Watchmen

I read the Watchmen back in 1989. At the time, I was going through a string of up and down relationships. To clear my head, I invited my bud, David, with me to go spend the weekend at Edisto Island. It was great. We hung out, drank some beer and he loaned me his copy of the Watchmen.

It did not grab me like it did others. In fact, I would have gone as far as to say I did not like it. Fast forward, last week, I bought the comic (sorry, graphic novel) and have been making my way through it. I think there was too much heartbreak, sand (and maybe beer) that I missed a lot of the story. I don't think I even read excerpts at the end of each issue.

It is in those narratives that flesh out the world of the Watchmen. What I missed the first time was that Alan Moore created another world that was really fleshed out.

How could they ever make this into a movie?

All of that back story just so that you understand how this movie hit me. It was like the reading back in 1989: it was good, but not great. Believe me, they did a fantastic job with the film, and I recommend it (but, look at the rating people, don't bring the kids to this one). They captured the look, the feel, but, it was still missing something.

Without spoiling too much, the Watchmen covers a span from the early 40's through the mid 80's. I really loved the use of music to convey the different periods. The opening sequence, set to Bob Dylan's "The Times they are a changing" was brilliant (along with the action poses of each of the original heroes - The Silhouette's "outing" was brilliant). When we see the "Riots of 77," K.C. and the Sunshine Band's "Boogie Man" accompanies Nite Owl II and The Comedian putting down the crowd. It worked. The music they picked was spot on.

Even though I felt the film was overly long, you get your money's worth. I hope to catch it again on IMAX, if I can convince the wife to go along.