Who Watches the Watchmen? I do.

So, I saw Watchmen. And...I really liked it. I mean I REALLY liked it. The movie was visually stunning, well scripted, and accurate to the graphic novel.

In fact, I think it's the last point, it's accuracy, that sealed it for me. It wasn't completely identical, but what was changed/left out (aside from the ending - more later) would likely have been awkward and superfluous in the film version. Of course, this has been the major criticism of the critics that disliked the film. The movie, at times, is a film comic book: the actor dialoging while centered in the screen type things. To be honest, I liked this. It allowed the words to come through, and Watchmen has some powerful words.

The acting was also well done. By and large, all the characters were portrayed as I envisioned them while reading the comic. Best of all was Rorschach, who was sublimely portrayed by Moocher. Although, they left out the big bike race in Rorschach's back story.

The element that I was most pleasantly surprised with was the soundtrack. All the greatest hits of the early 80's in one 3 hour movie. Of course, what made the soundtrack work was the fact that it helped to ground the viewer in the fact that it was the 80s. So much of what's going on doesn't feel 80's. It's not campy. There's an alternative history going on. But the whole point of the story is this is supposed to be real. Outside of Dr. Manhattan, all the superheros are humans. They aren't really supposed to possess powers. Ozymandias has the whole "smartest man alive with more money than everyone else combined 5 times over" thing going on. But that's as 'super power' as it gets. The soundtrack dragged the audience back into this. When you expect some rock song to start playing, you get a pop hit. The soundtrack felt more like it belonged in an 80's version of "The Big Chill," and it worked.

As for the ending, and I recognize Alan Moore may hunt me down and kill me for saying this, but I liked it better in the movie than in the film. Yes, I said it. There's one basic reason for this, it didn't involve fake aliens. I love the conundrum created at the end of the comic. I love Veidt's line about the only success the Watchmen created was in succeeding in not preventing peace from happening. But the whole abducting a bunch of artists, having them create some fake alien, and sending that alien to New York thing felt overly cheesy. It felt lazy. Using Dr. Manhattan as the scapegoat felt more appealing for me.

In the end, I was very surprised with how much I enjoyed the movie. I went in with low expectations. Watchmen met them and kept going. I am happy.

Yo.