WATCHMEN: The Movie Will Be Awesome

I'm routinely bad about keeping up with things, so maybe everybody has already seen this, but just the other day I just found this interview with Dave Gibbons talking about the Watchmen movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbnLAVV856E

(I also haven't yet figured out how to display YouTube videos in a blog. If anybody knows, please tell me.)

Seeing that has actually assuaged a lot of my doubts about the upcoming movie. I was a little nervous about the choice of Zack Snyder because frankly I found the 300 movie a little dull and was also getting paranoid that the unique neon and rain-soaked vision of New York presented in the comic would be replicated using green screens and gaudy digital visuals.

Instead, they seem to be using live sets for what looks like nearly all of the scenes taking place in New York. On top of that, the sets look UNBELIEVABLE and really recapture that meticulous eye for detail that the comic had.

I have to admit - this sounds like comic book heresy, but I'm really quite excited for this movie and have only been getting more so the more I hear about it. To all the naysayers out there who keep repeating like a mantra "It's not going to be as good as the comic!", I have this question for you:

What the fuck is? Honestly?

If I were to only watch or own works of art that were up to the quality that Watchmenis, then I would probably own about 6 comics, a handful of movies, and maybe a small stack of novels. This is a harsh criterion that really shouldn't be leveled on ANYTHING.

So I pose this question to all of you: Instead of constantly belaboring about how the movie will never be able to replicate certain aspects of the comic, how about thinking about a thing or two that the movie will be able to do betterthan the comic?

I, for one, can already name a couple:

1. Judging from the footage in the trailer and what I've heard about the movie, Zack Snyder seems to be remaking a lot of the scenes panel for panel, completely retaining the artistic vision. It's going to be really amazing to see all of these classic scenes in motion with vivid detail. The scene in the trailer with Dr. Manhattan trouncing through Vietnam and vaporizing Vietcong soldiers gave me the chills. The way he does it so dispassionately... he doesn't even change his completely neutral facial expression. Scares me just thinking about it right now.

2. Music and sound. I'm obviously a huge proponent of comic books as an art form - the fact that I made my own comic book blog and post on it frequently while I have no blogs for movies or books or whatever really shows my dedication. In my snottier moments, I will go as far as to argue superiority of the form over film, television, books, whatever.

So I hate to say this, but if there's one thing that comic books are sorely lacking, it's music and sound. Star Wars wouldn't have worked as a comic - it's combination of enormous visuals and a big orchestrated soundtrack made an amazing operatic production. A great, evocative soundtrack in a movie will often make a movie very emotionally engaging, make you just tingle all over - a sensation that I rarely get from a comic book.

So while Watchmen: The Movie may not cause as many intellectual discussions or be as cerebral, it may, just may, completely destroy Watchmen: The Comic in the raising-the-hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck factor.

3. See below:


I don't know about you guys, but expect to see me line for the midnight showing on opening night. Of course it won't be as good as the comic, but chances are it will be more than worth the 10 dollar ticket price and 2 hours of my time.