Love the novel? You’ll love the movie.
Watchmen (Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons)
Rating: 
Well, I bought the graphic novel the movie was based on and read it last night. There are a few more things I can say about the two now. First of all, if you check out and love the novel, I just don’t see how you won’t love the movie. They did an amazing job bringing the novel to life. I imagine it’s both easier and more difficult to bring a large comic book like this to life. Easier because the imagery is right in front of you; more difficult because people’s expectations will be even higher (look at how many comic books brought to life over the past couple decades typically don’t even compare). The one thing I would complain about if I enjoyed the novel would be how much of Ozymandias’ final dialogue is cut to shreds in the movie… it’s like they ran out of time, or thought their audience too dumb to understand. That’s really too bad, because it would have brought more to the movie. Instead, it felt like an even more empty ending to the story being told.
Having said all that, I stand by my 2-star ratings for both. Though, I have been tempted to drop at least the movie down to a single star. There’s still enough going for it that I think it climbs above the worst rating. After talking with Grant and others over the past two days (you can read his wonderful review in the comments on my previous post), I think I finally have a grip on why I so dislike this story. It really all comes down to this rash of anti-heroism being portrayed in every superhero movie these days. Gone are the days of Superman out there fighting for truth, justice, and… you hit it on the head, Grant… the American way. (Anyone else notice that phrase missing from Superman Returns? Apparently that’s not even PC these days. Dang it, Hollywood.) Perhaps I just never read enough comic books, but if they were all filled with this nihilistic viewpoint of the entire world, then I guess I’m glad I didn’t spend much time reading them. Now I understand why older superhero movies have been shunned, while everyone prefers the latest “reboot” versions of the films where the superheroes are as bad or stupid as everyone else in the world (seen Hancock yet?). This becomes even more obvious in The Dark Knight, where even a boat full of criminals is shown to have the exact same morals (or lack thereof) as a boat full of seemingly upstanding citizens.
I guess I have finally had enough of this type of superhero. I’m anxiously awaiting a movie where heroes are actually heroes… ones that do not reflect the darkness of society, but ones that truly fight it. It’s sad that a novel and movie have to be so depressed about the possibility of saving mankind from itself.
One final note. The actor who played Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) was brilliant. I suppose he’s the only true hero in the story, and what happens to him at the end is ultimately fitting in this world where nobody can believe in a true hero anymore. God help us.
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