Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Watchmen Watch




The Watchmen Watch


“Watchmen arrives in theaters Friday, riding a wave of pop anticipation as fierce in its own way as the return of Star Wars,” writes Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun. On the contrary some movie goers are a little hesitant about its release. Some would rather the graphic novel remain a graphic novel rather than become a movie. There has been a long history of movies being produced based off of superhero comic books. Some of which did not live up to the comic books’ standards. Does anyone remember The Incredible Hulk? The Spirit? The Punisher?

True comic book fans fear that this movie would stray away from its basics, what made it phenomena that it is.

"We don't need no steeeenking Watchmen movie!" Graphic novel artist Steven Parke cautions that this blanket disdain may sum up the cult reaction. "I'd like to hope Watchmen the movie will become the touchstone that the novel became," says Parke, who is based in Baltimore, "just because it is a cool story. Unfortunately, the crowd that might think that way is already sold on the book."

“Now, director Zack Snyder has gotten it to the screen in an adaptation that's reportedly as faithful to Moore's work as Snyder's smash adaptation of 300 was to Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name. But after a series of superhero movies that have run the gamut from the adolescent romanticism of Spider-Man to the doomsday visions of The Dark Knight, can Watchmen hope to achieve the impact on celluloid that it did on slick paper? And will general audiences feel that when it comes to wised-up, broken-down superheroes, they've simply had enough?” Sragow writes.

Maybe the audience won’t know until they go to the movie theater on March 6th and see for themselves.


** I really liked Sragow's article. He gave some incite into the movie, the characters, and what the audience might expect when they go see it. He interviewed two comic book store owners who know a lot about the movie and the pitfalls the movie could have. The opinions in the article were a little negative. I wished that he quoted someone who was in favor of the movie, or quoted from someone who didn't really know about the movie other than what they seen in previews. Other than that I liked the article.

4 comments:

Melissa Hale said...

I agree, the article is out of balance, he needs to get opinions from those who are optimistic about the film. I can't wait to see it myself this Friday in IMAX! Yay!

Ambular2G said...

I also agree the article isn't very optimistic. What would you add to the piece?

Amber said...

I really liked the quote from Steven Parke, it was kind of funny. And I also agree that his story was one-sided. He should have got quotes from people who liked it

jenny atwater said...

Have you seen the movie? Can you add your own review once you do see it?