Who Watches the Watchmen? Not Me, Baby.
Yeah, I've been AWOL, and I apologize. This summer has been the scheduling equivalent of hell for me. 'Nuff said.
So, when Hublet and I went to see The Dark Knight, we were treated to a preview of the upcoming film Watchmen. Which, okay, I knew it was based on a graphic novel that I hadn't read, and the preview looked interesting. So a friend of ours lent us his copy of the book and I read it.
Note to readers - I'm not going to insert actual plot spoilers, so if you've never read the book you may be confused by the rest of this post. Sorry about that. If you're not currently undergoing treatment for depression, you might want to read the graphic novel yourself. Otherwise, come back tomorrow.
Dear God. That is the bleakest graphic novel I've ever read, and I've read quite a few. I mean, it was kind of interesting coming to it twenty-odd years later, and looking back at all the 80's "NUCLEAR WAR IS IMMINENT!" hysteria, but I'm wondering who exactly the filmmakers want the audience to be?
I know the fanboys will go, but the budget looks to be somewhat excessive, and fanboys alone won't be able to recoup the costs. And based on the trailer, I don't know how many folks will go expecting to see a big budget "dark" costumed caper and end up going, "WTF? That's IT? I hate you people!" Because there's "dark," and then there's Watchmen.
Of course, I could just be projecting, because that was totally my reaction to the book...And it's not because I want everything to end up all hearts and rainbows, either, but a little bit of freaking ACCOUNTABILITY on the parts of the main characters beyond 5 panels of hand-wringing, some blonde hair dye and a trip to Venus would have been nice. I'm just saying. Yes, I am bitter about Rorschach. Deal with it.
If they're hoping to play into the mainstream American audience's recent taste for darker fare, they may have overshot it. The ending of Watchmen makes The Dark Knight look like a romantic comedy caper about a billionaire playboy and his wacky college pals Joker and Two-Face.
So now I'm left wondering - are they going to stay true to the original? If they do, I'll be curious to see more of the marketing campaign.
It's even bleaker because the putative goal that's achieved at so much cost won't, realistically, last more than a couple of years. And there's the R.'s journal.
P.S. It was Mars, not Venus.
AOG -
Exactly. Dark, dark, dark. And yet the fanboy contingent (judging from Comic Con attendees) is huge.
But I wonder if the appeal will cross over.
I thought at the end he left for galaxies unknown? Venus was a convenient stand-in b/c I couldn't remember the name of the places offhand...
I think Alan Moore's work is generally cynical and depressing. Other graphic novels of his that have been made into movies include V for Vendetta and From Hell. Moore claims to dislike the fact that his stories have been made into movies.
Anyway, from what I've read, they plan to stick pretty close to the graphic novel, so yeah, I'm sure it'll be dark and depressing with the downbeat ending. Movie critics seem to love that kind of thing, so I assume it'll get great reviews. Certainly the fanboy element will go. Since it'll have an R rating, I assume the clueless parents who took small children to the Dark Knight won't show up. (I was shocked at how many parents with 6 or 8 year olds were at the film--but since there were cutesy little Joker figurines in my Cheerios box, maybe I shouldn't be).
Anyway, it'll be interesting to see what happens...
You can count me as a fan boy (I first read it 15? 20? years ago, except now I can't find my copy! I think my Evil Brother has it) but I don't know if I'll see the movie. I didn't take it too seriously as Alan Moore is a bit of a whack job, as you can see if you read his preface to "V for Vendetta" bemoaning Thatcher's fascism.
That kind of darkness isn't uncommon in graphic novels, so I suppose I'm used to it. I mean, I read "Ring of the Nibelung" in graphic novel form and it's not overly upbeat (life sucks, you marry your sister, then everybody dies). Or "Grendel: Devil's Legacy". It works, IMHO, in that form, because the writer can explore the implications more deeply, with more subtlety, so it's interesting. A movie has to paint in broad strokes so the essential nuance is lost, which is why I suspect Watchmen isn't going to transition to the big screen very well.