Watchmen : A Perfect Failure
Review by: TV!
The Watchmen have been a topic of many a fan-boys conversation for a long time. Long before Zack Snyder decided he would take a stab at producing the un-producible film for “Watchmen”. He is not the first to attempt the mountain of expectation which is the Watchmen movie, but he is the first to complete a product for the general populous to experience. Of course it has not lived up to expectations, surprisingly it was not the legions of comic fans but rather the average viewer. I find it surprising for Warner Bros. to release a film so clearly directed to a closed audience, particularly an audience it has shunned again and again. Do I need to mention the travesty that was Catwoman or the half-assed update of Superman. But here we are in 2009 with a Watchmen film aimed with laser sights directly on the fanboys, don’t get me wrong I am happy the film is so true to the source material. I am just very confused why Warner Bros choose now to allow a filmmaker to do so and more importantly why this piece of work. Perhaps it is Mr. Snyder’s cannon which has demonstrated his ability to adapt the sequential frames of others into his own. Perhaps it was Warner Bros. themselves, fresh off “The Dark Knight” enormity thought they could just follow the template of adapting graphic novels. After the number of people I saw leaving the theater during my viewing of Watchmen I already knew Warner Bros. made a mistake by attempting to convert such a dense piece of work into a two and a half hour film.
“Watchmen” is an amazing interpretation of the graphic novel titled “Watchmen”, It is not a film you can lazily walk into and expect to be handed all the mythology and answers of the world. It is a mystery first and foremost and not just an action film with Superhumans. Perhaps the marketing campaign should have been directed toward the mystery aspect of the film rather than the hype of a Watchmen film. At any rate it is too late now, the word has spread and people are avoiding the film, it lost 50% of the sales it made opening weekend. The new Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson vehicle made quick work of Watchmen this past weekend and by next weekend it will be forgotten, which is a travesty to the Watchmen. The film succeeds on every level if you have the fore knowledge and patience to experience the story, of course expecting every viewer to read the graphic novel before viewing the feature is a ridiculous expectation however in my opinion it is a necessary to fully appreciate the intricate detail embedded into every frame and to fully understand what has always been a deep and literary story. Do yourself a favor and watch the video below, pick up a copy of the graphic novel watchmen, then wait for the DVD deluxe release with the omitted 20 minutes and then you can understand why “Watchmen” may very well be the greatest superhero film ever made and simultaneously a perfect failure.
Tags: comics, movie review, watchmen