Wonderful Watchmen (Spoiler Free)
I still have on a yellow wristband with the word WATCHMEN written in large black block letters along it. The wristband was waiting for me at the end of a long line at WonderCon, where I had to draw a ticket out of a bag. The ticket had a smiling face stamped on one side. I also smiled, in dazed giddy shock, because the ticket meant I got the wristband which meant that over four hours later I'd be sitting in the Metreon IMAX with several hundred other people waiting for a screening of Watchmen. Before the screening, Dave Gibbons came out to introduce the movie for us. He's the man who illustrated the Watchmen.
I first read the Watchmen from cover to cover about 10 years ago, loaned to me by my good friend hmrpita. I devoured it, twice. It's rough. It's uncompromising. It's angry. It's true. I think it took me quite a while to get it back to her.
Since then, it's been with me. It resonated with me. So several months ago, I'd heard the movie was going to be released soon. I decided to get the graphic novel because I wanted to read it again, to have it fresh in my mind when I saw it in the theater. And I read it, and again after that. I read articles about it. I've learned things about the text that I'd never known the first times I'd read it. You may already know this, but the Chapter called "Fearful Symmetry" is actually symmetric. The artwork on the first and last pages are parallel. The second page and next to last page as well, all the way to the center of the chapter, where the open pages are symmetrical. It's a brilliant work on many levels, even ignoring the social commentary.
As an integrated whole, it is obviously something that is impossible to bring to the large screen. Fearful Symmetry is impossible. Of course, Tom Bombadil got cut out of Lord of the Rings.
I don't want to give spoilers here, so I'm going to avoid a detailed analysis of where the movie deviated and where it didn't. There was discussion regarding one of the trailers in one of k_sui's recent posts. The scene in the trailer deviates from the book, and there was a good discussion about what is lost in that scene. I will say that I think it ended up working in context.
There were also concerns about wooden interaction, which I totally agreed with upon seeing that scene. But I don't know. Something about the integrated whole just WORKED for me. Also, the Director is well known for using slow motion in action scenes, and that was mentioned by one of the people in line with me today. There was a lot of that in the movie, but again, I thought it worked.
And that's what did it for me. The parts that are faithful are SO faithful, that when something is slightly different, it's not that jarring. Some minor subplots are left out, and some events that occur over days are compressed into a single day or even a single interaction. But it works in context.
If you've read the book, there is one HUGE change. You may or may not have heard what it is. I hadn't. And God help me, IT WORKS. To be honest, I think it works better than the original. You'll know what I mean next week!
That is assuming you go and see it. I really don't think it will disappoint anyone who is a fan of the graphic novel. But it's not a happy movie. And that's BECAUSE it is very true to the source material. It is violent and bleak and disturbing and yet beautiful and hopeful and miraculous. Like life.
Fuck.
done. no more words. it's quarter after 4.
ps. For the Ladies: Full Frontal Bluedity!
I first read the Watchmen from cover to cover about 10 years ago, loaned to me by my good friend hmrpita. I devoured it, twice. It's rough. It's uncompromising. It's angry. It's true. I think it took me quite a while to get it back to her.
Since then, it's been with me. It resonated with me. So several months ago, I'd heard the movie was going to be released soon. I decided to get the graphic novel because I wanted to read it again, to have it fresh in my mind when I saw it in the theater. And I read it, and again after that. I read articles about it. I've learned things about the text that I'd never known the first times I'd read it. You may already know this, but the Chapter called "Fearful Symmetry" is actually symmetric. The artwork on the first and last pages are parallel. The second page and next to last page as well, all the way to the center of the chapter, where the open pages are symmetrical. It's a brilliant work on many levels, even ignoring the social commentary.
As an integrated whole, it is obviously something that is impossible to bring to the large screen. Fearful Symmetry is impossible. Of course, Tom Bombadil got cut out of Lord of the Rings.
I don't want to give spoilers here, so I'm going to avoid a detailed analysis of where the movie deviated and where it didn't. There was discussion regarding one of the trailers in one of k_sui's recent posts. The scene in the trailer deviates from the book, and there was a good discussion about what is lost in that scene. I will say that I think it ended up working in context.
There were also concerns about wooden interaction, which I totally agreed with upon seeing that scene. But I don't know. Something about the integrated whole just WORKED for me. Also, the Director is well known for using slow motion in action scenes, and that was mentioned by one of the people in line with me today. There was a lot of that in the movie, but again, I thought it worked.
And that's what did it for me. The parts that are faithful are SO faithful, that when something is slightly different, it's not that jarring. Some minor subplots are left out, and some events that occur over days are compressed into a single day or even a single interaction. But it works in context.
If you've read the book, there is one HUGE change. You may or may not have heard what it is. I hadn't. And God help me, IT WORKS. To be honest, I think it works better than the original. You'll know what I mean next week!
That is assuming you go and see it. I really don't think it will disappoint anyone who is a fan of the graphic novel. But it's not a happy movie. And that's BECAUSE it is very true to the source material. It is violent and bleak and disturbing and yet beautiful and hopeful and miraculous. Like life.
Fuck.
done. no more words. it's quarter after 4.
ps. For the Ladies: Full Frontal Bluedity!