Watchmen
Dir: Zack Snyder
2009
****
If you have not read the graphic novel you should, if you haven't you probably won't like the film. You probably won't really care or understand it which would be a shame because it's an amazing book. For those of us who have read and absolutely love the graphic novel, it's a different story. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with how well Snyder handled it. I would say that 85% of it was spot on, amazing considering how passionate people are about the story. The only real problem that I had was that so much of the good stuff was cut out. I know it would be impossible to adapt it properly into a film, I would have just liked it to have been made into a mini-series, a 12 episode series if you will. Also, the ending. Well, that took a lot of balls changing that but I have to say, it was changed for the better (sacrilege I know but it does make sense). I also thought the casting was spot on. I think over all I loved it but then I didn't need the character development that unfamiliar viewers really did. If I had not read the graphic novel, I think I would have given a 3 stars out of 5. Does that mean Snyder failed? I don't think so. I was outraged when he remade Dawn of the Dead, one of my all time favourites, it was never going to be as good as the original but he still did a damn fine job, just as he has with Watchmen.