I Watched the Watchmen

I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this film since seeing the trailer last summer. Well, it has arrived, and while I think the movie has its flaws, overall I enjoyed it very much.

My primary complaint is one that I've been anticipating since seeing that first trailer. What's with all the slow-motion? The use of slow-motion in various places throughout the movie was a stylistic choice that I found a little annoying. To be fair, it didn't bother me quite as much as I would have expected, but still, I could have done without it. I also felt that the pacing of the movie got a little bogged-down in the middle section. This is where I think the reviewers who have complained that the movie was too faithful to the book may have a point, because there are places where the pacing feels more like that of a 12-issue comic series than of a 2-hour (or whatever) movie.

Those complaints aside, however, I'm very pleased with how the movie turned out. The cast was spot on and the art direction and costumes were great. I have to give credit to director Zack Snyder (and whoever else may be responsible) for the biggest deviation from the original story. Without getting into spoiler territory, I think the change in the ending works quite well, and I think I may even prefer it to the original (maybe, I'm still working it over in my mind).

The movie certainly matches the source material for denseness (in a good way), so much so that it will probably only be after additional viewings that I'll be able to solidify my thoughts on it. As I said, I definitely enjoyed it, though I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't already read the book. If you have read and enjoyed it, then the movie is probably worth a look.

An Open Letter to Zack Snyder

RE: Watchmen trailer

I admit, I wasn't sure what to think when I heard you had signed on to direct a film adaptation of "Watchmen". The conventional wisdom has long held that Watchmen is unfilmable; at the very least it would be challenging to get right. I haven't seen any of your work (300 didn't look my cup of tea, so I skipped it...I may have to reconsider that now), so I didn't have any basis to judge your ability to handle the challenge. Then, last Thursday, the trailer started appearing on the internet. I checked it out like everyone else, but I still had my doubts.

Then I saw it on the big screen in front of The Dark Knight. You've got me, I'm sold. The trailer alone is an impressive bit of filmmaking, so I'm ready now. I now have hope that this film will be as good as it deserves to be. I'm eager to see what you've come up with.

Please don't screw it up.