I Watched Watchmen

Not only did I watch it, but I also titled this blog a derivative of the now ubiquitous “Who Will Watch ‘Watchmen?’” phrase that’s literally everywhere. I’d like to give a detailed review, but I had spent the entire day celebrating my 25th birthday, so you can probably guess the state in which I watched the movie.

While not completely detailed, I can give a fairly general review. I only read the book (yes, I’m calling it a book. You know why? Because it IS a book. It doesn’t matter that it happens to be a graphic novel, it’s still a book!!!) recently, but I was as impressed with it as anyone else. The only difference is that I haven’t had all the years to stew in its greatness the way most other fans have, nor have I had the time to put in multiple readings.

All of that is to say that I didn’t catch all of the details that director Zack Snyder put in or kept out—but I do know there were a lot in both categories because I’ve read all the good and bad reviews. But my feeling toward the movie are mixed, and it’s not just because of the state in which I saw it.

The book is so incredibly dense that it just couldn’t possibly make a good movie. So, for all of the details left in, I think enough was left out to make a good go at it. But does anyone remember the 4th Harry Potter movie? How they tried to include so much that everything moved way too fast and became inherently anti-climactic? That’s what happens when you try to put too much in. But the 5th Harry Potter movie—which was the longest book—was one of the shortest movies, and was a whole new and wonderful experience. I guess Snyder was in a no-win situation here, because if he had changed it too much, his only target audience would have revolted against him, but as is, it was just a bit too much (at least in my opinion).

Does that mean my bottom line is that the movie should not have been made? I’ll have to watch it again before I can say that. Either way, I can definitely recommend it to anyone…the it being the book of course.