No happy endings-Watchmen

[Big IV]

I admit I'm a bit of a fanboy for comics (big surprise?).  I loved the Watchmen movie. It looks on the big screen crisper but frame by frame as it did in the book. The changes that they've made to the costumes etc seem very driven by the original artist.

The writer, Moore, doesn't have his name on the project because he is opposed to comics being turned into movies. However, despite his objections, this is a good medium for this story.

In true Watchmen style this is a very graphic movie that does not have a happy ending. Lots of sex and violence, but it is integral to the story development. As one of the earliest anti-hero comics it was always intended to be darker and grittier than the other things around it.


Some of the movie looks panel by panel and word for word. I'm re-reading the TPB now. Wow.

Some of the movie has the essence of the comic with updated graphic pop and bang.  The artist for the original comic worked with developing the movie. It looks like they finally did what he couldn't do by hand years ago. Very visually beautiful.

Some of the movie, at its mildest, is no worse than other violent comic movies (Dark Knight, Punisher, etc.)
http://www.mtv.com/videos/movies/343653/exclusive-watchmen-clip-prison-break.jhtml
However, this is the movie at its mildest.  Immediately after this these two heroes return to their fancy aircraft to have some super sex.  The character that they are trying to break out of prison, an arrested hero, is killing prisoners bizarrely.  The movie did not pull the punches it is as graphic as the graphic novel in violence and sex. A friend of mine summed the movie up in, "Dr. Blue Guy could put on some pants at some point."  I think he missed some of the symbolism in the slow motion sex scenes and constant nudity of the characters. I wouldn't take my kids to see this one, but I'd go watch it again myself.

Just my 2 cents.

[hubcapsc]

man, when the original watchman comics were coming out, they were the biggest
thing going. It was before the web, so we talked about it (incessantly) on the Internet over
on USEnet. I can't easily get back to my two filing cabinets full of comics to get my 12 issues out,
so I haven't reread it before going to the movie... wish I could see it in iMax, but the
only iMax theater in South Carolina is in Myrtle Beach. There used to be an iMax theater
in Folly Beach, and I'll be at Charleston this weekend... shoot... oh well, there's a pretty
good "stadium seating" style theater just down the road at Anderson...

-Mike

[Big IV]

I saw Spidey 2 that way I think it was. The action moving fast made it feel blurry and disorienting. Luckily I had already seen it on the small movie screen so I knew what the blurs were.
Movies with a good surround sound seems better for me.
But you're right. Watchmen was the schniz when it came out. I think it has lost a lot of its impact to younger readers today because it has been copied and dilluted so many times. The impact has been lost in a sea of Dark Knights, Punishers, and Simon Dark, brooding violent anti-hero trend of late.  As I was watching the movie I thought of how many mainstream comics have picked up pieces of Watchmen from individual anti-hero characters, to dark brooding scenes, to the anti-mask trend in Marvel's Civil War. It wasnot all new to Alan Moore. Go back and read Jon Sable Freelance.  However Watchmen becomes a sign of the shifting currents in comics.
If you're a fan of Watchmen, I would recommend picking up Umbrella Academy.  I did not read it for a long time, but have gotten hooked on it. Quick witted literate story telling from an odd point of view set in a alternate historical reality that is the same and different at the same time. Umbrella Academy keeps reminding me of the anti-Fantastic Four or something. Varied characters. Odd fights. Very character Driven. Interesting art and story.
Umbrella Academy was one that I put off reading for a long time, but now have re-read several times. Easy to find either in single issues or trade paper.

Umbrella Academy, a taste:

[hubcapsc]

Actually... I still hang out on USEnet and talk about comics...

Today someone posted these links to a parody that merges
peanuts with sin city...

http://ninjaink.deviantart.com/art/Schulz-City-That-Yellow-S-1-115191442

http://ninjaink.deviantart.com/art/Schulz-City-That-Yellow-S-2-115191262