Exploring The Watchmen
Bl'reader,I'm abuzz.
I've just seen The Watchmen and my fingers are still buzzing. With what, I know not because the movie wasn't that great nor was it terrible.
It just was. I'm buzzing because I saw a book I've been reading for the past month or so come to life.
It's thrilling.
The public response...
Actually, when I saw "The Watchmen", the theater was nearly empty.
It was just me sitting in a seat in the middle left hand corner of the theater, slurping on my iced latte, bathed in all my yuppie-ness. A few more people came in and they took their seats on the opposite side of the theater.
The movie wasn't anything special. I say this coming from a nonfan point of view.
From a fan point of view, the first half of the movie parallels the comic book TO THE FRAME. It was amazing. If I had been holding the comic book up, page-by-page (I wasn't) the sound would have matched it exactly.
The second half, it was rushed. Not just according to Comic Book Page standard, but according to movie speed standard. They sought to speed up the progress of the movie when they saw an hour had eclipsed and they had only made it through less than half of the storyline.
At least, that's my assessment.
They're also making another movie, on DVD, called "Tales of the Black Freighter". (NERD ALERT). But I have my doubts about the DVD as the Black Freighter is a piecemeal comic that was presented in bits and pieces ancillary to the story of The Watchmen. Also, given Gibbons' work ethic, I wonder how the storyline turned out.
Now, to unnerd.
There. My advice: if you haven't read the series and like comic book movies like Spiderman 1 & 2, The Hulk and so on. Well, don't see it. Or, at least wait till it's on DVD. If you have read the comic book, whather you liked it or not, see this movie because they change certain aspects of it. The ending especially, which I appreciated.
Lastly, don't see it with anyone who reads comic books fervently.
If I know those people like I think I do (and I do), most of them would spend the time tsking at elements of process that don't corrolate with the graphic novel or constantly remind you about what's about to happen.
That's all. See you soon.
Posted by
on 03/09 at 04:47 PM
