So this is how comic book movies are meant to be made! I will admit straight out that I have not read the graphic novel though I have been meaning too for years. Of course now I will look like a bandwagon-hopping hipster doofus as I buy it now, but to hell with the purists!
Copyright DC Comics
Not having read the graphic novel, I didn’t have any vested interest in seeing how the movie would turn out. I can only imagine from what I’ve read that transferring Watchmen to the silver screen was going to be pretty bloody hard, but it seems like Zack Snyder has done an admirable job. Fans seem to have recognised that film and graphic novels are separate beasts and need to be viewed differently.
I am not going to give any spoilers, but I will say the movie hit all the right notes. The intro was stunning and really set the mood. Possibly the best opening I have seen in quite a few years. The story is well paced and kept me interested for the most part. There were a few soft spots but they never bog the story down.
I admit I was a bit worried with all the characters being introduced that I wouldn’t know what was going on, but all was revealed with some great flashbacks. Compare this with The Spirit where I didn’t really know what was going on and the backstories were hopeless.
The visual effects were solid the whole way through. There wasn’t too much that made me go “WOW! MEGA-SUPA-FREAKING-AWESOME” but there also wasn’t anything that was noticeably sub-par. The only thing I couldn’t quite understand was the decision to make Dr Manhattan completely CG when he could have been Billy Crudup in the flesh for 80% of his shots.
Overall, the best thing I can say about this movie is that when I came out, I really wanted to get my hands on a copy of the graphic novel to get the full story. The complete opposite of The Spirit . . .
_________
I would also highly recommending the full manga series for Akira. I love Akira the movie, but frankly it makes no sense. After reading the graphic novels the whole thing became a *lot* clearer. It looks like you can read them online here.
Copyright Warner Bros. Image courtesy of Intelligent Creatures from CGTalk.com