I Watched, The Watchmen

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am a huge fan of comics and one of my favorite writers is Allan Moore. He refuses to go see ANY movie based on his work. The short reason as I understand it that he is a perfectionist and he feels he didn’t get it perfect so why watch some else get it less prefect. As a fan of his work I at least feel his stories are well worth reading. That said while I do like the movies that have been made from Mr. Moore’s work, they have ALL been altered in ways that were odd. It was less noticeable in From Hell but I actually like the movie better then the comic (a true anomaly for me). V of Vendetta lost a lot of its 80’s politics for “more modern” politics and they introduced a strange romance between the main characters that did not exist in the comics. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is so different from the comic that it would hurt were not both versions so good. The comic is a dark and gritty adventure set at the turn of the 20th century with lots of literary references. The movie is a James Bond with sidekicks adventure set at the turn of the 20th century, with fewer literary references. The distance between the Comic and the Movie is roughly the same as the distance between the Christian Bale Batman and the Adam West Batman. (I like both of those too) So I was understandably concerned about changes when I went to see The Watchmen
The Comic of The Watchmen is also of historical importance for comic fans. It is one of the first and, in my opinion one of, if not the, best comics to show that comics can tell and mature story. It is a serious story with some heavy thought presented with a “superhero murder mystery” as the driving plot. It is a piece of heady literature that proves that comics as a medium deserve some respect. The story is one that will move you and make you think. It IS art. As someone who argues that the comic form can be true literature, I invoke this book often. It is an important work in my opinion. So I was understandably concerned about changes when I went to see The Watchmen
Before we go any further let me take an aside. No mater weather you agree with my assessment of the film or not. Regardless of weather or not you like the film, GO READ THE WATCHMEN GRAPHIC NOVEL! (Yes that is explanation mark level important.) If you have ANY interest in comics, mysteries or just good stories then you should read this as it is all three. The story is incredible and it uses the medium of comics to its fullest. If there is one comic that I think everyone should read it is The Watchmen. So regardless of weather you see the movie or not, regardless of weather you like the movie or not, read the book.
So I when I went to see this movie I was concerned. However I prepped my self by thinking of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and how that had been a fun romp of a film, witch I had enjoyed greatly as a movie even though it had nearly nothing to do with the comic. I went in prepared to see 12 to 30 comic book panels (witch I had seen in previews) brought to life in a story that had little to nothing to do with the comic whose panels they were representing. My concerns were unfounded, the movie was great.
Let me start by saying, there are things you can do in comics you can not do in movies. Way of telling background stories and delivering information and setting tone that are unique to the medium of comics. I could say the same thing about the medium of film. Normally film makes just cut what doesn’t work in their medium. Here they replaced things unique to comics with things unique to film. The same information presented (where the mediums clashed) in different ways. That said Comics and Film also share a lot of visual storytelling tricks, the film kept ALL of those. I heard before seeing this picture that they used the actual comics as the movie storyboards. I have heard this before EVERY comic based movie I have ever watched. This is the first time I actually believe it. The angles of the shots of them matched the comics so closely I saw the page in my minds eye as things happened on the screen. There is also this thing that is done in a lot of Comic book based movies where when they have a visual from the comic they do a brief pause so you can catch it. The Spiderman movies do this and 300 was full of them. I hate that (and I loved the first two Spidy flicks.) The Watchmen used this freeze on the panel thing in the opening moments of action. When The Comedian is killed the action zooms, slows pauses on a panel taken from the comic then zooms again. It worked. It worked really well. It worked so well I nearly lost the next five minuets of film as my brain said: “I just loved something I hate about comic movies” repeatedly in shock. The movie just gets better from there.
It was great. It was long and still had stuff cut from its original material. However I loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the same can be said for all three of those. Like those I feel that this is as close as we are going to get to the source. Also like those I believe everyone should see this.
This IS the comic brought to life. Yes the ending is somewhat changed, but it still works. Yes we are missing some pieces that make the comic great, but most if not all of them were things that you can only do in comics.
Was it perfect? No. Both Silk Specters and Ozymandius put in performances that were sub par. There was also the less subtle way we are told who the second Silk Specters father is. The words “X is your father” are never directly said in the comic, and the clues leading up that are hints not “Hey look over here for the clue” neon signs like we find in the movie. Also many of the costume changes were unnecessary and poor.
Would I recommend it? Yes. It’s a really great film. It is also a very accurate adaptation of a really great comic. So I would recommend it strongly to everyone and doubly strong for comic fans.
In closing just let me say yes I did like it, but READ THE BOOK.

Bradleyman
PS. Extra credit for any one who can tell me which two movies, based on the actors, I am hinting at here
1) Night Owl moves in next to Nick Furry and they have issues with each other.
2) Night Owl tries to seduce an underage Kitty Pryde then things get really weird.