The adaptation of the book that needn't have bothered

Rating: 4/10 (9 March 2009)

First things first, I really like the book - not obsessively, I just REALLY LIKE it. I think the changed ending did make sense in the context of what they chose to include in the film, so I've got no big issues with the film, it was just, very... flat. It's mainly a very literal translation of the book, the changes and deletions largely make sense but the denseness of the book just seems to drag on the screen. Rorschach works very well on screen and Niteowl really comes across well too.
But the lurch as the film follows the episodic nature of the comics seems really odd in the film leading to huge gaps between character appearances where you tend to go "Oh, I'd forgotten about him". As such I didn't really feel for any of them.
By far for me the worst aspect of the film was the over-reliance on gratuitous and unflinching violence. The book certainly doesn't hold it's punches but it cuts away from the real nastiness because the suggestion is enough. But Zack Snyder seems to have a real obsession with showing every aspect of violence from bones splintering out of broken arms showering the scene with blood to repeated images of Rorschach hitting someone in the head with a cleaver. There was no need for this whatsoever. It was not necessary for the plot, the suggestion would have worked just as well. The film could have dropped a certificate with the exclusion of this and wouldn't have suffered at all. It wasn't in an attempt to be faithful to the book, the sawing of the prisoners arms was neither present or necessary.
Generally speaking great books and great comics need to be changed to be good in a different medium. Film is a different medium and the cut and paste of the book to the screen is moderately successful, but dare I say it as a fan of the book I think the film would have benefited from being its own animal. LOTR wouldn't have worked as a literal film of the book, neither Jurassic Park, etc etc. As such I wish I'd saved £6 and read the book again - Watchmen is the adaptation that needn't have bothered.