For all those who have been living under a rock and haven’t seen The Dark Knight, attached to it was that really weird trailer with the blue guy and the Smashing Pumpkins song for a movie called Watchmen. Now, as many of you know the film is based on a graphic novel of the same name written by the king of the medium Alan Moore. Now, when I saw Dark Knight, all the high school jocks and frat boys in the audience saw “From the director of 300” and started mumbling to each other, “Whoa dude, this is gonna be cool,” but Watchmen is the furthest thing from 300. Let’s just say the action that defined 300 is limited to about 3 sequences in Watchmen, and the plot is much more interesting than a few battles and a whore wife (who couldn’t act) trying to overthrow some stupid all male government.
But with this movie coming out I have one major qualm, and that is that a book that I’ve held closer than any other in recent years is more than likely going to be ruined by massive media hype, as well as an audience of millions that will only know it for it’s film version. While it’s cool to see the world exposed to the content, it’s one of those things that no matter how loyal it is to the book, reading it panel for panel is an experience that must be had to truly appreciate the work that is Watchmen. Alan Moore has never been a fan of his works being made to film, V for Vendetta is seemingly the closest one to the source material, and for those that have read the book, it’s really not that close at all. So of course Mr. Moore would be upset about seeing his child, and the most beloved work in the graphic novel medium, get the same treatment. I just feel as though the novel is fantastic as a standalone piece of media and should be experienced in it’s original content before it’s seen on movie screens. All of you Harry Potter fans probably have similar feelings towards those movies.
With that in mind, I beg all of you who saw that trailer, liked it, and haven’t read the graphic novel to get out there and do it. And for those who think that because it’s a comic book it’ll be all fun and light like Iron Man, you’re incredibly wrong. Let me put it this way, Watchmen as a book is about 100 times better than The Dark Knight was as a movie. So for those of you who thought that Dark Knight was the first “deep” comic book experience, you are very, very wrong. The philosophies of all the characters, as well as the overall depth exceed anything that Dark Knight threw and the originality is so sharp and unpredictable. And I don’t mean to make it like I disliked Dark Knight, I thought it was fantastic, but the feeling that was going through me as I left the theater wasn’t even comparable to that of when I finished Watchmen for the first time.
I’m not going to rant and rave anymore about something that damn near changed my life some three years ago, I’m going to make a desperate call to you readers unfamiliar with the source material. Read Watchmen, I urge you too, hell I will go to you with my copy and hand it to you myself if it gets you to read that book before the movie comes out. Because god knows we’ve lost V and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to the millions who are “too cool to read comic books.” Think about it. And seriously, I will bring you my copy if it gets you to read it.
2 comments:
The trailers actually look promising, but you're right... this may turn out to be a great cinematic experience, but it will never, ever compare to the original brilliance of the novel. Not sure if you've heard, but it seems Zack Snyder may have changed the ending, which is absolutely outrageous. The presence of the squid is necessary for two reasons:
1) It causes the callous and heartless Comedian to suddenly care about the world, even if it ultimately drives him nuts. Hence his lines, "I thought I was The Comedian....tell me, what's so funny?" It literally is such an insane idea that he can't process it.
2) The rest of the world unifies to fight an extraterrestrial force. That's the key; they will continue to fight each other if the enemy is on Earth. If it's true that Dr. Manhattan's energy is used to create an atomic bomb explosion, this does not solve the issue at all. Countries will still think man is at fault, or at the very least, man controlling Dr. Manhattan.
I dunno, I will probably see it anyways, but I am prepared for disappointment.
Well I know that the ending was changed, but I think that Snyder is definitely handling it well, especially considering the depth of the ending.
I think he said something like he had to make it more modern.
I dunno...I'm not gonna say tweaking what "falls" will change the entire outcome, but if it is indeed supposed to be something man made than that's just weird.
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