With Apologies to Alan Moore

Over the weekend, Jeff and I sat down to watch the movie Watchmen. The previous weekend it had been The Dark Knight so apparently we’re on a dark superhero/supervillian kick. I’d been hesitant to watch Watchmen. I’d loved the graphic novel and movie adaptations tend to disappoint. Plus I knew that Alan Moore had been unwilling to even have his name associated with the film. So I went in with lower expectations. And I have to apologize to Alan Moore. I enjoyed the film, quite a bit.

The movie had the same gritty feeling as the novel and that’s what I liked. The characters were perfect, particularly The Comedian and Rorschach. It is exactly how I imagined they would sound. In fact, I thought most of the characters were pitch perfect. The plot had some significant changes from the graphic novel including cutting out an entire storyline. But many people thought the novel was unfilmable so I know that they had to make some big choices on what to include and what to cut out. Like most action films of the current day, this was bloody and violent. But the graphic novel was as well and I think I can almost say that the film-makers downplayed some of the violence of the story by leaving out the secondary storyline. The ending was very different. But this is one of those rare, rare times when I will say that the movie might have improved on the book. The ending to the novel was a bit out there, a bit far-fetched. The ending to the film made total sense. It tied the entire Dr. Manhattan plotlines together.

The visuals were fantastic. Like many others have said before, the opening credits were just amazing. I don’t know how they shot those but I want to learn. The darkness and grime of the city was perfectly captured. The movie still kept a bit of a comic book feel to it though. The fight sequences were a bit over the top though. These are mortals who donned masks to play vigilantes, not superheroes. Some of the fight sequences would have been better served with a touch more realism. Over all I was really impressed by the film. I enjoyed the endings and the overall story. I enjoyed the characters and the visuals. It was a fun film that I was not disappointed with.

Plus it was nice to watch a movie that had more male nudity than female nudity. A rarity in Hollywood. J

Watchmen

I may be the last person in the US to blog about this book and the upcoming movie. I hadn't intended to write about it. I'm not sure if I'm seeing the film. But a friend of mine just mentioned that he was reading Watchmen, I assume in anticipation for the movie. I read the graphic novel probably seven or eight years ago and was shocked by it. This was a totally new take on superheroes. This was an anti-superhero novel and like everyone else, I thought it was unfilmable. First and foremost this is dark. When I wrote about V for Vendetta, I mentioned that it was dark, but this goes well beyond that. This is some seriously twisted, disturbing, and totally amazing stuff. The book will shake you up, but in a good way. In the kind of way that makes you think about why things work the way they do. About what happens if we had common enemies and what would happen if our heroes weren't all that hero-like. It's a topsy turvy story.



I won't say the main plot of the story, (because it follows so many different plots) but one of the plots of the story follows Rorschach as he tries to figure out who killed masked superhero "The Comedian". We see his fellow superheroes in flashbacks, and then as they are now. These are disturbed people. The Comedian himself was no Dudley Doright. He rapes and kills without seeming remorse. Rorschach is crazy and violent. These are not your children's superheroes. In fact, I don't think children should be reading this book. The society they live in is a perfect dysutopia which although current when Moore wrote it, doesn't seem that far off. The technology has changed but somethings ring true.


Purist fans of the book will be surprised by the ending of the film, from what I understand. The giant squid is gone. As one commenter said, they love to tell their friends all about the dark themes and allusions made in the book. All about the social commentary and subtle nuances of the story. And then top it off with a giant squid landing in NY and killing everyone. It just seems so out of place.


As is typical with Moore he will be distancing himself from the film. He does not feel that any film can do his stories justice. I too am concerned with this one. I was more concerned though with rumors I heard before the film came out. I had originally heard that the ending was changed so that people who had read the book would not spoil the ending for others. That saddens me. The book has existed since 1987. Alan Moore wrote a book that most considered unfilmable. The book, no matter how good the movie is, will always be better. But they are worried about people leaking the ending. Here's an idea (and this is me on my soapbox), let them all read the book. Perhaps if they read the story they wouldn't have to worry about having the story ruined for them. It's a quick read and most libraries carry it. Honestly I hope the movie gets people to read the book. I hope that they return to the source material and compare. Because movies always tend to be found lacking against great books. I'm not sure I'm heading to the theaters for this one. And I'm not even sure if I'll rent. Some things are just too good to cheapen with theatrics.