Watchmen does it best to stay faithful to the original graphic novel. Ironically I enjoyed it most when it strayed. The look of the movie matches the graphic novel almost perfectly and is a wonder to see. The musical choices in the movie were spot on, especially Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin to take us through a large chunk of back story in a short period of time. Of course there was no music in the book.
The big surprise for me was that they improved the resolution of the plot. The end game stays true in spirit to the book but tightens it but having tie back to one of the major characters. The movie could have used more of that type of editing. There were details in the movie that had no set up and thus only made sense if you read the book. Take the inclusion of the right wing rag The Riffle Men for example. They were not introduced earlier in the movie, it is tacked on just to stay true to the book. Would have been better to tie in one of the reporters shown on TV through out the movie.
Watchmen the movie is good, but not great because it tries to stay too close to the great graphic novel.
- Peace
4 comments:
I have not seen this film yet. Since I'm unlikely to see it until it hits DVD, and have already read the book, I haven't shied away from spoilers.
The canonical example of a film getting the ending wrong is maybe the Lord of the Rings where stripping out the Scouring of the Shire left the series without resolution. Many people who had read the books before the film complained about this ending, but the film proves that the original ending is right.
So some people have pointed out that the new Watchmen ending looks simpler than the book, but on the other hand the book ending not only forces an end to the wars, but also a future of space and psychic exploration which don't seem to fit in the film's future. So possibly it comes down to how important that future is to you.
Well I guess that depends on if you accept the ending as positive or hopeful. I doubt it. The 'salvation' in the book and movie is based on a lie and the process of exposing the lie is in progress. So I doubt there is much of a future based on either form.
I do prefer the form of deception in the Movie over the book. How long would it take science to realize the alien in the book was a fake? The movie version is an improvement.
Since I havent read the actual graphic novel, I cant say how well this movie is comparable to the original. Just considering the movie story, I feel a bit unsatisfied. None of the characters play a strong role. I had gone to the theaters expecting some good action, but got discouraged! And over that I wasted my $20 towards the tickets.
Paul, the watchmen were always more of an antihero superhero story than anything, so I'm not surprised that some people were thrown off by the movie.
- Peace
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