A Pleasant Surprise

Rating: 7/10 (7 March 2009)

I have known about Watchmen since last year, and (ever since i saw the previews) I have been eagerly awaiting its premiere. To get ready for the film, I went out and bought a copy of the graphic novel on which it is based to get ready for when the movie came out. I absolutely fell in love with the book, but I came to another realization: the story is practically unfilmable. Watchmen, the book, is extremely complex, full of sub-plots and flashbacks and newspaper clippings and book excerpts. I just couldn't imagine how they'd pull it off, even with a two and a half hour running time. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised.
Watchmen, the movie, is still quite complex for your typical Hollywood blockbuster, but not so complex that it becomes unwatchable for the average film-goer. This is quite a feat, considering the story revolves around various characters in various different time periods. In my opinion, it'd be very difficult to make a better adaptation than the one Snyder has done. But, having said that, I do have one major complaint. Most of the film is done in the style of films such as 300 or The Spirit, with the slowed-down action sequences. Personally, I don't think this really worked for the film. I would much prefer it to have been done in a gritty, realistic style. This makes some of the action sequences a bit laughable, in parts.
Aside from that, the film still makes the characters hard to love, but even harder to hate. Watchmen follows The Dark Knight in blurring the line between hero and villain. Hopefully more studios will follow these two film's examples and continue to make more thought-provoking, serious superhero movies.