Who Watches the Watchmen?
On Saturday I went to see the Watchmen. I’ve been looking forward to a number of movies this year; Star Trek (because I grew up with it), the next Harry Potter (because my kids grew up with the books), Angels & Demons (I like Dan Brown’s books), Public Enemies (no explanation needed), and the Watchmen. A friend of mine introduced me to the comic/graphic novel the movie was based on. Knowing that there was a movie in the works I kept thinking how difficult it would be to translate the story to the big screen. Apparently I wasn’t the only one.
The original comic was published in 1986 (if I recall correctly) and republished as a graphic novel some years later. I’d read that as early as about 1987 work had begun on turning it into a feature film. For the next twenty-odd years Watchmen projects have had their fits and starts with none ever actually making to the filming stage. Until now.
The film stayed faithful to the original story as best it could. Time was probably the biggest reason for changes and omissions; as it was the movie was 2 hours 40+ minutes. I’m sure there are plenty of “purists” out there that will object to the “new” ending but I think it worked. In some ways better than the original. The film stayed with its dark comic roots. THIS IS NOT A KID’S SUPERHERO MOVIE!!! Even several adults walked out during the showing. They obviously weren’t informed movie-goers.
Even though I had read the comic I struggled at times with some of the brutal and bloody violence, the “over the top” characters and dialogue, the drawn out sex scene, and the “clever” choices of music. I had to keep reminding myself that all this (except the music of course) was the Watchmen I had read. It was unnerving to see this wonderfully disturbing comic translated to film so well.
Big kudos go out to whoever did the casting. The casting of Rorschach and the Comedian (no small task for either) were perfect in my opinion. As far as the rest of the cast I couldn’t find any faults there either.
This caveman gives the Watchmen an A-.
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3 comments:
You're a good writer.
Thanks, but actually I'm a bad writer pretending to be an OK writer.
The less I write the better it sounds.
Not sure where to post this but I wanted to ask if anyone has heard of National Clicks?
Can someone help me find it?
Overheard some co-workers talking about it all week but didn't have time to ask so I thought I would post it here to see if someone could help me out.
Seems to be getting alot of buzz right now.
Thanks
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