Watchmen, and Other Updates

It has been a little while since I’ve posted here. The main reason is that I’ve been spending my online time working on my secret site redesign. I’m extremely close to finishing and after the work I did this afternoon, I think I’m in pretty good shape to launch in the next couple of days.

This past weekend, I got to see Watchmen with Rachel and the guys from omgwtfbbq!1. I read the graphic novel (or comic book, if you prefer) a while back and like everybody else, I thought it was incredible. Naturally, I secretly hoped that the movie based on the greatest graphic novel of all time would also be the greatest superhero movie of all time, but realistically I was just hoping that they wouldn’t butcher the story.

It wasn’t the greatest superhero movie of all time, but they didn’t butcher the story at all. None of the people I saw the movie with had read the book, and they all enjoyed the experience (even Rachel!), so at least in my experience it was not necessary to have read the book in order to follow the movie.

As Kyle said afterward, they really made use of the “R” rating—there is definitely violence and nudity, but nothing that wasn’t already in the book. I think they did a pretty good job of casting, choosing lesser-known actors rather than having a big name overshadow the storytelling. Although, it was rather amusing to see Denny Duquette as the Comedian.

Overall, the movie tells the story, and it tells it faithfully. The biggest change in translating the book to film is that the “layers” have been stripped away. The kinds of minor details in the characters’ backstories and smaller characters like the psychiatrist and the newsstand vendor really added depth to the novel, and they helped to create the kind of atmosphere where the story could drive at deeper themes.

Unlike some, I thought Malin Ackerman did a decent job as the Silk Spectre II—I don’t think she was any more flaky and awkward than the original character. The changes made to the ending of the story were appropriate as well—while keeping the theme exactly the same, it eliminated the massive suspension of disbelief required to accept a giant exploding psionic alien squid.

Overall, I was extremely excited for this movie, and I wasn’t disappointed. As is often the case with movies based on books, it’s no substitute for the original. It is, however, a faithful retelling that captures the essence of Alan Moore’s acclaimed work, if not its depth.

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In other thoughts, I think an auger attached to a high-powered drill would be a rather effective implement for dispatching vampires.