I went to see Watchmen last night, and walked out after an hour – which was gutting, because I was really looking forward to seeing it. But either my memory of the graphic novel is faulty or the film just didn’t work, because at no point after the clever opening credits was I even vaguely interested. Bored, annoyed, embarrassed that I’d persuaded Mrs Bigmouth to go, yes. Interested, no.
Part of the problem, I’m sure, is that I’ve been spoilt by films such as The Dark Knight. Watchmen’s “What if superheroes were real?” thing is no longer a novelty (I know it got there a long time ago, but it’s an old idea in movies now), but where Dark Knight made an effort to do something with the source material Watchmen felt like a shot by shot recreation of the comic. And for me, that didn’t work. Rorshasch’s voiceover sounded hackneyed and adolescent, which I don’t recall it being in the book (then again, I was a lot younger when I read it, so maybe it is). The dialogue was terrible. And as for the acting and direction: wooden and liking the violence a wee bit too much respectively. It felt like I was watching The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy having a wank.
Did you go to see Watchmen? What did you make of it?