Watching Watchmen

I saw this Watchmen movie recently. I guess the movie is based on a comic book. I wasn't aware of this fact until it was mentioned as the buzz around this movie grew. Some people like to call it a "graphic novel" instead of a comic book. You see, calling a comic book a graphic novel apparently grants adults the right to look at comic books without being ridiculed, comic books heretofore having been considered a child's domain. I guess its sort of the same in that boys don't play with "dolls", they play with "action figures". And adult males don't play with action figures, they play with "collectibles". But what everyone is really doing is playing with dolls.

From what I've heard, people who have read the comic book are sorta disappointed by the movie, so I suppose I'm glad I didn't read the comic. I really enjoyed the movie. The plot was interesting, some of the characters were interesting, and the music was really good. The opening scene and sequence through the opening credits was particularly good in my opinion. But I'm not here to review the movie. Not really, anyway. I just want to point out a couple of things.

First of all, Malin Ackerman, who plays Silk Spectre II, is way, way, way hotter as a blonde (as she is in real life) than as a brunette (as she is in the movie). This despite the fact that she spends much of the movie in a latex outfit. It's like it's not even the same person, much like what they did to Cameron Diaz in Being John Malkovich:
Secondly, a major character in Watchmen is a blue, godlike being called Dr. Manhattan. Dr. Manhattan is one of the Watchmen and he was created, as so many superheroes are, by being accidentally irradiated in a laboratory. If you're a female camper in the woods and you appear onscreen topless (most likely in the shower or in front of the bathroom mirror), or if you investigate a noise, you will be murdered by a masked killer, and there's a pretty good chance you'll be startled by a cat just before you're murdered. If you're a scientist onscreen and you go back into the lab to get something you forgot, or if a co-worker's sleeve gets caught on something and you try and help free them, you will be irradiated and will gain superhuman powers. It's just how these things work.

Dr. Manhattan is an interesting character for sure. Not only does he obviously work out, but his powers are so vast that he gradually loses his ability to relate to people or even to the world. Apparently part of his "losing touch" is that he forgets to have the common decency to cover up his junk. It appears this is intentional - when Dr. Manhattan is seen in earlier parts of the movie, when he's not wearing a suit, he tends to appear onscreen wearing only some sort of banana hammock. However, he eventually starts forgetting to conjure this critical item of clothing and so we end up getting a bunch of gratuitous shots of the blue torpedo. In several scenes, Dr. Manhattan appears as a 50-foot tall blue man. Now, recall that women had a hard time accommodating Dirk Diggler's reported 13" disco stick. If everything remains in proportion on Dr. Manhattan, only the most experienced and ambitious men and women among us would dare take on the good Doctor - think very experienced porn stars, NBA groupies, prison lifers, and longtime Castro residents (especially of the power bottom variety). Not that they would get the chance, though - Dr. Manhattan's increasing disinterest with the human race extends to sexuality. That's clear from the film, and even more clear from the theater's marquee:
I have to think it's better this way for all concerned.