"Watchmen" is the only work that is enough to be called epic among many "superhero" movies. It's not about one or some superheroes, but about the heroes themselves, and the heroes' long overwatch history. "Watchmen" continues Zach's romanticism, and the characters are more or less cast a layer of drama. Where the film succeeds is in sticking to the depth of Alan Moore's original, what it lacks is in failing to stick to it thoroughly. The original volume is huge, and it is difficult to understand some details without understanding the original.
Watchmen itself is also a superhero organization like Avengers and Zhenglian, but its difference and tragedy is that it is more connected with reality. Its predecessor was the Minutemen, a semi-spontaneous masked vigilante organization formed during World War II. The film opens with Bob Dylan's The Time They Are A A-changin' presumably giving an account of the organization's history.
Militia members 1940 (this is a non-mainstream group photo). From left to right are:
Silhouette: Happy to help women and children; became the subject of that famous photo. He was later shot and killed by anti-gay activists;
Mothman: Friends of the Night Owl generation. Later hospitalized for alcoholism and mental problems;
Dollar Bill: A hero hired by the bank to build. Needless to say, this shape is a hint of who it is. The rear cape was caught by the revolving door and was shot (malicious taunt);
Nite Owl I (Night Owl Generation): Hollis Mason, with a strong sense of justice. Stopped a robbery, yes, that robbery. The Waynes survived, but Batman was not born;
Captain Metropolis (Captain Metropolis): Homophobia, and the Hood of Justice are a couple. Originally joined the organization in order to become famous and make money, and its appearance resembles a hundred-yuan bill;
Comedian (laughter/comedian): see below for introduction;
Silk Spectre I (Silk Spirit/Silk Spirit Generation): Sexy~ The photo is printed with the bomber;
Hooded Justice (Justice Hood/Hood Judge): He was a couple with Captain Metropolis, and was later killed by Night Owl generation.
This group of people died, wasted, and was disbanded shortly after the end of World War II. Then came the new superhero group, the Watchmen, the protagonist of the movie (the mid-term organized crime buster Crimebusters movie didn't mention it). Let's talk about the origin history of the members of the watchmen:
1929: Born Jon Osterman, the son of a watchmaker;
1939: Adrian Veidt is born, he is a teenage genius;
1940: Rorschach (Rorschach), Walter Kovacs began his tragic and bumpy life; the comedian Edward Morgan Blake attempted to rape the Silkling generation after a meeting of the militia, and was beaten and expelled;
1940s: Comedian slays in the Pacific War; Rorschach's prostitute mother accompanies his unhappy childhood;
1959.11: Atomic physicist Jon Osterman strayed into the quantum conversion room, his body was completely decomposed, his mind entered a new field, and he reorganized himself, and obtained a series of superpowers including quantum body, predicting the future, particle control, etc. According to a plan Named Dr. Manhattan;
1960s: Adrian Veidt started heroic activities under the pseudonym Ozymandias (Ozymandias/Pharaoh); Daniel Dreiberg, the second generation of the night owl, was a bird-loving high-achiever, from a family similar to Batman, with a sense of justice but indecision; Silk The second generation, Laurie Juspeczyk, is the daughter of the first generation, Ye Xiao's girlfriend, and then Dr. Manhattan's girlfriend; Joke, as a government agent, assassinated Kennedy; Rorschach witnessed the Kitty Genovese incident, and thirty-eight neighbors saw it from the window Seeing her being chased by gangsters for more than half an hour, but none of the witnesses intervened after Genovese called for help, leaving her to be killed, Rorschach despaired of the city and began to fight crime. The Watchmen organization is officially established.
The six-member setup is interesting. A joker, an anarchist, advocating violence, a scumbag, a philosopher; Dr. Manhattan, a superpower stronger than Superman, but a blue-skinned monster on the outside, no love with his girlfriend, and indifferent to human morality; Night Owl , Batman's replacement, a good man; Rorschach, a proper villain, doesn't care about the so-called righteousness, the creed is "Never Compromise", and every day feels that human beings are going to finish the ball. Named after the famous Rorschach test, suggesting a paranoid character; Ozymandis, high-IQ, narcissistic, pragmatist, twenty-five, sees most humans as bread; Silk, and most The heroine of the super-English movie is different. She is not devoted, but follows her feelings.
The biggest difference in Watchmen is that the movie is not about the Watchmen defeating a villain, but how they themselves are defeated by time and human society. The history of the 1960s to the 1980s, because of how different interpretations of these people will be.
Overwatch Edition History:
Late 1960s: Ye Xiao, Rorschach, and Silk Ling fought crime in China, and the joker made a big killing in Vietnam;
Late Vietnam War: Students conduct anti-war activities, trigger sound takes life.
In the quagmire of the United States, Dr. Manhattan was dispatched. With Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries," the blue-skinned god slaughtered Vietnamese soldiers at will, ending the war. A pregnant Vietnamese woman found the child's father, Xiaojiao, and Xiaojiao shot the woman in front of Manhattan, but was not stopped by Manhattan, Xiaojiao realized that the war made the doctor no longer care about human beings;
1972: Rorschach worked as a secret agent and dealt with two reporters, resulting in the Watergate incident not happening, and Nixon was re-elected;
There was a wave of opposition to Watchmen in the country, "Who watches the Watchmen?" Bullets were strafing civilians, and the golden sentence came out frequently:
During the internal meeting of the watchmen, the joker first saw Ozymandis's second and fifth thoughts;
1977: Killing the donkey, the Keene Act is introduced, forcing watchmen to retire. The joker chooses to become the agent's lackey. Silkling and Ye Xiao retire and live their own lives. The doctor happily starts to climb the technology tree. Rorschach insisted on vigilante work and became a wanted criminal;
1985: Ozymandis began his perfect plan. That is the main part of the movie.
In fact, the story itself is very simple: at the end of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the doomsday clock is ticking, nuclear peace is coming, and we have to think of a good way to save mankind. Rorschach gave up thinking and killed bad people every day, maybe the world would get better after a long time; Ozymandis began the perfect plan, first developing core technology to block Manhattan's ability to predict the future, and kill the clever joker. Then throw dirty water on Manhattan, making Manhattan disappointed with humanity.
After that, the people's god-like reverence for Manhattan turned into a fear of blue monsters, and finally Ozymandis detonated the Manhattan-like nuclear fusion bomb in New York (NYK: you mother, why). Make both sides of the Cold War aware of the greater threat, make Manhattan, which is hidden from the world, become the eternal Damocles above the human head, and end the useless war. Exchange one city of life for permanent peace, Ozymandis felt it was worth it, Rorschach said no, Manhattan expressed anger but felt that Ozymandis did the right thing, so he beat Ozymandis and killed Rorschach.
It really corresponds to Shelley's "Ozymandis" poem:
My name is Ozymandias,
King of Kings,
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
I am the King of Kings, Ozymandis,
The unworldly deeds have impressed the people!
The core of understanding the film is the story of the black cargo ship interspersed. (Warner should hate this story, there are more than 30 minutes of heavy-mouthed cartoons in the commercial film...) The captain was attacked by a black cargo ship and survived only by himself. In order to prevent his hometown, his wife and daughter from being slaughtered by the black cargo ship, he used his tenacious will and constantly breaking the lower limit, and finally returned to his hometown by the buoyancy of the crew's corpses. In the darkness, he mistakenly thought that his hometown had been destroyed, killed his wife and daughter by mistake, and in despair, he boarded a black cargo ship and became one of them.
Who is the captain? It's Ozymandis and Rorschach. In order to protect their hometown (human beings), they are tenacious and unscrupulous, and they have to return to their hometown on the corpse. Black cargo ships are a nuclear threat, a war, and an endless crime. Rorschach murdered until the good and evil were unclear, and Ozymandis slaughtered a city and made a shocking lie. In the end, the souls of the two were no different from the black cargo ship itself. Dr. Manhattan chooses Ozymandis and kills Rorschach in "Never Compromise".
This is just because Ozymandis is smarter, he sees through "evil" itself, that black cargo ship cannot be destroyed, and the foundation of all systems and powers is the greatest evil. The only way to solve this problem is beyond human beings - only Dr. Manhattan satisfies this condition. He did the worst thing in thousands of years, and then passed it all on to Manhattan, making Manhattan a fake black cargo ship. He was certain that Manhattan was willing to endure it, and in the end Manhattan was indeed to blame, even if he was angry, just because of his last hope for human beings that he had in Silkling's life. In this story, Rorschach and Ozymandis are both captains, but the latter has a compass; Manhattan is out of the story, but is pulled in; the comedian is a flying, broken-billed crow, and humans fuck me Shit; Silk Ling, Ye Xiao, and we are all ordinary people, we can't see the black cargo ship clearly, we just want to live our own little life, and occasionally suffer from unwarranted disasters.
One of the most interesting people in the movie is the comedian. When he died, the coffin was covered with the national flag, friends came to see him, and Sound of Silence played in the rain. He assassinated Kennedy, but this song is in honor of Kennedy. All forgive him, he's a Comedian.
Thinking about it now, 34 years have passed since 1985. Humanity is still doing fine. Nuclear weapons are spreading more and more widely, we eat genetically modified food every day, and artificial intelligence is also showing signs of being. We are fine. Well said by the joker, Watcher, is a joke.
Our watch ends here.
Distant Mars, Dr. Manhattan said to Bowie: I'm too hard.
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