Watchmen

This is not a movie review. Am too prejudiced in too many ways to give you a decent review of any movie. Even if I could, it will be more like whooooaaaaaa wtf, woooooow, woooooaaaahhhh if I like the movie or whooooaaaaaa wtf, woooooow, woooooaaaahhhh if I don’t!

So I have been reading a lot of the reviews for Watchmen. Some flattering, some scathing, some walk the line. I did see the movie couple of days back. Am not a graphic novel connoisseur by any stretch of imagination. In fact read Watchmen only a few years back. And I haven’t really read the apparently defining works like Maus or Persepolis. But there have been many critics who have been savaging the movie for looking just like the book and not doing enough with the story. I hear fan boys slobbering that the movie looked exactly like the book and angry that it went too off the book in terms of the story. And am wondering where do I fit in?

I was astonished by what Zack Snyder has done with the film. It was a blessing indeed that the movie wasn’t made before this. With his amazing eye for detail the director has been able to replicate the smallest details from the book onto the screen. And I was even more astonished by the screenplay; a complex book with many layers has been rendered comprehensible to everyone. I strongly felt that this was the real victory of the movie.

There have been critics from publications like The New Yorker who have heaped derision on the movie for being too slavishly devoted to the book and pandering to the fan boys. I would be surprised if the reviewer was anywhere below the age of 80 mentally if not physically. To not like the Watchmen is understandable but to look down upon a phenomenon like Alan Moore is just not cricket.(He finishes the review by saying wheres the comedy in comics these days? Hell if that isnt a 50 year old complaint)

It’s fairly simple actually. Any great book like The Godfather, LOTR etc the screenwriter and the director at least have the freedom to visualize the way the setting would look, the way the actors would be cast etc. Makers of legendary graphic novels don’t have this choice. The fan boys and girls not only want the same story without any liberties but they want it replicated on screen frame by frame. This is something which Zack Snyder has been very successful with, his love for the material comes through in every scene. If the creator takes any liberties at all with the source material the core audience that will create the big opening and the buzz and the word of mouth will be turned away. And if you don’t have a great opening, the normal film fan who might not know the work at all might not be intrigued. There are other factors of course in the marketing of a film but am looking at only the word of mouth creation.

In other comic books there are so many story lines and mythology that the creators can still get away. To be fair most movie adaptations of the stand alone GNs are fairly bad (am looking at you LXG/V for Vendetta). But then we want them up on screen also, and not through only animation but preferably live action. Directors like Robert Rodriguez and Zack Snyder are showing us how it can be done. Ironically Frank Miller one of the greats had royally screwed up the beloved character The Spirit in its film adaptation.

Hell you might just want to see the movie and see what the fuss is all about anyways. But if you really want to know what the fuss is all about pick up the book.