Quelle surprise!

Rating: 8/10 (7 March 2009)

Well I did my civic duty and went to watch the Watchmen. Gotta say, this is some good adapted cinema. Zack Snyder plays it close enough to the original comic book that only die-hard fans will nitpick, and he manages to make a movie that can be enjoyed over some three hours and counting that doesn't feel all that long while sitting in the actual theatre. Considering the last thing he did was that real stain 300, we can tell that the really significant difference between the quality of one comic book film and the other adapted by him is the source material. Watchmen is a classic, and the movie does it a fair bit of justice.
I can't speak to what people who HAVEN'T read the original source material will think about it, except that there was a disturbing amount of children in the audience attending the screening. Note to parents: comic book movies don't mean friendly all American superheroes. Actually, that's the image that this movie deconstructs, and with lots of disturbing material even by today's standards. However, for the REST of the world going to see it with no expectations, it tells the story quite well and hits the major points fluently, which is refreshing, and it is well-paced and entertaining, though in some places dark. Can't wait to hear what people who haven't read the comic have to say about the ending... gotta be good.
Even the acting is pretty true to the original characters, which is surprising. Seems the actors did their research and feel those characters, which is a change in form for many adaptations, I must say. If Snyder leaves a personal print on this, it's in the music. Some of his choices work... some of them are unintentionally funny. Oh well.
I'm sorry I'm writing this review as a comparison to the novel, which I'm sure there is no end of all across the Internet. It's just hard, when having experienced another version first, not to compare the two materials, and Snyder sticks so closely to Moore's ideas (if maybe not his specific vision... credit removed, yet again!) that the movie almost begs cross-reference. I for one miss the primary colors of the graphic novel, but that's just me. I'm sure other fans have their own personal beef with the movie, but I think in the end it is the audience who aren't previously acquainted who will really show how effective this movie is.
--PolarisDiB