Another terrible adaptation

Rating: 2/10 (4 December 2010)

Alan Moore made an excellent statement while commenting on comic book to film adaptation or book to film adaptations. He said that while reading a comic book the viewer is in control of the viewing experience so he can interpret the scene in his own particular view but the movie shows it one certain way and that is what makes it dull or dreary.
Now I am a huge fan of the comic book. Watchmen is one of the greatest works of fiction of the last century. It is not just a deconstruction of the superhero genre or a parody. It is so much more. It has the capacity and scope of 1984 and Brave New World but takes it to a whole new level. It is visionary and an extremely readable work of art.
I could spend the entire review just nitpicking on what scenes matched or didn't match to the original comic book but I wont or rather I cannot. The movie has just picked up every panel on every page and just made it live action. The dialogue, scenes and everything is the same. It doesn't add anything to the work bu just makes it very terrible.
Zak Snyder though a good director seems to me to an extremely dumb person. I guess he is another one of those directors that cite Steven Spielberg as an influence. Now, while Spielberg is a great storyteller and picks up interesting stories to tell all his protégé turn out to be some of the worst directors Hollywood has produced. Snyder hasn't understood the graphic novel. He must have loved the visually arresting artwork and that is where his admiration ended. He didn't care for the politics or the characters and their turmoils or any of the other important stuff that really matters. It is evident from his movies that he cares more about visuals that substance, more about style than character development.
Now if you divorce the film from its subject matter and watch it without knowing of Alan Moore and his graphic novel I guess you could call it good film. You could justify the acclaim that it got but that is not the case. It owes everything to the original novel by Moore and Gibbons. It owes everything.
Brian. K. Vaughn , the writer of Y : The Last Man was told to write the screenplay for his own work. And he changed a few things and reworked the plot. The execs at New Line were not happy as they wanted to be faithful to the original book. Vaughn said that you cannot be so religious in your adaptation. Things must change from medium to medium. And that is what Snyder fails to comprehend. Even with his Dawn of the Dead. Even with 300. He is Michael Bay with more story.
The stupidity of Snyder is evident when Rorschach's voice-over begins " Rorschach's journal ....." Now why would he say that over and over again . Voice-over implies thought and the person doesn't refer to himself in his 2nd person. The book did it because the journal entries were separate. They weren't in the story but were separate from the plot but Snyder couldn't have one intelligent idea of his own.
Overall Snyder's Watchmen is hardly the best movie of 2009. It is hardly a good movie. Snyder further establishes himself as a director who hasn't a single original thing to say.