Sunday 22 March 2009

Insert Watch Pun Here

Naturally, I have seen Watchmen.

And, of course, I have seen it Imax-style.

In sort, it ain't Alan Moore's Watchmen... but it's an excellent cinematic interpretation of that original. It's an adaptation and, as such, is just as successful in the motion picture medium as the original was in sequential art form.

When I say it's an adaptation, I mean they changed things... By and large, they were changed for the better. For example (not really much of a spoiler) the giant tentacled monster of the book does not appear. A much more obvious threat looms (I suspect, in fact, that much of Mr Moore's dislike of the movie stems from the fact that the writers (including David 'Solid Snake' Hayter!) picked up on and used the obvious threat where Moore, as the writer of the original, did not), and is very cleverly utilised.

What really impressed me is that there wasn't as much slow-mo as the trailer had suggested, which is a good thing. It shows that Mr Snyder is not a one-trick-pony. In fact, that he was capable of condensing it all into a less-than-three-hour movie while maintaining a coherent story and a pace that doesn't let your mind wander (unlike, say, The Dark Knight) tends to suggest big things await him in future.

The only downside - for me - was that my favourite line from the book wasn't used: Doctor Manhatten does a TV interview...
Host/Interviewer: ...I hope you'll forgive me for asking you this... But what's up, doc?"
Doc Manhatten: "Up" is a relative concept. It has no intrinsic value.

Haven't done much else with my weekend. Woke up with a headache again, which put a bit of a dampener on things. I'd hoped to work on a bit of 'concept art' for my 16-year-old project, but didn't really get very far. I can picture things so clearly in my mind, but can't get them down on paper... A problem I've had since my early school days.
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