puppetmaker | I have watched the Watchmen

And it was not bad. I would say if you were thinking about seeing it, see it in a theater. Even on an HD screen something is going to get lost. It has that epic movie feel. Also I will be very surprised if there is a sequel. There might be a prequel but it is nice to have a film that is so done in one.

I read the comics when they came out back in 1986/87. I started late in the series but the comic book shop I was working for (Whirligig Comics) had all the back issues so I caught up fast. I like it as I was reading it but it didn’t really pull together for me until the graphic novel came out and I could read it in a sitting. There is so much there and it really needs to be read at least twice because it is so interesting to see how Moore and Gibbons laid the track work through out the series.

If you liked the main story of Watchmen, there is a lot in this film for you to like. They got it right. The costumes are spot on like they were lifted from the comic page. The actors are all cast correctly. I was unsure if they could find someone who could play Rorschach/Walter Kolvacs but Jackie Earl Haley was born to play this role. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was excellent as the Comedian. Matt Frewer was a bit of a surprise as Molock but he did quite well with what he was given. Matthew Goode was creepy as Ozymandias but I think he was playing around with an accent that was not used through out that was a little distracting. Night Owl (Patrick Wilson) and Silk Specter (Carla Gugino) had probably some of the hardest scenes to execute but I believed what I was seeing on the screen and the chemistry between the characters. Billy Crudup had the hardest role with Dr. Manhattan since he had a lot of the same things that Bill Nighy as Davie Jones but with the added problem that he couldn’t even use his real eyes which Nighy did a lot with. So most of it come through the voice and the CGI which I found believable.

(Slight Warning: This film is a very hard R and there are a number of very naked people running around with full frontal male nudity. There is graphic sex. The violence is graphic to the point of stomach churning at some points. The more violent images in the graphic novel have been fully realized on screen. There is a lot of very vivid red blood. There is nothing in addition to what was in the graphic novel so if you have read it, you know what you are getting into)

Over all I thought the director did a good job of translating that epic onto the screen. If I hadn’t know that he had directed “300”, I would have figured it out within the first five minutes due to his love of a certain camera trick. Fortunately he didn’t use it through out the film or I would have found that distracting. He told the story of Watchmen using all the clever shortcuts that Moore and Gibbons used in the graphic novel. It does go back and forth in time like the graphic novel but you always know “when” you are. The opening credits really do set that concept up for you.

The special effects were very nice. I love the translation of the castle of glass that John creates on Mars when he puts himself in exile. Dr. Manhattan is probably going to be a whole article in Cinefex down the road. They made the comic book come alive on the screen.

I think there are some Oscar worthy performances in this cast but I don’t think this film will get that sort of acclaim. It will be interesting to see how it does at the box office over the weekend. First numbers coming in don’t seem bad but I think DC is holding its collective breath on this one.

Purists have been concerned about the ending since it is not the original from the graphic novel but take heart since it does flow from the story as a whole and the final ending is not different from the last pages of Watchmen. I was quite satisfied with it.

I think it worth seeing and in a movie theater to get the full experience. My caution is that this is a very hard R boarding on a NC-17 and if you have a weak stomach for gore or nudity, then seeing it at home where it is not so large might be the way to go.

Now I am going to go reread the graphic novel and figure out if there was any additional dialogue since it sounded like they used every word Moore wrote.