Sleep Interrupted

As Mark said to me: Who watches the Watchmen? I do!

I know the critics don’t like it but both Louise and I did. I was surprised to see it currently rates 8 out of 10 on IMDb. It’s certainly long, perhaps too long. It is the most faithful adaptation of a book I’ve ever witnessed. I kind of agree with those critics who say perhaps it’s too reverent. Just like the book, though, if you like it you’ll want to go back and see what you missed and immerse yourself in the world.

Speaking of which, I finished my re-read of the book on the same day I saw the film and my admiration has only gone up. It’s not without its faults — some of which I think they tried to address in the film — but it is an amazingly intricate piece of storytelling.

To balance up yesterday’s gloomy post, here’s something I’m really looking forward to: The upcoming Watchmen film. Now, I know I’ve been burnt more than once in the past but from everything I’ve seen this is shaping up to be something special. The trailers seem to show that the original graphic novel is being paid due respect and I recently learned that Dave Gibbons is help promote the film, which I’ll read for now as a good omen.

So what’s all the fuss about Watchmen for anyway? Well, if you’ve ever wondered what the fuss about comics was or what makes one turn into a graphic novel, then this is the place to start. Read it and you’ll realise how much you know and love in modern “super hero” films is owed to it.

And that’s not all. It’s not like looking at pictures, it’s not like reading a book. Your brain has to operate on two tracks simultaneously. As you read the words you have to independently absorb what’s going on in the pictures and not let the narrative carry you away. This is because there’s so much important detail going on in the background that isn’t related to the words but is part of the story. Not infrequently the narrative will be accompanied by a different picture story but one that parallels the words.

When I first read it late last year it was unlike anything I’d read/seen before. If I have one piece of advice on Watchmen, it would be to take your time and digest every frame. On which note, I’m off to start re-reading it right now…