The Watchmen Movie Revisited

I find it interesting that most reviews I have seen of The Watchmen, including reviews in Hong Kong, assume that the audience has already read the novel. But everyone I know, myself included, has yet to read the novel. One of my associates decided to read the novel before he saw the movie and was very disappointed in the movie because he thought the plotline had an entirely different focus. 

As for me, it was the best movie that I have seen since The Matrix. I am not a fan violence and sex scenes, so I do not mind that the film was partially censored here in Hong Kong in order to avoid an adults only rating, it was the special effects and the plot implications that grabbed me. I saw The Watchmen nearly two weeks ago and I still think about the movie every day, this to me makes a great movie. If I forget the movie right after I see it, then what is the point (I laughed, I cried, I kissed six bucks goodbye).

As far as the novel, I remember when it first came out, that was a long time ago. I did not read it then and I do not plan to do so now, no more than I would read a novel about The Matrix. I do not particularly like the plotline of the movie, but it is presented so well and in such a vivid manner that I would never get from print, even if it is illustrated. As far as the characters and character development, I am not attached to any of the characters in The Watchmen, none of them have any socially redeeming value and the ending is trite, but they are presented so well in the movie, they become real to me, frighteningly so. If I see the movie again I think that I will cheer when “The Comedian” is thrown out the window, for me that was the “happy ending”.