I was meant to see this film before it came out, once the filmmakers had booked the cinema I work in for an early screening, I was ready to sneak in and take a look, then the screening was cancelled, another time I was offered tickets for an early IMAX screening, but I was unable to get to the venue in time, I finally managed to see it at the first public screening at midnight in the BFI IMAX, before entering the cinema I scanned the foyer and thought how all these Watchmen geeks had a common look about them, as if their facial features had somehow been shaped by the event of the book, I thought there was no way I could possibly look like I belong here, at least not according to my self image, I put it down to me not being as big a fan of the book as they are, I first read Watchmen at the down times of the Sundance Film Festival in 2004, I only picked it up at a comic store due to Paul Greengrass being attached to direct, I did fall in love with the book and have re-read it once, but I haven't loved it as long as these people that fill for the foyer for the midnight screening, this must be why I feel that I didn't look like I belong, the main reason I came to the session was to share their joy, their excitement and generally 'dig' this crowd, so after appreciating the mounting anticipation, we took our seats for the film, the film starts strongly, indeed the images that fill the opening credits is the film's strongest point and the images which stay with me most are from this part of the film, the rest of the film is as faithful to the source material as anyone can hope to, the casting is spot on, with the actors chosen filling the skin of the characters pitch perfectly, this feels like we are watching Nite Owl, The Comedian, Dr. Manhattan and Rorschach, these are the same characters we found in the book, which is impressive, but perhaps in a weird way they are a little too faithful, and the actors weren't allowed to deviate to show something new that can't be expressed in the other medium, in the same way the film is so faithful the director Zack Snyder (who I detested for Dawn of the Dead but now have a slightly less harsh view on) doesn't show much creativeness in the film, outside of the opening credits that is, and he should have been, film is an entirely different medium to the comic book, he doesn't have to be that faithful, he can and should do things at least slightly different, some may point to the music but the choice of music in this film is its biggest falling, especially the choice of song during the sex scene, but to conclude, it was entertaining, the running length is barely noticable and I enjoyed myself, I am interested in to hear the views of someone who hasn't read the book, so if you've seen the film and didn't even know it was based on a graphic novel, please let me know what you think, in the meantime, as he requested, I won't even mention Alan Moore in connection to this film.
