorschach and Nite Owl was brilliantly done. The only thing that kinda bugged me was the German accent that he kept slipping into. I know him and Zach Snyder had worked out the little backstory for him and whatnot, but it was still a bit jarring.
-Everything set in Vietnam rocked.
-I had no problem with the change in ending from the novel. In fact, I think it works even better, as the entire world has to suffer for the sake of Ozy's plan.
-The My Chemical Romance cover of "Desolation Row" was fucking terrible. Like, awful. That said, I'm happy that it was confined to the credits, as it means I can whack mute on my player when I've got the DVD and I won't have to punish my ears again.

So, overall, I'd say it was pretty awesome. Probably the best superhero movie this year unless something new comes right out of left field. I'd also probably say that I won't enjoy a film as much as this one for the year because I am biased, and I do have an emotional attachment to these characters, and half of the excitement that I had for this film was seeing them so well realised on the big screen without it turning into, say, this. Watchmen rocked my world, and I plan to see it at least one more time at the cinema, because it was fantastic.

And now, just because I can, here's that awesome opening sequence again.


Fuck. Yeah.