A lot has been said about Watchmen already. Some people despise it, some love it … and a lot of people didn’t even see it. I took in a Saturday afternoon matinee with my pops in a theater that was about 2/3 full. This was the first of my “geek” movies where I didn’t make it to a midnight showing on the day of release.
As an adaptation, I think Zack Snyder did a hell of a job creating the world in which the Watchmen exist. He was faithful to the the source material, with many scenes seemingly ripped from the pages. There were things I absolutely loved about it while others left me lukewarm.
First, Jackie Earle Haley’s Rorschach was a brutally awesome. When he threw that boiling oil on the inmate screaming “I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked up with me” … ball droppingly awesome. My dad, who is usually pretty reserved whooped and totally got into the character. I liked how Snyder was able to weave the many flashbacks into the main narrative (even though some things got cut).
Despite it’s $55 million opening, it seems that everyone (including the studios) is apologizing or justifying it’s lackluster numbers. WB went as so far as to claim that the running time is what affected the performance:
A substantial roadblock was “Watchmen’s” running time of 2:40. At that length, theaters couldn’t play as many runs of the pic as they did “300,” which ran under two hours
With a reported $150 million budget, and Fox reaching into WB’s pockets thanks to that timely lawsuit everyone is walking away with a lot less money. I’m having flashbacks to Grindhouse, where the buzz was off the charts … only to result in NOBODY actually seeing it during its theatrical run. WB took a big risk banking on a rated R comic book movie; and its looking like some studios might not take that chance again.
If you’re a purist and feel that Zack Snyder has somehow shat on your sensibilities, get over yourself. There is no way that any director could transfer 100% of the book to the screen. What ended up on screen was undeniably Watchmen, and it was good. That’s just my take on the situation, there are far better outlets to get any actual critique … this is just a blog where I talk about comic books and boobs.
My favorite part of old comics are the advertisements and the letters from the editor. In this particular issue, in the “With Johnny DC”, there is a blurb about the new Batman movie and how it’ll be a hit. And according to Johnny DC … Watchmen was due up next.
I’ve been riding high on Watchmen since I finally got around to reading it this past May. The movie adaptation has been in development hell for years, only to finally catch on again with 300 director Zack Snyder. Names have been attached to this project ranging from John Cusack & Keanu Reeves to Kate Winslet & Jude Law.
The Nite Owl (Dan Dreiberg) was very similar to Batman (Bruce Wayne) in that he was used his intellect and gadgets to fight crime. During the Watchmen, Dreiberg was a 40 year old former ‘mask’ who reluctantly reenters the crime fighting ring. Back in 2003 Watchmen was development over at Revolution, John Cusack was attached to that role. He did an interview over at MTV Movie Blog and his attention certainly peaked when the interviewer mentioned the role. Go 
As soon as I cracked the cover, I was enthralled and unable to put the book down. Even though it was originally published between 1986-87 it still maintains its cultural & genre significance. It literally changed the rules for comics where it was okay to have a social and political commentary without it being slapstick. Hands down the best I have ever read. 