A post by Maynard Rorschach
The Watchmen movie is coming. It’s based on “Watchmen”, a popular graphic novel (that is, a comic book) from 1986.
I happened to read the graphic novel years ago, and it blew me away. I picked it up again in recent weeks and still found it intriguing. It was a weird noir/sci-fi hybrid, set in an alternate reality, and with elements of an epic soap opera. If it draws you in, you’ll find a surprising depth and subtlety that that carries it above the realm of a simple superhero yarn almost to the point of literature. (Of course, it helps if you like comic books.)
Did you see last year’s Iron Man movie? Probably my favorite film of the year. That movie worked largely because the characters had great chemistry. But the filmmakers also did an impressive job of entangling the players in current world events without degenerating into political cheerleading.
I likewise appreciated the “Watchmen” novel for being relevant but not preachy. I hope Hollywood resisted the temptation to turn it into another “message movie”. And of course it would be nice if they made a good film.
Addendum: Pat S. has pointed out to me that Debbie Schlussel excoriates “Watchmen”: “If you take your kids to see ‘The Watchmen,’ you’re a moron. If you see it yourself, you’re also probably a moron and a vapid, indecent human being.” She has more to say in a follow-up, noting the comic “was originally written–per the author’s own declaration–as an attack on Ronald Reagan.”
First of all, I’m wary of ALL reviews, in that they tend to give away too much about the film. (I try not to do this myself.) So take caution before you click to Debbie’s page.
The Metacritic.com summary of reviews is mixed but tilting positive, with a score of 57. I appreciate the Metacritic site as a way to get a quick overview without spoiling the movie.
Not having seen the film, I’m not in a position to say Debbie is wrong. And, depending upon the “buzz”, I may eventually decide she’s probably right. But in the meantime, I’ll make no assumptions. Life has taught me that taste transcends politics, and the only opinion that counts is mine. And you should remember this too: The only opinion that counts is Maynard’s!
As a Watchmen fan, I’ll be seeing the film this weekend (that is, if I don’t get held up at work). The comic was great, especially for all the subtlety Moore and Gibbons put into it. I’m sure it will fall short in some ways (as many film adaptations do), but hopefully I can judge the film on its own merits without doing too many comparisons with the books.
I read Watchmen when it first came out, and was wonderfully intrigued by the mystery, right up until it was revealed at the end to be another drop in the gigantic ocean of nuclear-war paranoia in those days.
A few months ago, when I first heard about the movie, I read the book again, and it’s not nearly so disappointing. Now that the politics no longer matter, the human part of the story, which is its great strength, moves to the forefront.
And of course, there’s a delicious irony: Rorshach, the demonstrably insane narrator of the series, the typical conservative seen through the lens of liberal prejudice, is the most popular character, and in an odd way, the most honorable.
There’s an important lesson there.
I saw the movie today and it is good. It is has a great debate of morality: roughly utilitarianism and virtue. I loved the contemplative thought that ensues during and after the movie. I would have hoped that the movie would have more action in it – it is more of a story. Good though.
As a diehard comics fanboy, I don’t care that Alan Moore’s politics are utterly demented: Watchmen is still a masterpiece, and I can’t wait to see the movie.
Thank you, Maynard; you have made me look intelligent or hip in front of my 17 year old’s boyfriend. That I even knew what the movie was about or that it existed surprised them both.
As a disclaimer, I enjoyed the comic, but wasn’t blown away by it. I thought it was an interesting mix of mediums with interesting characters, but I think it made top 100 lists and the like because of it’s topic matter more than simply it’s qualities. I read it only a couple years ago though. If I’d read it in the early eighties, perhaps it would have been more compelling.
All that being said, I thought the movie was a good adaption, there are portions that were missing, and others that were slightly altered, but for the most part the story and characters were kept in tact(sp?). The ending was changed a bit, but to be honest some of it works better than the comic and better fits the ‘realism’ that the rest of the story is told with.
(Possible spoilers here, but I’m trying to be vague to avoid as much spoiling as I can)
The only part that was a bad fit, was that the substitution of the US’s greatest weapon in the movie for a what was made to appear a completely foreign alien enemy in the comic didn’t quite work. Would the USSR really unite with the US against the perceived threat of the US’s top weapon turning against the US?
But the bad guy got more of his due in the movie than he did in the comic… and while it might make Moore tear his hair out, I found it somewhat satisfying. Better would’ve been to see the bad guy vaporised, even if the heroes for the most part feel the need to keep the bad guys scheme a secret.
I’d give it between a B and a B+ as a movie, but reading the comic helps cover a lot of things that might be missed watching the movie by itself.