Watchmen...

WATCHMEN
It's been a "slow year" in movies for me for the most part; meaning, there hasn't really been a whole lot of films that have excited me all that much. 'Til now.
I can't stop gushing as to how incredible this movie is! I've actually never read the graphic novel. I've got a copy of the trade paper back edition that's sorta been gathering dust for awhile now; it's just that I refused to read it, ever since hearing about the plans to make a movie oh-so-many-years-ago, until I got to watch the movie. Watchmen has been languishing in production hell for the longest time. But, finally, the movie is here!
Is it any good? I believe I already answered that question. Is it worth the more-than-two-and-a-half-hours-running-time? Heck, yeah!
300 director Zack Snyder has created a truly superb film with this one. I'm still not sure though just how faithful he remained to the graphic novel (since, like I said, I've yet to read it). The written material came out way back in the 80s, truly ground-breaking for superhero books at the time, and is considered to be one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. I honestly don't know who could have helmed the movie any better (and give it the respect and care it needed) than Snyder. And, in a somewhat ironic way, I'm also glad that Watchmen languished in limbo for as long as it did, and that it only materialized on the big screen just now, because I think it would have not made as of much of an impact (at least for me) as it does now (with the current technology, advancement in special effects and the style or changes that film making has gone through the past couple of decades).
I'm hoping that the movie-going public will be smart enough to appreciate Watchmen for what it is...a good movie. And not just another superhero movie without any stars attached to it. The only way I see this movie not becoming a hit is that if it gets seen by people who are, shall we say, "close-minded" when it comes to the superhero genre; people who only go for superhero movies if it is (a) Batman, Superman, or Spider-Man.
Watchmen may not have any characters that are well-known (unless you've read the graphic novel, then it is a safe assumption to make that most people have never heard of Rorschach or even the Watchmen), but that is probably the best thing about it; you don't have any "imaginative restrictions/expectations". What I'm trying to say is that with, say, Superman, there is only so much you can do with the mythology of the character. He is, without a doubt, a very well-known (comic book) character. And because of that, most people already have an "image" of who he is and what he's about. For example : even though Superman did have sex (check Superman 2), you will never actually get to see the Man of Steel in the act of having sex. With Watchmen, and not just because it actually happened in the graphic novel, you get to see heroes having sex. Like normal people. Even going as far as having "performance problems". Like some normal people. You have "heroes" that are psychopaths and would-be rapists. You don't usually get to see super-heroes with these kinds of attributes. And that's because Watchmen is not your typical super-hero movie. Again, that's one of the things that makes this a great super-hero movie.
Watchmen is not for the kiddies. So for the adult movie-going public who have longed for a very mature super-hero flick, well this is it!
So who watches the Watchmen? I certainly hope that it would be you.
Now I gotta find the time and read my Watchmen graphic novel.
A

'Nuff said.