Well I saw Watchmen today and I’m not sure what I feel about the movie yet. I think it will need time to sink in. From a technical standpoint it is an amazing accomplishment. There are shots that stand out from the comic and really show the filmmaking prowess of Zach Snyder and company. On the other hand the movie feels stitched together and really short even at 2 hours and 45 minutes. I know this will have the fanboys come down hard on me, but I think the problem lies in the book, not the film.
For example Jessica really did not like Watchmen and the problem is with the source material itself. She thought it summed up everything she hates about superhero movies, the excessive violence, the cheesy one liners, but most of all the girl costumed hero, in Watchmen, Silk Spectre, is a typical comic book female. Her basic problem with her is that she can only be complete with a man. I didn’t catch that while watching as being male I’m sad to say I didn’t look for it.

I can see her point, and it makes me wonder if we will ever have a strong female super hero on screen. And there it’s mostly a problem with the source material. It is a product of it’s time, and as revolutionary and game changing as it was in the 80’s, it doesn’t really fit with the world we have twenty years later. The cold war is not the scary thing we all thought it was anymore, and even though this film would have looked awful made in that time period it would have been an outstanding and more thought provoking piece of cinema then. Now, it acts like a history lesson, a very beautiful piece of comic history, but almost museum like in it’s narrative. Shhhh!!!! No talking in the gallery!

It’s not to say I didn’t like Watchmen. There are parts that I loved. Rorschach is spot on and I know it will be hard for me to read the book again, without the actors voice attached. I’ve heard people complain about the lack of score, but the musical choices, were the one thing that kept me in the time period throughout the film. I want to know why BSG and now Watchmen both love All Along the Watchtower? It seems a strange choice for this movie with it’s relevance in the current series of Battlestar and actually takes me out of the experience and the only song that didn’t fit with what was on screen.

I think the true test for me and Watchmen will be when the extra long DVD comes out and I can get the whole story as filmed by Snyder and see it in a less compact form.
Either way, I’m glad the film was made. It was said this could never happen. It has. And it’s as close to the comic that we could have hoped for. I’ve got to wonder if Alan Moore’s greatest fears have been realized. A film that is actually on target to his source material, may have shown a dimmer light on his writings current importance?
The film get’s a B for entertainment and eye candy unlike any other superhero movie made so far.
I only wished it meant more.