Watchmen

WATCHMEN. Ohhhhh yeah. Been waiting months for this. So, Saturday afternoon – figured there would be less people at an afternoon showing. Went with the house-mate, let’s call him R. R has never read the graphic novel and hence, would be the key sort of audience that the movie may well be judged on. While fans of the graphic novel may criticise oversight, they were unlikely to grasp whether or not the complexities of the plot – especially the ‘under the Hood’ and the byplay between old and new – would translate to the uninitated. In that respect, R would be a key litmus test to the overall effect of the film as he would ordinarily love the plot but not if it was so convoluted as to be incoherent.

Anyway, I was quite obviously not thinking of this as the opening scene rolled on. Cut a long story short. The film was terrific. I loved it. The opening scene is great and sets the stage well and an exceptionally good – and smart – touch was the opening credits. Not only was the soundtrack to it perfect – and the soundtrack is well chosen throughout with very few mis-steps – but it was a very good tool to immerse the film in the stuff that made the novel tick. And heck, I do miss the Cold War. Terrorists are so mundane in comparison. *shakes fist* Anyway, the film stays very true to the original material in terms of plot development, barring the omission of some important plot lines which I’ll get to below. Anyone who has seen 300 will know that Zack Snyder was likely to gore it up a bit and true to form, the fight scenes are more violent than in the novel and he also makes it very graphic in parts. I heard more than a few shocked gasps at some of the more violent scenes. At the same time, he brings a tongue-in-cheek element to it that was more pronounced than in the novel. Some of the dialogue had me and R laughing out loud, though that’s partly because we are both well steeped in our political, and especially our Cold War, history. The only time I was not sure whether the tongue-in-cheek got overdone was in the rather graphic sex scene, again a seeming directorial touch. But it probably worked. In the end, though, I don’t think Snyder’s directorial style damages the spirit of the original, and I disagree with those that say that it is emotionally cold and that the soul of the graphic novel got lost in translation. Yes, it is very dark but so was the novel. I had no difficulty in locating the emotional heart of the film either. I thought Jackie Earle Haley and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Rorschach and The Comedian respectively were excellent and I don’t think any of the actors did a bad job. Manhattan was well done and I must say I had a good snigger at his rather prominent dangly willy.

It’s not flawless but in terms of a 2 1/2 hour slice of awesomeness, I have at most quibbles and not grievances. The fanboys will whine at the omission of some plot lines, particularly the newspaperman and the sub-story of the black freighter, but at least that will be covered in the full-length DVD version. I get the impression there was more than enough going on. Any longer and the film would have struggled. As it is, the climax is a little rushed, and has changed quite a bit but in terms of staying true to the plot development of the film, I feel it works as well as can be hoped. Back to R, he thought it was awesome and though he said he may have missed some of the finer details (and I definitely think it’s a film you have to watch more than once to fully get, especially if you haven’t read the graphic novel), he thought he had fully grasped the message.

Ultimately, I loved seeing it on screen and the sheer scale of it was exhilarating. I have no doubt I’ll be going back for moar.

I leave you with this -

Utterly Amazing. Thank ye seni for finding it. It’s from here.