posted on Mar, 7 2009 @ 10:03 AM
I'm genuinely surprised there's not a post-release thread about this film yet.
I read the Watchmen when it first came out and, like a lot of other people my age, I've waited a long time to see this work realised as a film. I was
expecting to come out either severely disappointed or maybe even in tears but I honestly thought it was fantastic. There's compromise, compression
and a very significant change, but it still stands as a great film in my opinion. It will never be the book, but I don't understand why people are
expecting 'the book' here: it's a film adaptation and a good one.
I had severe reservations about some of the casting initially but I thought all the characterisations were great. I thought Goode's Veidt/Ozymandias
would be too slight and perhaps even fey but I thought he pulled it off and the almost oily presence he gave off made a convincing 'villain'. I was
hoping for a paunchier Dreiberg/Nite Owl but I thought overall he did come off as insecure and reliant on his alter-ego. I wasn't sure how well
they'd pull of Manhattan but, aside from the eye make-up it was as good as it could be.
Whilst I didn't have quite the same reservations about the rest of the cast, they were all better than I expected too.
It was a lot more violent than I was expecting and the violence did seem more fetishised than in the book but I suppose that's the nature of modern
'action/superhero' films.
I won't spoil the ending but, I think it honestly works better for a non-comic reading, average film goer than the comic's original ending. Not
quite the same conspiracy, but still a conspiracy none-the-less.