Thurgood Marshall graduation 2012
Badin vs. Versailles
Law Enforcement Memorial Day
Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2009 > March > 02 > Entry
What do you expect from ‘Watchmen’ - fan or not?
I’m ready to see Watchmen tonight, even though I haven’t read a page of the novel that inspired it.
And you know what? That’s just the way I like it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got absolutely nothing against novels - graphic or otherwise. In fact, I have a feeling I’ll be reading more novels in the future, even though I usually read non-fiction books. However, when any kind of publication is being made into a movie, I prefer to avoid reading the source material first.
Why? Because even though I have the utmost respect for literature, I will always be a movie man first and foremost. For that reason, among others, I prefer to judge films on their own terms. Playing “compare and contrast” all throughout a movie bothers me. I’d really rather not sit there thinking to myself, “That’s not the way I pictured that scene,” or “The dialogue reads so much better the other way.” I prefer to keep my film experience as pure as I can.
That approach may not serve me so well with Watchmen. Early reviews, like this one from writer Anne Thompson, indicate that the less familiar you are with the novel, the less you will enjoy the movie. She writes that Watchmen “will play like gangbusters for fans of the legendary Alan Moore graphic novel, but will likely leave everyone else on the outside looking in.”
On top of all that, Moore has made it rather - ahem- clear that he hates Hollywood adaptations of his stories. He colorfully told an LA Tmes blogger: “I find film in its modern form to be quite bullying … It spoon-feeds us, which has the effect of watering down our collective cultural imagination. It is as if we are freshly hatched birds looking up with our mouths open waiting for Hollywood to feed us more regurgitated worms. The ‘Watchmen’ film sounds like more regurgitated worms. I for one am sick of worms. Can’t we get something else? Perhaps some takeout? Even Chinese worms would be a nice change.”
Well, I’ll tell you later this week just how “wormy” Watchmen is, but until then, I’d still prefer not to have my expectations tainted. So that leaves me wondering:
If you are have read Watchmen, what do you expect from the movie? Try to keep any comments spoiler-free please.
And even if you haven’t read Watchmen, what do you hope for from Zack Snyder’s movie? For that matter, when you hear a book is going to be adapted into a movie, what do you do? If you’ve read the book, do you want the movie altering the images in your mind’s eye? If you haven’t read the book, do you want to before seeing the movie? And why or why not?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Coming Attractions
Comments
By Tim McKenny
March 2, 2009 9:29 PM | Link to this
“Will those unfamiliar with the source material appreciate Watchmen?” This, Sir Critic, is the $100m question that Warner will be asking on Friday. Speaking as a fan of the original Graphic Novel, this is a question I cannot answer. It’s almost certain that, as a fan, I will enjoy the film… but I too am curious to see how it plays to soccer moms in Des Moines. I wouldn’t read too much into Moore’s comments. He has, by his own admission, refused to have anything to do with the film (including taking the studio’s money, refreshingly), but I think that has more to do with his unhappiness at other movie adaptations of his material (notably his elegant and very Victorian “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” which was reduced to “LXG” by Hollywood).By Allie D.
March 2, 2009 12:05 PM | Link to this
I have read most of Watchmen, but not all. It’s a great book, though I don’t think it made a “fangirl” out of me mostly because I don’t get too emotionally attached to this particular genre, and the story was a little dated, and therefore it kept me at a distance somewhat. That being said, I have gone to pains recently to avoid reading books before seeing movies. I think for the opposite reason you do, though. Though I LOVE the medium of film, I guess I’d have to say as a writer of fiction that I’d prefer to bring my library with me to a desert island than the home theater. While I think some film adaptations of books are brilliant (Shawshank Redemption comes immediately to mind, as does No Country for Old Men or Lord of the Rings), most of the time the minutiae of a written story gets lost in translation to the film media. I understand this and I respect the various constraints often put on filmmakers in the quest to produce a fair adaptation. Still, I cannot stop my mind from drawing comparisons. It’s automatic. It happened with the latest Harry Potter film. Though I think that film was subpar in comparison to the rest of the series, I do feel I would have been kinder to it had I not just read the book before seeing it. Nowadays, I let an adapted movie draw me to the source material. Children of Men and The Constant Gardner are examples. It allows me to appreciate both forms of art without feeling “cheated” in some way. In the case of Watchmen, where it’s a half and half thing for me, I really don’t think I’ll be swayed either way by the differences between book and film. I’m merely concerned with Zack Snyder’s overuse of slow-motion and slick production values. Watchmen was a story written as a criticism of society’s fascination with hero worship. Its costumed avengers were not meant to be sleek-fashioned prima donnas. They realized the absurdity of it all, of grown people running around in costumes beating people up. The story was a bit of a tragedy that way. It would be a sad thing indeed if Snyder managed to turn this into a typical “superhero” movie.By Kim S.
March 2, 2009 11:49 AM | Link to this
Usually I agree with the idea of not reading source material before seeing the film. But the problem is that, as a voracious reader, I don’t KNOW what’s being made into a film at the time I’m reading the novel. As far as Watchmen goes, I’m expecting a good romp. I haven’t seen 300, so I’m not used to the directorial style, but I did read Watchmen and thought it was amazing. I don’t expect it to transfer well, and I don’t think I’ll be disappointed. But I will see it in IMAX!