5 things to prepare before your screening of THE WATCHMEN

The watchmen is a story that revolves around the superhero stereotype, and breaks it. So don’t expect either man in robots or angry green men.

Generations of superheroes
Like in Marvel or DC’s main universe of heroes, you have a roster of superhero groups like the Avengers or the Justice League. And sometimes, the group is disbanded or members come and go. Similarly in Watchmen, you will get to see the predecessors, the minutemen. and you can see the interaction and the role that they play in making the watchmen. Like for example, the original silk spectre made her daughter become silk spectre II. And the original nite owl was an inspiration for a younger guy with more money to become nite owl II. Having said that, I just about covered the first confusing part to the mainstream audience whom would say things like: Man Bat, Bat Man, same same la!


Split up in parts
In comic narration, flashbacks are an essential part in character development. And with Einstein discovering that time is relative, the movie really jumbles up time sequence. And as I discovered with haters, this was a strong part which led to them being confused. The movie goes back and forth to the past and present (actually its past as the movie is in an alternate reality set in 1980s) and it doesn’t make things any better when you have a nude blue guy being able to keep seeing into the future and past at the same time. So just bear this in mind before catching the film.


Its not an action film
Its not a typical BAM! WHAM! comic book movie. Its not directed by Michael Bay for gawdsakes. its stands outside the superhero world in other to comment about it. And it talks a lot about the society and how America would be like with the inclusion of costumed heroes and later on, superheroes. There’s a little bit of political setting with the government being edgy with the doomsday clock.


Its set in 1980s
So expect big hairdos and pants pulled up to the waistline to be cool! The flashback sequence will take you to the 70s and 60s. So expect to see alotta of familiar faces from pop culture! The director gives us lots of treats in the form of look-alikes.


Its superheroes with no powers
This was what kinda pissed me off the first time I read the novel. And I guess it might piss you off too. Rorschach is as cool as anything with his ever-changing blob mask. However, he didn’t shoot laser beams outta his eyes or anything. Everyone was batman. Everyone had a cool arsenal and a gimmick. But this set a realism tone that was irritating at times but yet, was set to make a point. When finally, you get a blue guy that could do shiet that was god-like. You immediately fear and respect him and don’t take those superpowers for granted. And thus, brought the age of the superhero.


and if you didnt already know, theres 12 webisode, 1 for each of the 12 months leading up to the release of the movie. and they can be found on this UK site, WATCHMEN MOVIE .
the webpisodes tells u 12 different production aspects such as, rorschach's masks, etc.
this just helps u to appreciate the movie more without spoiling it.

go to menu, video, and scroll to find webpisodes. TADA!

and of cos, go ahead and pick up a copy of the book to help complete you watchmen experience. nice nice, must try twice!

-on another note, i m gonna catch it again. stewpeed grand cathay showing dragonball evolution only! BAH! hope they lose money!

comic review: Reading the Watchmen

The Watchmen and me first made contact in 06. Its written by alan moore, some guy famous me thinks, think it shouldn’t suck that bad. And so I read it and it wasn’t mind blowing, it was mind BLASTING! On an epic scale, it was side by side with the “Dark Knight Returns” and that’s saying something from a batman fanboy. Saw the yellow smiley spine again in 08 where I merely flipped through it and realized again how awesome it was on a mature content level. And coming back to the present, I tried to avoid re-reading the book before the movie so i could have a fresh perspective. And since, I m done with the movie, I have once more completed reading the Watchmen for the second time. Of which, I must say, I enjoyed the book the most this time round.

The Graphic Novel


From the team of alan moore and dave gibbons, we are treated to a visual splendor of epic proportions! From alan moore, I have read the awesome and in my opinion, sandman comparable, swamp thing saga! Also, his more famous DC works like, the killing joke and across the DC universe. And from Dave gibbons, I have to admit to missing his 2000ad works only reading his originals graphic novel, which was alrigggghhttt I suppose.

Alan moore’s writing was really in the game. the black freighter, aka, the comic in the comic, was at times distracting and misleading with its narration being thrown with regular dialogue. However. Alan moore handled the dialogue exceptionally well and I simply loved how he used the scenes in the panels to further play up certain words. It really is no wonder how he gets his reputation as a master in the medium.

see the word/panel play here. isnt it adorable?

Dave gibbons art suited the 60s, 70s, 80s era to a T. the only thing I wasn’t satisfied was how he illustrated the action scenes. They looked abit stiffy and seemes like he could you use “how to draw comics the marvel way” by john buscema. And wassup with the SM mask for the comedian?

My fav scene outta it was when Rorschach was at the cemetery and was recounting on a joke he heard about a depressed clown.
“good joke. Everyone laughs. Roll on snare drums.
Curtains”
And the word “curtains” was on a flashback panel of the comedian going red on the sidewalk. AWESOME!

Fav gory scene would be rorschach’s jailbreak. And fav sex scene would Doc M and Silk Spectre II’s threesome? Somehow, the numbers just add up.

bet all you guys loved this right? GHUUCHH!



The book vs the movie.

With Zack snyder’s earlier work, 300, the director was given space to expand the coffee table book into a full length movie. When I read 300, I finished it within 30 minutes and was thinking to myself, that’s it? Note: I read the book after the movie. However, alan moore’s watchmen was chock filled to the brim of intricate details and plot twists and turns, that the director had to not only summarize the book but also edit it such that it would focus primarily on the main cast, the watchmen.

the carnage! in the comic, it was done by a freakish alien. in the movie, Dr M was the blame all.

There was this buzz on how the ending was change and people being concerned as to how the film would play out. However, zack brilliantly made subtle changes to exclude several not-watchmen details. For example, the fact that the group was originally called crimebusters, there, that wasn’t in the movie. However, having that in movie wouldn’t necessarily make it a better movie. Therefore, the changes that the director made were in relevance to the mainstream audience.

the watchmen vs

the crimebusters! see how captain metropolis was dropped in the movie version! who needs has-beens?!

Like the book, the film to is packed with details and its like reading a book and skipping a page, and you would be like, “holy harry potter! Avada kavada! Crucio! And they all lived happily ever after.” Yup yup. That wasn’t sposed to make sense. So if you were distracted for just a minute by the guy asking stupid questions, all would be lost.

here are some movie/comic comparisons for you. enjoy!