The graphic novel has now been turned into a film, a film that looks so good, that it could be the
Godfather of all superhero films. Every comic-geek's wet dream is comprised of visuals of Silk Spectre II, daughter of Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre. To be completely honest with you, when I saw the trailer I got goose bumps, I saw in the movie what the film was all about: last ditch efforts to save what you believe in.
I remember reading Wanted by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones and thinking to myself (this is about the time they announced the film was being written/released) that this flick could kick some serious ass. I mean, a born loser becomes the greatest assassin alive. It was the embodiment of the loser book, you rooted for Wesley even though he was killing people. The graphic novel (that's how I read it) is so good, you read it through without putting it down. The film on the other hand starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and Common is nothing like the graphic novel and it's depressingly bad. The director is actually a good one too, a Russian guy named Timur Bekmambetov who directed a couple of great flicks called Night Watch and Day Watch. I couldn't understand what happened to this flick, the generality of it was deafening, it was just an action movie, there was nothing special about it. The graphic novel got left at the door and the writers just kind of threw a gigantic piece of cinematic regurgitation onto paper.
I can't imagine this is what's happened to Watchmen though and that's because I trust Zach Snyder with my life. Snyder career in film making started with his Dawn of the Dead remake, which honestly wasn't really that bad. It had it's moments, but it was a zombie movie after all. Now, I don't know who he sold his soul to, to helm Frank Miller's gory Spartan epic 300, but I'm glad he's soulless now. I loved 300, because once again, I had read the graphic novel (it's rather large) and knew the material. Snyder apparently did too, because he hit the nail on the head and delivered one of my favorite movies of 2006. With a backdrop of an eerie song "The End is the Beginning is the End" by The Smashing Pumpkins, the trailer flows with an energy that leaves you wanting to see this movie today, right now, this second. My brother and I went to see The Dark Knight and I marked out when the trailer came on in full movie theater quality. I got goosebumps again and watched as the characters that Alan Moore created were brought to life by Patrick Wilson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Malin Ackerman among others.
Then I heard that FOX is suing to keep Watchmen from the fans, because they bought the rights to the book back in the '80's. Now Warner Bros. who owns DC, picked up the rights (they own the majority of them FOX only owns a bit) and they've gotten the movie made. Now they're going to court over the entity that is Watchmen and FOX is trying to keep the movie from hitting the screen in March of '09. I don't know if I can live without seeing a movie that's finished...the apparent Godfather of superhero movies...on the big screen. It'll sadden me quite a bit.
