Review: Watchmen
Well, it turns out Alan Moore was right; Watchmen is unfilmable.
Though, I have to agree with the point of Kris Tapley over at InContention.com , it is not that there is not a very interesting story that can be told out of the book, quite the contrary. There is an amazing story that can be told. The problem lies in most of us. We demand that it be given “the white-glove treatment” and want as close to a faithful adaptation as possible. And in a world of 2 1/2 hour films and small attention spans, there is no way “that” Watchmen version can be good.
That is not to say the film was that bad; something Tapley disagrees with, he calls it “one of the worst films ever made”. I wouldn’t go anywhere near that. There are some wonderful parts in the film such as the opening title sequence and some of the scenes in Carnac and on Mars. Also, the entire film looks beautiful.
It’s just that in trying to make the perfect adaptation, it made the storytelling too quick at some points, and completely undeveloping story points that are required to understand some of the emotional and philosophical elements of the story.
The acting is underwhelming, something I would probably fault Snyder for, though I don’t really fault anything else on the man. He had probably the hardest directing gig in a long time, and unless he gave us gold, it was gonna be disappointing.
As an adaptation, GRADE: C
