Watchmen

I will admit that my expectations for Watchmen were high (for reasons unknown, because Zack Snyder is a hack). However, I have never been so disappointed in an adaptation in my life.

Everything added into the film that was not in the source comics was either awkward, completely out of character, or just useless. Whereas there were literally hundreds of little details that were absent which made the film hokey. Some were small details that make a huge difference and could have easily been put in (for example, in the comic, Laurie reverts to the last name Juspeczyk to distance herself from her mother and her image. That is a minor detail that says A LOT. Yet in the movie they were lazy and had them both with the last name Jupiter.). Details like those are great and the fact that they were removed bugs me.

But even bigger than those, what makes Watchmen so fantastic is that there are a hundred characters and all of them are important to everything in a way, and all of these hundreds of threads come together so perfectly. The film gets rid of the dozens of interesting minor characters, and the ones they keep get their lines trimmed. Hell, even the main characters get shafted on their character development. Dr. Manhattan gets boosted to the front because of the CGI used to make him, the Silk Spectre/Silk Spectre II dynamic is pushed aside, the original Minutemen are all but forgotten, Nite Owl's struggle is not shown but told in boringly blatant terms, and Rorschach, the most attractive and morally immobile character in the story, has his interesting backstory cropped and his later scenes butchered.

And don't even get me started on the changed ending.

One of my favorite characters in the comics was Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl. In the film he gets almost no screen time and his part isn't significant at all. This really upsets me because not only is he the one real, logical, reliable guy from the Minutemen, but he also published the book Under the Hood, which is the source of all the history, and his take on it is so unique. Another opportunity wasted.

The writers of the script squandered so much great material and now I can understand why Alan Moore wanted nothing to do with the film, and refuses to see it.

This rant is already longer than I intended. I will write in more detail as more people see the film. But honestly, if you have not read the original graphic novel, you must. It is so, so superior to this film in every way. Do yourself a favor. Trust me on this one.

Rating: 4/7

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Reevaluation of Watchmen

Upon first seeing the trailer for the upcoming film 'Watchmen,' I was moderately put off. The main reason was it had a tag of, 'From the visionary director of 300.' "Visionary Director?" What in the hell does that mean? Oscar Winning Director, I get. Visionary Director doesn't mean anything. That's even a step below 'Acclaimed ______ of ________.' Plus, 300 was really, really awful.

But Zack Snyder did direct the remake of Dawn of the Dead, which is one of the better recent horror movies, so he gets some slack.

Originally the concept of Watchmen seemed bland and confusing, with the trailer really revealing no plot whatsoever. But with the movie about to come out, I decided to pick up the original graphic novel to read beforehand. Let me tell you: This was a great decision. I can't put this novel down, it's so good.

I know the novel came out in ~1986, so I'm behind the curve, but cut me some slack. It's so interwoven and intricate that I have to force myself to stop reading it so I don't finish it in a day. Few books do that for me. I think the last one to do that was 1984.

I can imagine that it is a near impossible task to put this much material into a film, but hopefully it won't be a blown opportunity. I'm ready to accept that the film won't be as in-depth as the novel, but damn, does that trailer look better every time I watch it. I will definitely be there opening day.

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