Say it again.

The movie IS the novel.

One more time.

The movie IS the novel.

When you finally realize this you'll understand why it fails as a film on its own and why you pretty much NEED to read and be a fan of the novel to enjoy it fully. And even then (since I HAD read it before watching the movie), it still doesn't work for this very reason. It tries too hard to directly translate the material from the graphic novel to the screen, and thats where its fatal flaw is. You can't do a carbon copy of one medium to another, especially from a written work to a visual work because they're still ultimately two very different modes of storytelling, but that's what Snyder attempted to do. The best book-to-movie adaptations are those that are able to gracefully translate the atmosphere and dialogue from the original work into that which fits the movie model better, and Watchmen failed to do this.

Say it again.

The movie IS the novel.

One more time.

The movie IS the novel.

When you finally realize this you'll understand why it fails as a film on its own and why you pretty much NEED to read and be a fan of the novel to enjoy it fully. And even then (since I HAD read it before watching the movie), it still doesn't work for this very reason. It tries too hard to directly translate the material from the graphic novel to the screen, and thats where its fatal flaw is. You can't do a carbon copy of one medium to another, especially from a written work to a visual work because they're still ultimately two very different modes of storytelling, but that's what Snyder attempted to do. The best book-to-movie adaptations are those that are able to gracefully translate the atmosphere and dialogue from the original work into that which fits the movie model better, and Watchmen failed to do this.

But that was the point, wasn’t it? They said “you cannot make a movie of Watchmen”.

And in my opinion, this movie just proves that fact.

I know movies and novels tend to differ. Sometimes the movie is better, sometimes the novel. That is OK.
In this case, the novel is way better, and actually tells a whole different story.
This movie is like taking a Batman comic and make some small changes before turning it into a movie: Keep the name Bruce Wayne, make him an astronaut out looking for the aliens that abducted his wife and kids into space, add some simple time travel and call it “Batman VI”

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Say it again.

The movie is not the novel.

One more time.

The movie is not the novel.

When you finally realize this, and judge it on it’s own, then talk to me.

And the novel is still better.
The graphic novel tells a story about normal people who put on capes and spandex, and go out to fight the bad guys.
It tells the story of their problems beeing “super”, and about the problems in their personal lifes in an alternate 1980′s.

The movie is just another “batman-movie”. “Look at all the great gadgets I have”. “Look at my super powers”.

In the movie, Rorschach seems to be a superhero with cool gadgets. He gets pulled up the outside of a building using his “whateverhook”. In the comic you can see him climbing the outside of the building like just anoter mortal man.
In the movie he jumps higher than anyone I have ever seen, and fights off a dozen or more cops before beeing overpowered. In the comic, he falls flat on his face and is arrested.

Prison sceene: In the movie, they fight everybody. In the comic, they fight two guards.

Nite Owl: In the comic he climbs down the ladder from his ship. In the movie, he jumps, and his costume breaks the fall.

The comic was violent. And graphic.
The movie is violent. And graphic. But it seems to be telling a story about superheroes.
The comic told a story about people pretending to be superheroes. The comic told the story of what the world would look like if somebody actually pulled on masks and spandex and said “Hey, I’ll start beating up the bad guys”.

I would actually go as far as to say “the director didn’t understand the comic”.

The movie is great, if you want to watch a movie about superheroes. But if you want to watch a movie about Watchmen, stay away. The movie about Watchmen is yet to be made.

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