Gritty thriller 'Watchmen' provides top-notch movie entertainment if viewer reads book

03/12/09 - Last year "Cloverfield" was hyped up for months. This year, "Watchmen," directed by Zack Snyder, was hyped up similarly. Everyone was asking the question, "Who will watch the "Watchmen?'" The question should have been, "Who will enjoy the movie based on the novel comic written and illustrated by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons?" The answer to that question depends on one condition: whether the viewer read the comic or not.Snyder, who directed the 2006 movie, "300," matched "Watchmen" as best he could to the original, and that may be where he went wrong if he was attempting to profit off the movie.

The comic book, "Watchmen," is not the basic comic book with fluid storylines. It isn't like "Spiderman" where there is one superhero and one villain.

"Watchmen," which opened up at No. 1 in the box office this past weekend, is about a world in distress during the time when people were nervous that the Soviets were going to drop a nuclear bomb and President Nixon was in office.

In fact, the comic book doesn't follow a superhero at all-the comic book follows regular people who once dressed up in Halloween-type costumes and worked to save their city from crime. Normal people fighting normal crime. The plot isn't just one storyline. It is many storylines about many characters - characters known as the "watchmen." Snyder made an attempt to portray all the storylines in the comic book, which for "Watchmen" readers was refreshing to see on screen, but for those who hadn't read the book created a confusing two and a half hour commentary that was impossible to follow.

In the week prior to the commercial release of "Watchmen" several articles were published in USA Today, the New York Times and other local and national newspapers describing the epic release set for March 6. USA Today warned viewers that the movie would be gruesome, gory and gritty. It predicted that Snyder would shock with full frontal nudity and brutal scenes filled with blood. Snyder tried to reproduce the book, just as it was read, as close as he could with the time allotted for a film-and the book was very graphic.

While this worked for comic book readers, it didn't work for the rest of the viewing population. However, other things did work for the rest of the viewing public such as the stellar soundtrack that includes Simon and Garfunkle's "Sound of Silence" and Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable."

The opening montage also worked to the films advantage. The soundtrack and the montage worked perfectly together as "The Times They are A-Changing" by Bob Dylan rang out through speakers as viewers could watch pieces of history unfold before their eyes. The montage even took a new look at the famous picture of the sailor who ran rampant kissing people in the streets when he arrived home from World War II.

In the montage, as the sailor went to grab the woman, a woman grabbed the woman instead and took her in for a deep passionate kiss all while "The Times They are A-Changing" sang through the background. The last thing that may have worked to the film's advantage was the ending that was changed from the original. Both readers and non-readers of the novel could respect and enjoy the ending and the message it sent.

These things are the only things that may have worked in keeping the attention of the audience who hadn't read the comic book. Snyder used symbols throughout the movie that only the book reader could catch, and the many intertwined storylines were very disadvantageous. The movie which introduces the word "nostalgia" at the beginning, which is what the book tried to evoke mostly, fails to create that nostalgic feel for anyone that hasn't read the book.

As a reader of the book, I came out thinking that as a normal person, I could save the world. Other people who walked out of the theater probably just thought that people who dress up in Halloween costumes attempting to save the world . need to grow up.