Watchmen: If you look up bastardization in the dictionary you might find "watchmen" the motion picture
My first encounter with the epic graphic novel known as Watchmen by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons came back in high school. I remember all of my friends were going on about how good it was. Eventually one of my friends lent it to me to read. I remember liking it when I read it but over the years the memory faded and I forgot most of the story. And that's how it stayed. I finally revisted the graphic novel a few days ago in preparation for the film, which according to many websites would never get made because of the original subject matter and complexity of the story. But it finally did get made and maybe it shouldn't have.
The film is directed by Zach Snyder of "300" fame. While the screenplay was written by David Hayter, known to many as the voice of Soild Snake in the hit "Metal Gear" franchise, and Alex Tse. The film runs a very modest 2 hours and 43 minutes (in case it wasn't obvious that was sarcasm there :p ).
The film takes place in an alternate version of Earth in the 1980s. In this alternate reality, masked vigilantes are the norm. However most of them are forced to cease and desist by the government. The US is still in the cold war with Russia and the world is on the verge of a nuclear holocaust. When one of the former vigilantes is brutally murdered, one of the only remaining active vigilantes by the name of Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) wants to know why. As he investigates he slowly begins to uncover a conspiracy.
Fundamentally the movie works. The plot is understandable and for the most part intriguing albeit a little drawn out. The character development is present but for the most part rather shallow. The visuals are stylized and have some of the same visual flair as "300." I couldn't help but think that the movie is a bit pretentious. But none of those are really where my qualms lie.
While watching the movie I thought that it was a really great supplement to the graphic novel. For about 75% of the film there seemed to be an attempt to stay close to the source material and it was nice for fans of the comic to see the pages bought to life. Snyder's defense for the length of the film was that he was trying to remain faithful to the source material and that was a completely valid reason. However that idea seemed to be thrown to the wind near the end of the film. The entire ending was changed and for me personally not in a good sense. It made no sense to me. It was like making it to the last round of a job interview at a prestigious company then deciding instead of wearing a nice suit to go in in your underwear and a stained t-shirt. Why stay true to the graphic novel and then change the ending? If that were the case the writers and director should have just taken some artistic license with the entire film and streamlined the plot and cut down dramatically on the run time. If they were trying to please the fans they have failed. The changed ending was really hard to swallow. Up until that point I was enjoying the film. I think the makers had a hard time deciding who to market the film to and tried to meet halfway and please everyone, which they didn't. Many fans of the graphic novel will feel alienated.
The argument goes that in order to deliver the ending the graphic novel had the movie would have to be even longer and require more explanation. But my sentiments are that at almost 3 hours what's another 30-45 minutes? The fans would have appreciated the true ending rather than the bastardized one we were given. I feel like with the film ending even the characters personalities were tweaked. It left a bad taste in my mouth.
Style wise my major problem comes with choice of songs for the soundtrack. It seems like a mishmash of 80's pop song's and some older ones. I mean as a time period thing I guess it makes sense. The choices were all pretty cheesy for the most part. There were even times when a scene was established and as if to mock the audiences emotional intelligence they play a song that hurls the intended emotion at you. An example of this was at a funeral scene when they chose to have "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel blare loudly throughout the scene. As if to say to the audience you should feel sad and elicit that emotion. It was like directing a small child toward the right answer. I could have done with a more subdued soundtrack to be honest.
As a whole the movie is a decent film. If you have never read the graphic novel you may even really like it. But on the other hand if you have you WILL be disappointed. It's nice to see "Watchmen" finally make it to the big screen but it's not the way fans would have wanted it. Usually I would say that Alan Moore, the original author, was a prima donna for not putting his name on this film adaptation. But in this case I understand. It is not his cautionary tale about nuclear warfare anymore. Although the general message is still similar it's not in the form he intended.
This review makes me seem really harsh on the movie. But that is only the fanboy/purist in me talking. I want to reiterate that on it's own merit "Watchmen" the movie is a decent film albeit a bit long. It is for the most part an entertaining film. Although I will say that I am not a fan.
The film is directed by Zach Snyder of "300" fame. While the screenplay was written by David Hayter, known to many as the voice of Soild Snake in the hit "Metal Gear" franchise, and Alex Tse. The film runs a very modest 2 hours and 43 minutes (in case it wasn't obvious that was sarcasm there :p ).
The film takes place in an alternate version of Earth in the 1980s. In this alternate reality, masked vigilantes are the norm. However most of them are forced to cease and desist by the government. The US is still in the cold war with Russia and the world is on the verge of a nuclear holocaust. When one of the former vigilantes is brutally murdered, one of the only remaining active vigilantes by the name of Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) wants to know why. As he investigates he slowly begins to uncover a conspiracy.
Fundamentally the movie works. The plot is understandable and for the most part intriguing albeit a little drawn out. The character development is present but for the most part rather shallow. The visuals are stylized and have some of the same visual flair as "300." I couldn't help but think that the movie is a bit pretentious. But none of those are really where my qualms lie.
While watching the movie I thought that it was a really great supplement to the graphic novel. For about 75% of the film there seemed to be an attempt to stay close to the source material and it was nice for fans of the comic to see the pages bought to life. Snyder's defense for the length of the film was that he was trying to remain faithful to the source material and that was a completely valid reason. However that idea seemed to be thrown to the wind near the end of the film. The entire ending was changed and for me personally not in a good sense. It made no sense to me. It was like making it to the last round of a job interview at a prestigious company then deciding instead of wearing a nice suit to go in in your underwear and a stained t-shirt. Why stay true to the graphic novel and then change the ending? If that were the case the writers and director should have just taken some artistic license with the entire film and streamlined the plot and cut down dramatically on the run time. If they were trying to please the fans they have failed. The changed ending was really hard to swallow. Up until that point I was enjoying the film. I think the makers had a hard time deciding who to market the film to and tried to meet halfway and please everyone, which they didn't. Many fans of the graphic novel will feel alienated.
The argument goes that in order to deliver the ending the graphic novel had the movie would have to be even longer and require more explanation. But my sentiments are that at almost 3 hours what's another 30-45 minutes? The fans would have appreciated the true ending rather than the bastardized one we were given. I feel like with the film ending even the characters personalities were tweaked. It left a bad taste in my mouth.
Style wise my major problem comes with choice of songs for the soundtrack. It seems like a mishmash of 80's pop song's and some older ones. I mean as a time period thing I guess it makes sense. The choices were all pretty cheesy for the most part. There were even times when a scene was established and as if to mock the audiences emotional intelligence they play a song that hurls the intended emotion at you. An example of this was at a funeral scene when they chose to have "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel blare loudly throughout the scene. As if to say to the audience you should feel sad and elicit that emotion. It was like directing a small child toward the right answer. I could have done with a more subdued soundtrack to be honest.
As a whole the movie is a decent film. If you have never read the graphic novel you may even really like it. But on the other hand if you have you WILL be disappointed. It's nice to see "Watchmen" finally make it to the big screen but it's not the way fans would have wanted it. Usually I would say that Alan Moore, the original author, was a prima donna for not putting his name on this film adaptation. But in this case I understand. It is not his cautionary tale about nuclear warfare anymore. Although the general message is still similar it's not in the form he intended.
This review makes me seem really harsh on the movie. But that is only the fanboy/purist in me talking. I want to reiterate that on it's own merit "Watchmen" the movie is a decent film albeit a bit long. It is for the most part an entertaining film. Although I will say that I am not a fan.
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