Spring Break
The 'Watchmen' issue
Paresh Jha
Issue date: 3/24/09 Section: Focus
So "Watchmen" has been out for a little over two weeks now and Warner Bros. has to be more than disappointed. The box office sales have been less than stellar and with the added competition of "Knowing" and "I Love You, Man," the film does not really have a great outlook. Why has this happened? How can a film with so much hype and so much of a fan following not exceed expectations at the box office like "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man"?
"Watchmen" is a sensitive subject for all those involved. In some respects the adaptation may have been the best way to make the film. Then again, many individuals (myself included) believe that the story was never meant to be adapted.
Alan Moore, the senile and cynical creator of "Watchmen," has openly denounced any and all attempts studios have made to at adapting the comic to film over the past 20 years. In some ways, the graphic novel was meant to show certain things that the comic book medium could accomplish that no other medium could - films included.
Zack Snyder definitely crafted a film that was very true to the source material. Some might even say it was overdone. Some scenes were panel for panel, word for word, exactly like the book. That may sound like a good thing to some, but the long expository lines from the graphic novel do not sound as impactful or emotionally sound on film. The story has so many aspects to it that even the two-and-a-half-hour film was not really able to get it all in. There will no doubt be an extended DVD edition, but it still might remain hollow. The story was mostly just replicated, as opposed to interpreted.
While pieces of the film were great, the overall product ended up being a bit dry. Having read the comic book myself, I was able to get into the characters, but I fear that general audiences never really got the necessary impact.
The book was never intended to be finished in one sitting. Once readers finished a portion of the story, they were to take it all in and think about the characters. Toward the end of the story, the reader becomes so enthralled and fascinated with these characters that the payoff.
"Watchmen" is a sensitive subject for all those involved. In some respects the adaptation may have been the best way to make the film. Then again, many individuals (myself included) believe that the story was never meant to be adapted.
Alan Moore, the senile and cynical creator of "Watchmen," has openly denounced any and all attempts studios have made to at adapting the comic to film over the past 20 years. In some ways, the graphic novel was meant to show certain things that the comic book medium could accomplish that no other medium could - films included.
Zack Snyder definitely crafted a film that was very true to the source material. Some might even say it was overdone. Some scenes were panel for panel, word for word, exactly like the book. That may sound like a good thing to some, but the long expository lines from the graphic novel do not sound as impactful or emotionally sound on film. The story has so many aspects to it that even the two-and-a-half-hour film was not really able to get it all in. There will no doubt be an extended DVD edition, but it still might remain hollow. The story was mostly just replicated, as opposed to interpreted.
While pieces of the film were great, the overall product ended up being a bit dry. Having read the comic book myself, I was able to get into the characters, but I fear that general audiences never really got the necessary impact.
The book was never intended to be finished in one sitting. Once readers finished a portion of the story, they were to take it all in and think about the characters. Toward the end of the story, the reader becomes so enthralled and fascinated with these characters that the payoff.
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