Adapted from the classic and much loved Alan Moore mini comic series from 1987 the Watchmen arrives at the screen with the huge weight of fan anticipation (including mine). I loved the comic – it’s a classic and my thoughts were that if it wasn’t done well in a movie then really there was no point touching it at all. I would rather have just the comic than a messed up dumbed down version of the Watchmen on the big screen, so I took myself off to the cinema and really hoped that The Watchmen was going to be good, going to do the comic justice…. I’m very happy to report that it did. I loved the movie in lots of ways – which is also a big relief! It luckily transpires that Zack Synder the director is also a huge fan and in his movie has created a loving homage to the original comic. For anyone who loved the book they will see scenes reconstructed almost straight off of the page, I sat there in the cinema smiling at the rendition.
The Watchment is a complex comic story dealing with an alternate future reality set in 1985, a world where America won Vietnam, where Nixon has just won his 3rd term of office and where the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war. Into this mix are the 2nd generation of now disbanded superheroes The Watchmen, they are a mix of sociopaths, psychopaths, reluctant heroes, and one true superman – Dr Manhattan. Once a physicist who due to a laboratory accident now has limitless powers, which has cost him his humanity and ultimately detachment from the human race.
The story begins when one of the Watchmen; The Comedian is killed and his old team member and the only Watchmen still operating against crime, the vigilante Rorschach suspects foul play and a vendetta against ‘the masks’. What then transpires over the next few hours is a great intelligent superhero movie. Visceral and wordy, gritty and realistic, honest and thought provoking all mixed in with action, fights and graphic violence. As you can tell I loved it but wonder how the non ‘Watchmen’ viewers will find it, there are long passages of dialogue when Dr Manhattan ponders humanity for instance, and if you are not expecting a comic book movie to tackle some very weighty and serious issues this might work against it. There is also the violence, which some people may object to, which is not like the usual PG13 comic book movie violence, all suggested and not seen, in this movie you get the front row seat and actually at times feel that you have been splattered with the red stuff!
I think Zack Synder has created a very honest and true recreation of the Watchmen universe, which must have been no easy task as there are so many subplots and story threads in the original comic and I even liked the altered ending. There won’t be another movie, there are only 6 comic books but I will be watching the Watchmen again and again on DVD… and also… sssh don’t tell anyone but weirdly I kinda fancy Dr Manhattan!
The Watchment is a complex comic story dealing with an alternate future reality set in 1985, a world where America won Vietnam, where Nixon has just won his 3rd term of office and where the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war. Into this mix are the 2nd generation of now disbanded superheroes The Watchmen, they are a mix of sociopaths, psychopaths, reluctant heroes, and one true superman – Dr Manhattan. Once a physicist who due to a laboratory accident now has limitless powers, which has cost him his humanity and ultimately detachment from the human race.
The story begins when one of the Watchmen; The Comedian is killed and his old team member and the only Watchmen still operating against crime, the vigilante Rorschach suspects foul play and a vendetta against ‘the masks’. What then transpires over the next few hours is a great intelligent superhero movie. Visceral and wordy, gritty and realistic, honest and thought provoking all mixed in with action, fights and graphic violence. As you can tell I loved it but wonder how the non ‘Watchmen’ viewers will find it, there are long passages of dialogue when Dr Manhattan ponders humanity for instance, and if you are not expecting a comic book movie to tackle some very weighty and serious issues this might work against it. There is also the violence, which some people may object to, which is not like the usual PG13 comic book movie violence, all suggested and not seen, in this movie you get the front row seat and actually at times feel that you have been splattered with the red stuff!
I think Zack Synder has created a very honest and true recreation of the Watchmen universe, which must have been no easy task as there are so many subplots and story threads in the original comic and I even liked the altered ending. There won’t be another movie, there are only 6 comic books but I will be watching the Watchmen again and again on DVD… and also… sssh don’t tell anyone but weirdly I kinda fancy Dr Manhattan!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4blSrZvPhU - The Watchmen trailer
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment