So... Watchmen

Usually it takes ages for a film to come out in England. Far too long. Marley & Me, a film that Alyssa and I ridiculed non-stop through December, is just being released here. Bolt, which she saw before I even arrived in Hawai'i, has just been released. With this in mind, and knowing I saw it last night, one might think that in America Watchmen was a contemporary film.

But in reality, it was released both sides of the Atlantic at roughly the same time, so while reviewing it now isn't exactly bleeding edge, I'm only behind most by a week or so.

And we got Taken, like, last year man, so there.

So I don't know if you heard: they made a film based on Watchmen. I say based on, because a direct adaptation (while desirable) would be impossible. There is just too much of the original source material. But we all knew that.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer put it best: "an enjoyably esoteric Cliff's Notes version of the book", which I couldn't agree with more. It is just about accessible if you haven't read the book, but if you're a fan, it's very much love/hate. Well, like/hate, but in my case, I loved it.

I read it in December, which I feel was the perfect time. Here's why.

I sat there, in the IMAX Cinema in Wimbledon, smiling broadly at this realisation, a visual extravaganza that brings the illustrations off the page the way I had imagined them all holiday. Nothing was overdone, and the cheesy moments weren't too distracting. It was a balanced complement to the book, and every visual brought back memories of the book (which I had just started to forget), and overwhelmed my senses with the wonderful portrayal of the only comic book characters I have actually loved because of the comic.

I marvelled at seeing the characters whom I knew and loved from the book actually doing what I wanted to see them doing: fighting crime and being emo about it, like real people. The Dark Knight was one of my favourite films of last year, but while it had moral complexity and emotional battles, the sheer depth and complexity of Watchmen overshadows it.

It didn't keep everything I liked, but despite what Nic thought, it by no means ruined it. And despite the complex story being crammed into a mere two and a half hours, even those who hadn't read it, such as my sister, loved watching it. Others couldn't follow it, which I can understand. But a hardcore fan of a book can never really love the film as much, which is true of both me and Nic and Cattrina. But the degree to which our feelings differed was quite enormous.

During the Nite-Owl-and-Rorschach-in-the-bar-investigation scene, the projector (allegedly two projectors) managed to be so bright that I had to adjust my eyes to see the shadows, where the characters were. I don't know what it was shot on, but the range was incredible. That scene felt real, and whether that came across on non-IMAX screenings, I hope that directors in the future can make me feel that absorbed with just applied contrast ratios.

All in all, I don't want to gush, but I want to be clear that the movie is definitely worth seeing. Ignore the fanboys who rage with hatred, I can say that it is not a let down at all. In fact, it's like no superhero movie ever made. It makes even the Dark Knight look shallow by comparison, which is a tremendous feat.

And I have spoken to enough people who read it and enjoyed the film to say that I'm not being blinded by my own unrealistic expectations.

Also, see Taken. It's pretty good.