I’ll start off with a little background on my experience with the Watchmen. I really knew nothing about the Watchmen at all, outside of the fact that it was a comic I would pick up at Barnes & Noble and always reshelf because it was full of heroes I didn’t already know. My buddy Andy said it was a good read but because the heroes were unfamiliar I didn’t want to familiar myself with it. Then I saw the first Preview for the Movie. I was Hyped! It looked like it was going to be the Lord of the Rings of Superhero movies. I still didn’t buy the book. Why? I’m not much of a reader, I like moving pictures much more and I knew if I bought it, it would take me a year to read anyway. December 21, 2009. I turn 25. What do Sxot and his FiancĂ© Constantine get me for the passing into a new year of my life? The Watchmen Graphic Novel. I was Hyped! Now I can actually read this before the movie comes out. But do I have the strength and time to read it? I start reading it and I can’t put the thing down. I haven’t been this hyped about a book since I read Maus. In fact I was more hyped about this than Maus. I finished the book about 3 weeks ago, juuuust in time for today’s midnight showing. Anyway, this is a movie review.
The Rockin’This movie had the greatest opening credit sequence since Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake! It was a great way to set up the story. It was a montage of much of the supplemental material in between each chapter of the Graphic Novel over Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’. The movie has some Dick Tracy like aspects, when it comes to real historical figures; they were caricatured more than they were likenesses. Look, I’m gonna make this short. The movie was awesome. Everything they took out wasn’t central to the plot. The things that were changed still functioned to serve the same purpose they serve in the Graphic Novel. This is a very cinematic film with fantastic special effects. Rorschach will kill you. The movie is soaked with Dick ‘n’ Balls, Gore, and Blood. Sorry I’m making this review so juvenile, it’s just one of those movies where I am a too hyped to write anything serious about it.
The Not So Rockin’You tend to miss material from the graphic novel that was taken out. Some of that material would have strengthened the depth of the characters and built up some of the mystery and suspense. Hopefully that will all be in the director’s cut. Then it very well may become the Lord of the Rings of Superheroe movies. Outside of that I can’t think of anything.
Once again I have to apologize for my short and juvenile reaction to the film. Perhaps once I’ve let the film settle a bit I can come back and give a more intellectual read of the movie as a movie with less reference back to the graphic novel.