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Spoiler-Free Synopsis
This movie would have been better titled: WATCHMEN FOR DUMMIES. Possible with a subtitle reading: The Lobotomized Version.
Unlike with Iron Man, this time my expectations going in were basically met. Visually, the movie was stunning. Much of what they did was also really good. However, there was far too much that they did not. Basically, the film was just the skeleton of the story, with no nervous system or muscles or organs or skin.
Picture Les Miserables, but with a few minor details removed. Like the Paris Uprising of 1832. And the Thenardiers. And Eponine.
Additionally, to cover for parts that were removed, a fair number of changes had to be made that struck me as just plain dumb. Meanwhile, while all the meat was being removed from the bones, extra fight scenes were added to flesh it all out. This is a Hollywood flick, after all.
Probably the worst sin committed by the film is the removal of the affect. When we got home, I asked![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sanjibabes what she felt when the part where New York City (and other cities) are blown up. Her answer, put quite simply, was to shrug and say: "Nothing." Exactly. It is just one more such scene put out by Hollywood. We've seen it all before and will see the same thing again. When this happened in the comic book, I was utterly horrified. Shell-shocked. Left feeling really raw for quite some time afterward. The way that it was told in the comic book invested the scene with a large emotional attachment. I know others who have had the same reaction to the last two issues of the comic book. Whereas in the film, nothing.
One of the main differences between this film and other super-hero movies is that in this case, a specific text was being translated from one medium to another. When you make a film about Iron Man or Spider-Man or Batman or the X-Men, you are not drawing on one specific text. You take the character and combine elements of certain classic stories with new material to produce a screenplay that is largely a new work. Whereas, for The Watchmen one specific text -- a twelve part mini-series -- is being directly transferred to an alien medium.
Ultimately, I stand by my original impression, formed years ago, that this story was too complicated to be made into a movie in any form that preserves the intricacy and detail that went into crafting it. I commend Alan Moore for his decision not to see it. I think that he would cringe to see his work reduced to such.
This movie would have been better titled: WATCHMEN FOR DUMMIES. Possible with a subtitle reading: The Lobotomized Version.
Unlike with Iron Man, this time my expectations going in were basically met. Visually, the movie was stunning. Much of what they did was also really good. However, there was far too much that they did not. Basically, the film was just the skeleton of the story, with no nervous system or muscles or organs or skin.
Picture Les Miserables, but with a few minor details removed. Like the Paris Uprising of 1832. And the Thenardiers. And Eponine.
Additionally, to cover for parts that were removed, a fair number of changes had to be made that struck me as just plain dumb. Meanwhile, while all the meat was being removed from the bones, extra fight scenes were added to flesh it all out. This is a Hollywood flick, after all.
Probably the worst sin committed by the film is the removal of the affect. When we got home, I asked
sanjibabes what she felt when the part where New York City (and other cities) are blown up. Her answer, put quite simply, was to shrug and say: "Nothing." Exactly. It is just one more such scene put out by Hollywood. We've seen it all before and will see the same thing again. When this happened in the comic book, I was utterly horrified. Shell-shocked. Left feeling really raw for quite some time afterward. The way that it was told in the comic book invested the scene with a large emotional attachment. I know others who have had the same reaction to the last two issues of the comic book. Whereas in the film, nothing. One of the main differences between this film and other super-hero movies is that in this case, a specific text was being translated from one medium to another. When you make a film about Iron Man or Spider-Man or Batman or the X-Men, you are not drawing on one specific text. You take the character and combine elements of certain classic stories with new material to produce a screenplay that is largely a new work. Whereas, for The Watchmen one specific text -- a twelve part mini-series -- is being directly transferred to an alien medium.
Ultimately, I stand by my original impression, formed years ago, that this story was too complicated to be made into a movie in any form that preserves the intricacy and detail that went into crafting it. I commend Alan Moore for his decision not to see it. I think that he would cringe to see his work reduced to such.
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