ZACK, MA COME HAI FATTO? WATCHMEN Zack, how did you? "Actually, everything in the film adaptation is (...) I do not know what it means in this field the word" right "morality back in subtle aesthetic hierarchies: we consider an adaptation worthy of the name only that is based on a "great" literary text; adaptation too subservient to the text "betrays the film, the adaptation too free" betrays the literature, only the "implementation" does not betray (...) neither the one nor the other, placing the ends of these two forms of artistic expression. " Alain Garcia Beyond the box-office results, I believe that in the coming years will be discussed a lot of
of
Watchmen Zack Snyder , especially within schools or screenwriting courses in creative writing. I can make this prediction because in my memory, there is another film that just as faithfully repeats much of the content present in the opera of departure. For a good 80 percent we could well see the film without sound and follow the story as someone close to us read aloud the texts Cartoon
Moore and Gibbons
.
Speaking of traposizioni film of literary remember reading that
Ira Levin , author of the novel
Rosemary's Baby , he was surprised such a call
Roman Polanski , filming the movie based on his book.
The Polish director, was convinced that while buying the rights to a book, nothing of the original work could be amended, and in a fit of perfectionism had asked Levin
to know what the newspaper read by one of the actors in a given scene.
This story might make you smile, because who knows How many times have you seen a movie based on a novel and frowned upon any changes made by director and writer. You probably will also run the famous words "but not enough for him to follow the story as it was written?". Well, after years of frustrating visions,
Watchmen us clarify ideas and helps us to find finally an answer to this question. No, in most cases not just follow the story in his literary writing, especially not in this case.
Come to order. According
Dwight Swain, author of
Film scriptwriting , an adaptation can be achieved with three modes:
1. Follow the book scene by scene, breaking it down into sequences highly respecting the order of things.
2. Identify the key scenes in the book and use them as a foundation on which to build the script.
3. Collect materials from the book (elements of plot, characters, situations) and to produce a nearly original screenplay.
Generally, the third system is most commonly used, although they are more rare adaptations that follow the methods listed in paragraphs 1 and 2.
The reasons why we prefer to avoid a slavish transcription can be very different. Budget problems, the changing historical context, to avoid some are purely illustrative of the reasons for which a story can be completely changed and turned upside down.
Most often the real problem is being able to concentrate in a single film all the content in a novel.
For example, it was proved that to stage a complete and faithful adaptation of Gone with the Wind
it would take at least a couple of days.
Considering the density of the main story in which they engage other subplots, the number of characters, the action spans a period of nearly half a century, there was no surprise that many agreed with
Alan Moore when he stated the 'inability to adapt to the great screen his scripts. Before Snyder
many directors had tried and then thrown in the towel (
Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky
,
Paul Greengrass), but it is not entirely clear whether these authors had given up because deterred by a challenge that at least seemed impossible to win on paper or other problems. Instead
Snyder did not appear to flinch when the boss of Warner
have identified him as the right man to carry through the ambitious project and the American thought that it could easily repeat the coup of
300 along again the way of absolute loyalty. This choice has obviously led to compromises in terms of both artistic and commercial. The comic strip has been cut, streamlined, uncluttered by unnecessary things considered, but
Watchmen Watchmen has always
and much effort has been made has not been possible to compress the time below two hours and forty ( 163 minutes to be exact). It goes without saying that a film of nearly three hours (which is prohibited to minors) requires operators to program a number of shows with less obvious impact on receipts, then at least from an economic standpoint the
Warner has proven to courage. However, I explained this point just to clarify that if there was a way to shorten further the film, the period would have been even lower. Nor is it possible that anyone has seriously tried to make further cuts, but considering that even in this form the result is rather modest, we do not even imagine what this film would become more elliptical with a montage.
"The secret of adaptation is to find the heart of the play, extract and transplant in the medium. It 's like discovering the genetic code of the novel or the play, and then rebuild it while maintaining integrity. It is not a simple thing. " George Axelrod (writer of
When Seven Year Itch, Breakfast at Tiffany
). In one hundred sixty-three minutes
screenwriters David Hayter and Alex Tse have "reconstructed" the work of Moore
as appropriate, focusing on everything they needed to advance the dramatic action and recovering enough to clarify The viewer has the background of the six main characters: Dr. Manhattan
,
Silk Spectre II , Nite Owl II
,
Rorschach, Ozymandias
and
Comedy .
From a close comparison between film and comics, that just to stage the first two chapters of the miniseries, was spent about 52 minutes, or just under one third of the film. There are two major chapters in which the characters are introduced, called the web of relationships surrounding two generations of heroes, and that shows the beginning of the investigation with
on the trail of the Rorschach Comedian
. The film devotes nearly an hour exposure providing useful information to the viewer to follow the rest of the film and get an idea of \u200b\u200bthe motivations of the protagonists. After another 10 minutes
little (used to concentrate the facts of the third chapter), comes the first twist, or the escape of Mars
Dr. Manhattan, an event that pushes the world to the brink of nuclear war. Compared to the first two, the third installment of the comic has a few suggestions to the authors of the film because in this part of the comic
Moore introduces the figures of two
Bernie , and creates the first parallels between the story of Adrian Veidt
and the the protagonist of the comic tales of pirate ship
black .
With another ten minutes to be resolved nodes for the past
Manhattan and there are big cuts to report.
From Chapter V of comics, loved by fans pay more attention to the rigid symmetrical structure that governs it,
Hayter and Tse
extract only two sequences lasting a total of seven minutes to show us that the attack "driven" to Adrian Veidt
last
where Rorschach falls victim to a trap set by police with the help of the same
Ozymandias.
We arrive at the figure of chapter VI
Rorschach. Here the cuts are primarily for the relationship between the psychiatrist and
Long the masked vigilante. The past of the latter is examined in detail with the exception of the scene where he explains why
Kovacs has embarked on a career of Justice. Again the chapter is concentrated in just ten minutes and the expense it is the psychiatrist who, shocked by the revelations of Rorschach
, comes to jeopardize his relationship with his wife.
The Chapter VII, which initiates the romance between
Laurie and Dan
, is "copied" in the film, because here we return to see heroes in action (in all senses) expands the space granted to the coming quarter 'now.
of Chapter VIII, which in the cartoon ends with the death of Hollis
Mason , retains all the scenes inside the prison to escape
Rorschach made possible by the intervention of
Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II
.
events of Chapters IX and X of the comic in the film are partly early or late, and this takes away further twenty minutes. The substantial cuts relate to some form of flashback episodes related in the past
Laurie . Start the journey of
Rorschach and Nite Owl II
to
Karnak.
In another six minutes is staged Chapter XI which has as its turning point of the implementation plan
Ozymandias. There are differences, but that later.
The remaining fifteen minutes (credits included), more or less faithfully reproduce everything that happens in chapter XII, even though these small changes there are no further cuts.
Judging from the reactions I've noticed in the room during my two visions, I believe that most viewers who have not read the comics may have some difficulty in overcoming the first hour of projection, especially given the fact that demands the utmost concentration because with a bare-bones plot so we can not afford to lose any detail.
passed this first hurdle, perhaps the true litmus test for the film and the spectator arrives at the center where there is still little action and the film deepens (so to speak) questions "existential."
In this case, the flood of images, sounds and information might be poorly digested by those who had come to the cinema thinking to find yet another Dark Knight
and instead finds himself reflecting on the synchronicity of time and the randomness of existence .
After about an hour and a half, the film is lively and goes live with
Dan and Laurie
in excess of the impasse into which they fell after failing to report sexual and decide to return to wearing the old costumes. From this point onwards, the film becomes in a classic action-movie and now the investigation starts to address all nodes are still outstanding.
In all honesty I believe that in many cases
Hayter and Tse
we had an eye for older readers graphic novel, but in fact they have abandoned to their fate those who knew little or nothing of the comic.
emblematic scene of the valuable titles that alternates tableaux vivants with members of the Minutemen
and very rapid sequences where
Snyder condenses information contained in the appendices of textual
Watchmen or deleted sequences in the assembly for cinemas. The killing of
Dollar Bill, the internment of
Mothman, the small
Rorschach assisting with the activities of a prostitute mother, Laurie
child, witnessed a fierce fight between his "parents" are well known to all scenes Fans of the first hour, but certainly not the audience "virgin". Probably the latter fail to understand the meaning of what was shown back only to see the movie, or reading comics.
"When I write, I plan the whole story in the light of the great scenes, including define every detail, word for word. You can not have two hours of scenes more beautiful than the last. The young writers strive to make every scene a masterpiece. Also included scenes from Shakespeare rather minor, in which perhaps is delivered a letter that helps to understand some passages of the story. " Jim Sheridan (screenwriter of The Boxer
,
My Left Foot ,
In the name of the father )
In terms of narrative, I think the film suffers for the accumulation of facts and exhibition for the lack of pace. In addition, relates to the consideration of
Sheridan, I believe that the juxtaposition of key scenes have in fact ousted in the comic passages that serves to "take a breath" to the reader. Those involved in creative writing knows that to achieve maximum emotional impact on the reader is necessary "shot in the stomach" when they least expect it, when which is relaxed and is ready to receive new stimuli. Joining many scenes that require "participation" or induce the viewer to develop a strong empathy with the characters can then be a boomerang. Knowing how to manage the emotions of the viewer, understand when it is time to bring it to the "peak" is the real task of a skilled writer, but to exercise its best art every writer must be clear on what is working medium.
"How you talks, is a rather delicate matter to transform the dialogue literary in its cinematic equivalent. When the first is very colloquial, is often highly literary, in fact, more meaningful dialogue in a novel to be literary, as they reflect the author's style. But try putting those lines directly into the mouth of an actor, and I sliced \u200b\u200bplay, unnatural, not art, but artifice. (...) And we must never forget that in addition to the words written on the script, there is a whole range of emotions brought to the screen image, the ways and the personality of the actor who pronounces the sentence. " Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenwriter of
Room with a View, Howards
,
The Remains of the Day )
"It already carries such a large amount of information that is almost impossible that dialogue can add anything. (...) In a movie, you see more and faster. Consequently, what you feel should be different from what you see. Much of the work of the writer consists precisely in understanding what is best not say. (...) Good writers know how to insert text in a lot of hidden meanings, building up and intensifying the experience. " Robert Towne (writer of Chinatown
,
Yakuza ,
Mission Unable )
In the film
Snyder, most of the dialogues are the same that we read in the comics and this can mean two things: either the writers revere
Moore to the point that it considered a "sacrilege" alter the text of the bard of Northampton, or have actually realized it was impossible to do better. These reasons are both "sacrosanct" and there is nothing to object, but if the two writers have had more experience (
Tse is on his second film,
Hayter has written only four) would probably be more careful in ' carry out their own copy and paste, not to insert dialogue in a film that may sound contrived or redundant or at least less smooth.
latter claim is linked to the above, namely that the writer must know how it will be used his script for the film - and of course in the theater, but to a lesser extent - each bar is supported by the actor's gestures, intonation, how it is diluted over time and obviously the way in which the director decides to frame the scene by imposing his own point of view. As I heard repeated several times to the writer Giorgio Pedrazzi
during his writing courses, you should consider your screenplay as a kind of track on which you can travel at different speeds. The track is always the same and connects with the station of departure to arrival, but the conditions and travel times can change dramatically from designer to designer and function of the script is only to keep all the "train" on track. Although it is
text applies to departure and despite having great products and very detailed storyboards, once they arrive on the set are so many variables that determine the success of a scene. On the set of inventions are on the agenda and of course the authors do not care about last minute changes because they know only too well that the director has the pulse of the situation and the possibility of whether or not a gimmick really works .
I do not know to what extent
Snyder has felt free to exercise its "power", but I am convinced that with a story like that of
Watchmen not have been easy for him to stay still on the track " even when his instincts told him the man of the cinema to experience different ways.
While not appreciating all the style of this film, you must give notice of having conducted the operation with commendable discipline, but unfortunately for him, and it is almost a paradox, the parts that work best are those that wonder "all" original visual ideas and offering viewers more consistent with his understanding of the cinema. Among which are the titles that we have already mentioned, but also the sequence in which
Janey Slater, who has cancer, breaks in the studio to show the world what was his reward for loving the Dr. Manhattan
.
Another particularly effective scene is one in which Rorschach
before escaping from prison regains its "face" mocking the psychiatrist who had been entrusted.
"Basically, write a marketable version of the script so it becomes the most attractive as possible so that the official production read it and say," Hey wait a minute, you can make good money with this stuff. " William Goldman (screenwriter of Butch Cassidy
,
All the President's Men ,
The marathon ).
I did not follow each other closely, and do not know who we should thank for the film based on Watchmen
, but whether the types of
Warner Bross were persuaded to release money to produce this film, obviously someone was so clever to present the project as yet another blockbuster superhero characters with unknown but created by the one writer capable of stirring mass of comics fans and also the general public.
Cinema is art, but also industry, so I'm not too surprised if I found out that the theatrical release version is completely identical (or almost) to that proposed by Snyder
him or by someone within the Hollywood studio executives.
Mind you,
Watchmen is truly a work "infilmabile" but forgetting for a moment the origin of this story and the sublime cuts, we can conclude that the film is linear
Snyder, well structured and gives fans of the comic strip what is probably expected to see. Despite the problems already mentioned and those on which I will discuss later in this article, hardly
Watchmen will compete for the Golden Raspberry Awards, and if not go down in history as the best fit obtained from a comic book series, more likely to lead in the vaults of Warner
at least need to cover all costs.
"The only thing I liked Wachmen was the effect it has had on ... My vision of Watchmen was radically different work that had taken many risks trying to do something which had never been done before. (...) My hope was that after Watchmen was read and you say, "Wow, we can do superhero stories but more violent and more sex and profanity." My hope was that they thought: "That's interesting narrative possibilities, there are things of the techniques of story that maybe I could take, or to change a little 'and idearne somewhere else. " We were trying to say, "attention, look, there's a world of possibilities out there. Watchmen is the only way we explore some of them. "There was a world of possibilities and each would have to explore your own. Instead, there were a series of rimasticature Watchmen. " Alan Moore In light of this statement, it appears that Snyder
has completely disregarded the expectations of
Moore making a film that not only presents innovations plan the language of cinema, but all in all seems very formal even when compared to many television productions (the true vanguard of the cinema) and sophisticated films such as Wall-E
. If you do not have this you need to know that in this film produced by Pixar tells the story of a robot that silent for half an hour wandering alone on a deserted Earth.
As for the readers of the graphic novel would still be a few surprises, you will probably
Snyder asked how gratifying this "hard core" that would have taken this movie so different from other spectators. Judging from what has come in the room, the answer to this question must be was "give
Watchmen even harder, we show how the comic would have been if the objection of the DC had not harnessed the creativity of
Moore and Gibbons
.
said than done,
Snyder has not only revived the same violent scenes in the comics, but also "dopate" splatter effects that add nothing in terms diegetic and only perform the function of arousing the attention at regular intervals the viewer.
Three scenes are particularly exemplary in this regard.
During the session with the psychologist
Rorschach remembers when a child reacted violently to provocation of two bullies and
Snyder flashback which shows the small
Kovacs bite one of two thugs like a real zombie.
It 's true, the bite was also present in the comics, but the designer does not show the consequences that he or she would lose realism to the scene by distracting the viewer far more important details such as the butterfly-shaped patch that is made on the face
of Walter during the fight.
Then there is that within the comic book artist is almost obliged to stress the emphasis that some details might be overlooked by the reader. In film, of course, the process should be the reverse Because of the greater impact that the actual images on the viewer. Understanding when it is appropriate to "remove" rather than "add" is the real secret to keeping a scene in balance and maintain the suspension of disbelief.
remain on this sequence, there is also remarkable that the authors have removed the reference to child smokers to avoid the risk of being targeted by those who have declared war against the tobacco industry. The second scene
unnecessary gore, perhaps most of all free, and one that shows us the
Dr. Manhattan kill the criminals inside the club managed by
Moloch.
Again
Snyder "stain to" focusing on organic remains, with the aim of the criminals left squashed on the ceiling. In the cartoon episode with greater ambiguity is resolved without bloodshed, as do the scenes in Vietnam where the character walks majestically burning the jungle, but do not directly affect the Viet Cong. Thanks to this foresight, the scene where Dr. Manhattan
disintegrates
Rorschach is a bigger impact because so far no one had actually "felt" his destructive potential.
One might add that the mode of killing of Manhattan
has a precise meaning and offers a rich connection with nuclear energy is that the character and the theme of "lovers of Hiroshima", or the silhouettes of human bodies that were found in the Japanese city in the days following the explosion of the bomb .
The last scene that probably did turn up their nose to the readers of Watchmen
is where the big guy wants revenge on Rorschach but is unable to do so because the vigilante has cleverly blocked ' access to his cell, using a fat prisoner (
Lawrence) in which the hero has linked arms.
In the comic scene is resolved by sticking human assets and the subsequent opening of the door of the cell by means of a blowtorch.
In the film a sense of the sequence remains unchanged, but instead of being slaughtered with a boxcutter, fat prisoner is affected limb with a chainsaw and found the course with this set is full of gross blood.
As in the comic would say, but no because if you look carefully the cartoons that show us this scene, is more than evident that the abundant flow of blood and unreal that invests
Rorschach during the murder of Lawrence
has because a precise metaphorical links back to the fourth vignette on page 24 of Chapter VI. In the film, on the contrary, the blood flows like water from the mutilated body of the prisoner injured, but investing a little jets' everything and everyone without a precise reason than purely aesthetic. Despite
Snyder has made an effort, we do not find in the film, but rather in the comic, the scene with the highest coefficient Grand Guignol. This is of course one that opens the twelfth chapter, and shows us that in 6-page splash disturbing the destruction of New York following the materialization of the alien monster created by Ozymandias
.
of this scene in the movie there is no trace, and as it seems from some statements made
by David Hayter, the reason why we preferred to give up the representation of this sequence is closely linked to the attacks of 11 September 2001: "The
end of the book shows a pile of bloody corpses in the middle of Times Square, people Slaughtered hanging from windows. Graphing a situation like in a comic book of 1985 is different than doing it with realistic images in a movie in post 2001. This was a real concern and I shared. If you're working on a film to $ 40 million then fine: bloody bodies everywhere. This is a niche film, and only the true fans will go see it. Not good, however, if you do the same on a larger scale. (...) I would have liked to see a screen like that of the final book but I have shared the pain that all those who live here have felt when they occurred the events of 11 September. My early work on this project back to the years between 2000 and 2005 and then September 11 was much more fresh in the memory of people. So it was not only a desire of the Firm. I did it for them, but without compulsion.. "On the same issue expressed
Dave Gibbons, but despite being the sole author of Watchmen
to collaborate actively in the implementation the film, the designer has made it clear that it is not at all aligned on the same positions of the writer: "
I believe that the consequences of violence should be shown graphically to highlight just how much violence is unpleasant. It's not that you have a spot of blood, we put a patch and then you feel better. (...) I believe that Sept. 11 remains a sensitive issue, and this changes the question, how to treat it. But use 11 as an excuse to change the ending does not seem fair. Especially considering that the film shows a girl earlier in the mouth of a dog and a lot of violence. Why stay true to the book throughout the film and then throw in the towel right on the final? I feel sympathy for the directors who must deal with the studios, but they could make an extra effort to meet halfway. Maybe it could have been less graphic in showing violence described in the book was supposed to be a way for the director to show those broken lives. The loss of those pictures is confusing and dilutes the seriousness of the film. "
For my part I can only add that changing the ending, the writers had a hand in solving the problem. It is enough to show the effects of explosions in all the cities involved without focus exclusively on the victims of the Big Apple.
"I killed him for money and for a woman. But I have not got the money and I did not get the woman. " Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity
of Billy Wilder .
Blood, sex and money, as the old magic formula that Hollywood has not gone out of fashion. If we associate money with power, we can say that the effects of the three "S" are also being felt in
Watchmen .
Of blood we have already spoken of the power treat later, so now we'll talk a moment about how
Snyder has been able to manage the erotic themes in the comics.
As they began to move the first images of
Dr. Manhattan, someone pointed out that the size of his penis were excessive compared to the version of "Vitruvian" provided by the
Gibbons graphic novel. Honestly, I do not think that this is an issue that is worthwhile to dwell too much, but it is also true that before today had never seen a cartoon character in a manner so blatant that showed her genitals in a mainstream product. Of course we are far from typical exaggerations of exploitation-movie, but the fact remains that in this case the producers have opted for a radical solution, shameless and that frankly we would never expect from a Hollywood studio.
Setting aside the issue of Dr. Manhattan
gifted, it may be of interest to reflect on the reasons that led to overlook a central theme of the comic or the link between the mask and the sexual instincts of the characters. In the second chapter, during the scene where the Comedian
tries to rape
Silk Spectre and fails for the providential intervention of
Hooded Justice, the bloody
Blake says to his colleague "
E 'that's what you like ? And 'that's what turns you on? . This implies that if some executioners have chosen to fight crime, it is because this activity allows them to vent "with impunity" a very aggressive, and other less than noble instincts.
old
Minutemen, three are gay (Silhouette
,
Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice
), while passing the second generation of adventurers in form,
Rorschach shows more times to have sadistic tendencies and
Nite Owl II is clearly a masochist in the past has had a troubled relationship with the dominatrix Lady Twilight
.
To understand the profound differences between comics and film examines the scene where Dan
able to have a full report with Laurie
only after he regains his status as a superhero. The costume evokes feelings and emotions that he probably had no way of proving the time when he had an affair with the "lady of the dusk" and is not a coincidence that this nightmare sequence in the pages of Chapter VII, the the first woman who runs to meet
Dan is not the sweet
Laurie, but the most disturbing and ambiguous
Twilight Lady .
In the comic, the only explicit sex scene is rendered with a very elegant mounting that is limited showing the passionate embrace of two executioners and the effects of the climax represented by the blaze of
Archie in peaceful sky of New York.
The same scene in the movie is resolved with a torrid coupling between the two characters on the song "
Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen
arrives on time and when the 'eruption' final
Archie, the viewer is almost embarrassed by what is in effect found a trivial, vulgar and that it certainly does not help to understand the subtle metaphors introduced by Moore
with a very different sense of proportion.
The scene could perhaps be partly saved keeping the dialogue post-coitus in which the two lovers reflect the reasons for their change, but Snyder
probably thought he had already served its purpose and preferred not to dwell too much on issues that had neither the desire nor the time to look into.
The director is not new to these slips because I find a similar one in 300
, film focuses on the Battle of Thermopylae in which we see 'gay Spartans Palestinians opposed the Persian drag queen "(
Mariarosa Mancuso," The
Sheet ", March 7, 2009).
also in reducing the graphic novel by Frank Miller
, the sequence in which
Leonidas indulges in the joys of the thalamus is managed by the filmmaker with the same sterility of those forced to eke out a living on creating slick video playmate of the month.
For those who think that it was actually difficult to make certain subtleties of the comic do another concrete example.
The scene where Laurie
tries (unsuccessfully) to seduce Dan
before their night raids, the balloon is made with a montage that alternates images of the two protagonists and those of a television screen that appears committed
Ozymandias in his performance in favor of the Indians affected by the famine. In
Watchmen , Moore
crosses often two different narrative lines creating an ironic counterpoint, and in this sequence of keystrokes
Ozymandias on his "effort" or being "little use", are easy to relate to "embarrass" the Dan
poor. In his cult movie
Midnight Cowboy, John Schlesinger
shows us a scene quite similar to that designed by the authors of graphic novels and unlike
Snyder, the English can make it with great skill .
I refer of course to the sequence in which the clumsy
gigolo Joe Buck (
John Voight ) ends up in bed with a woman who turns out to be a prostitute on the high board. To give a better grotesqueness of the situation,
Schlesinger uses a montage that alternates glimpses of what is really happening between the sheets and pieces of TV commercials and indirectly comment on the main action by suggesting to the viewer and even paradoxical viewpoints a bit 'tragicomic.
"I think movies today should be an image of Caravaggio, realistic overall, but with some small details that give them a hidden and spiritual." Krzysztof Piesiewicz (writer of the Decalogue
,
The Double Life of Veronique )
'Learning means being able to grasp the relationship between things. " Jean Renoir As you may have appreciated the reduction
Snyder, I think anyone who has felt the need to read Watchmen
more than once you'll be asked how the film will be in the home-video version will be reinstated and if important scenes like the one that shows us the brutal murder of Mason
or episode that explains why he decided to devote himself
Rorschach the fight against crime. Needless
make predictions that could be easily disregarded, but judging from the material that we have available are led to believe that hardly a fleshing out of the story will change the nature of the operation.
Probably the new assembly will help you better understand narrative passages in the film intended for cinema that appeared too abrupt, but it seems highly unlikely that the new editing radically transform the film elevating it to the same level of graphic novels.
My skepticism stems from the fact that the work of Snyder
has incorporated almost all of the elements in the comic, and yet failed to bring home the audience how everything is interconnected. Nothing that is present in
Watchmen is no need to read and after reading it is clear that a seemingly insignificant detail in the first chapter, later in the reading will become a key to understanding what lies behind the act a character, or to reverse the perception that until then we had a fact. Take for example
page 6 of the fourth chapter, "The watchmaker
" and examine in detail what we are shown. In the sequence we see Jon Osterman
walk into an amusement park with my colleague
Janey Slater. They are carefree, but a sudden happening that will have serious consequences both for the lives of two young men for the whole world: the clock
Janey loose from the wrist and fell to the ground. Before it can be collected, a clunky fat shattering it tramples on the dial. Immediately after witnessing a change of scene with the two physicists who flirt in a bed, while a zoom in, the authors show us to the forefront the broken clock that indicates the 8 and 16. As we know, Osterman
will pay to repair the clock and unfortunately for him to forget it also ends in the wrong place.
Let's take a step back to analyze the page 6. Looking closely we can see many elements that connect us to indirectly
Dr. Manhattan and its role in nuclear man. In the third vignette, the Ferris wheel has clear allusions to the symbol of the hydrogen atom that will
Manhattan early in his career. 4 In the cartoon there is a child and "Little Boy
" is the name of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. In the following, we see the fat away after accidentally stepped on the clock
Janey, and "Fat Man
" is coincidentally the name of the bomb that has pulverized Nagasaki. Turning to the cartoon 7,
Jon and Janey
are locked in an embrace reminiscent of the "lovers Hiroshima. "The red sun symbol of Japan offended is the last element in this extraordinary page
Snyder revived on the screen for an audience that as he looks without seeing, hearing without listening.
What
Snyder ,
Hayter and Tse
not be included among those who have had access to reading levels following addition to the base, it will be deducted from what they took, especially the one who chose to leave in the film.
For example, the attentive viewer may recall that in the pre-final, when
Laurie speaks for the last time with his mother, the scene opens with a shot of a television showing the opening credits of the cult series The Outer Limits
(
The Outer Limits). In the comic, as well as hear the beginning of the program, a speaker also announces the title of the transmitted or "
Architects of Fear." For those who were not aware (and I include among these
Snyder and the two writers), cited the episode in
Watchmen is a group of scientists agreed that, for avoiding a nuclear war, decides to simulate a mock attack alien. Exactly what does the work of
Ozymandias Moore and this implies that the superhero might have had inspired by television. In a cartoon comic strip set in the Sixties, the Death there is in fact shown in front of a rudimentary system to multi panel with a cat at his side. This detail provides more than food for thought on the effects of "bad" television and is a real warning to authors who do not care too much about what effect whatsoever with their works.
should now be evident that, having stretched the final choice and eliminating the alien menace, still maintain the symbol of
The Outer Limits makes absolutely no sense.
the same holds true for
Bubastis, the strange animal that appears on the scene in the final scene at Karnak
. Anyone who has read the comic knows that it is a lynx-genetically modified, but the viewer is unaware of experiments
Veidt the animal can be considered a decorative element, one of the many eccentricities of a sci-fi film in which it is useless to try to always find a logical explanation.
One wonders why, having chosen to eliminate the alien monster, it was decided instead to maintain the character of Bubastis
in a movie where the challenge is to simplify the story without omitting the most essential things.
we're on the topic, spend a few words about the final change.
I have no great objections to the gimmick and
Hayder Tse useful in streamlining the plot of the film allowing you to reach the same final 30 minutes of footage in less, but it remains to be proven that the new plan works best that proposed in the comic or no glaring flaws.
To recap briefly what happens in the film, we say that
Ozymandias exploits the knowledge of Dr. Manhattan
to create energy bombs to explode at the most appropriate in some of the most populated cities in the world. The blame clearly falls on the shoulders of man cobalt eyes of the people cease to be a pimp America to stand as judge of all humanity.
Apart from the fact that it seems difficult to believe that a God go crazy, the real question that I can not help but ask myself thinking this is essentially the final one: if you really
Manhattan wanted to punish the ungrateful people of Earth because not abandon humanity to its fate? What is the point of killing 15 million people when the human race is about to annihilate itself?
I also believe that the fact you can even frame from different perspectives. The American man in the street (as Bernard
) probably might resign to accept this version of events, but other peoples, passed the first moment of loss, would not have a reason to look with suspicion on the United States? And who assures them that the unstable
Dr. Manhattan not return back in the ranks to take the side of his country? However you want to put, the Holocaust would cause a further arms race and because there is a possibility that Dr. Manhattan
returned to play for the team of Uncle Sam, exclude that the problem can be solved with a community approach.
In light of these considerations, it should be clear that the alien attack is a sword of Damocles of scale in order to really push the people of the world toward cooperation. With
all its defaillance, paradoxically, the new ending is absolutely congruent with the figure of Manhattan
presented in the comics. In the work of Moore
"the Judge of all the earth" is depicted as a novel we see Jesus on the Cross (6-22-IV) or walking on water (6-25-XII), also in Chapter III, ie the one in which the character is attacked and decides to escape to Mars, the authors are shedding continues in all 28 pages Christological references. Accepting the role of scapegoat for man's salvation, it is therefore an unexpected wing beat (involuntary?) Of a script that a careful analysis reveals more and more points of divergence from which the work is tract.
Another aspect that has left me puzzled was the elimination of
Utopia, located opposite the cinema
Gunga Dinner seems to convey that only science fiction films of the fifties. In addition to the restaurant's name already evocative in itself and can be easily connected to the plane of
Ozymandias, a further reason to keep this film was that in some programming (
the Earth Stood Still, This Island Earth
,
future life) could be attached easily to the new ending of the film, reinforcing the idea of \u200b\u200ba higher authority than top judge and is always ready to punish.
The real limit on the version of
Snyder, at least in this form, which gives the impression that he has already fired the cartridges for the best and perhaps this will only grow with the additions provided for in the director's cut. In the comic
Moore it's exactly the opposite, because reading after reading the story continues to reveal only part of its real complexity and even when we think we have finally found the key to interpreting unambiguous and consistent, that's who materializes before our eyes another detail that does not allow us to close the circle.
The parties in the comic strip "temporarily" cut and apparently the fans will be able to see in Over the coming months, there is also that of the cartoon
dedicated to Tales of the Black Freighter .
Let me clarify for those who have not read the work of
Moore and Gibbons
that within
Watchmen shows a child (
Bernie ) engaged in reading a comic book because in a world of pirates where the superhero is part of "everyday life", the common people's escapes from reality through the adventure literature such as that produced from the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century by authors such as Jules Verne
, Emilio
Salgari or Edgar Rice Burroughs
. In the economy of
Watchmen , the parallel story of the pirate allows us to better understand the transformation of
Adrian Veidt, a character initiative opinions of the responsibility to save the world, but in the end he realizes he can not even hold the overwhelming sense of guilt following the execution of its plan. The character finally opens his eyes when the
Dr. Manhattan makes it clear that "nothing has no end" because, as Moore says
"
The game is not won until it's over, and perhaps will never end. In the real world The events are not broken up into stories, it is a continuum. (...) Not There are final except in fiction. This leaves Adrian Veidt in his nightmares, with the sudden discovery of a terrifying his conscience. Yes, he has nightmares, dreams of swimming to keep the ship of the vessel Stories black. E 'damn what the sinking of the story that eventually swim to the black ship to take its place among the awful crew. And it was there that Adrian Veidt ends. "
I confess I'm skeptical, but I hope
Snyder surprised me by showing that you understand this important aspect, which alone justifies the presence of the pirate story in Watchmen
.
Considering that Warner decided to circulate a DVD standalone in which the protagonist of the story
Castaway was dilated with a background in the work of absent
Moore and Gibbons
, I fear that the presence of cardboard inside the film serves only as a spot to entice fans purchase of a parallel.
"Every writer is the dream that the writer does on a film. One can dream that all the sets and want the best players in the world, including those in the world. But when you turn, you have to deal with what you have. " Jean-Claude Carrière (writer of
Belle de jour,
The Phantom of Liberty ,
The pool )
In this film aesthetics very accurate (and could not be otherwise) things that obviously work best are the sets, costumes and photography. There is no doubt that
Watchmen visual experience can be exhilarating, and in fact even the influential critic of the "
Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert
identified in this respect, the real strength the film. Too bad it did not read the comic and this induced him to do some 'confusion over some passages as that in which the
Dr. Manhattan raises Mars from the bowels of his own version of the Fortress of Solitude (
In the most spectacular scene of the film, is exiled to Mars and in that total isolation is reimagined as a human being and makes you look - or discovered? I'm not sure - a city ; incredible apparently made of crystal and mathematical concepts. )
One thing that does hurt the film is instead the trick. The Nixon
of
Robert Wisden is provisional fake nose that seems to emphasize the side of pinocchiesco "Tricky Dick" (come here on the fifth term), but the performance of this ineffable journeyman caricaturist and light years away from that offered
by Frank Langella in the good Frost / Nixon Ron Howard of
. Passing
interpretation of the key players, the only one who can be considered a value added
Jackie Earle Haley , the only veteran of the group. The proof of his colleagues ranges from good (
Patrick Wilson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
, Carla Gugino
) and uselessness (
Malin Akerman, Matthew Goode
). Almost ingiudicabile
Billy Crudup for obvious reasons.
Questionable choices of performers, affected by an age that does not allow to give the necessary depth to their characters, that of Adrian Veidt
for example, differs from the original model for more than two years.
L '
Ozy of
Goode is definitely the comic book character who comes out worse by the treatment of
Hayter and Tse
, and once again common sense suggests to stay the proceedings on his trial waiting to see the long version of the film.
"Now you are looking for the secret but will not find it, because really you're not really looking. You do not want to know. You want to be deceived. " Michael Cain in the movie The Prestige
of
Christopher Nolan (2006)
In the opinion of many, the best film
Snyder are the titles that show us fragments of the past
Minutemen and the new "Watchmen
".
From the perspective of the staging would say that the quality is quite high, and in many cases comes to excellence, but if we analyze the whole sequence with a more critical eye we can easily notice that it has small inconsistencies and blunders that we would not expect in a work that will be used for various reasons to be seen again, and even in the short after some time.
Let's see what does not work proceeding in the same order in which scenes are displayed.
1) Nite Owl II strikes with a right hook and a masked criminal with a gun. (1939)
Note: In addition to showing the first
Owl in action, the picture seems to mention the episode of the assassination of Bruce Wayne's parents
. The clue should be revealing the cover of a comic book Batman
posted on the wall behind
Nite Owl.
It should be noted, however, that if the member of the Minutemen
had really saved the lives of parents bat man, Batman
probably would never have existed. In his book Under the guise
,
Mason reveals that he has acquired his willingness to become an executioner reading the stories of Superman
and other pulp heroes like Doc Savage
and
The Shadow . The mention of
Batman is still justified because more in Chapter II of his biography,
Nite Owl cites an episode very similar to the one in which parents were involved
Wayne .
Small curiosity: The first
Owl left-handed, but hits right here.
2) Silk Spectre posing next to the police. Heroin is holding a newspaper that celebrates his victories "of crime
The world is crazy for Silk Spectre . (1939)
Notes:
Snyder has made the visual content of the article in the Appendix to this Chapter IX.
3) The Comedy caught a thief and recovered the stolen goods . (1939)
Notes: basically useless because it adds nothing to what we already know or have guessed.
4) The moment when the picture is taken of the original group of Minutemen
in 1940.
Note: an exact duplicate.
5) L '
Enola Gay goes away after releasing "
Little Boy" on Hiroshima. (1945)
Note: During the Second World War, most aircraft engaged in battle had designs on the fuselage so nothing strange that on 'Enola Gay
there was an image of the diva of the moment, or the sexy Miss mascot
Jupiter.
6) Celebrating the end of the conflict in Times Square.
Silhouette kisses a nurse. (1945)
Notes: Snyder
reinterpreted with a great sense of irony, the famous photo "
Kissing the War Goodbye " by Victor Jorgensen
. This scene is especially useful if you look at the sailor who arrives late and in fact obviously remains empty-handed. This is a particularly brilliant found it advances the nature of the illness that will lead in 1977 to enact the law
Keane.
7) The murder of Dollar Bill. (1946)
Note: The superhero is dead during a robbery because he left his cloak caught in a revolving door.
8) Celebrations for the withdrawal of
Sally . The superhero is pregnant
Laurie . (1949)
Notes:
Snyder likes to be
The Last Supper of Leonardo
, but replaces
Jesus and his apostles with the various members of the group of Minutemen
. Compared to balloon withdrawal is delayed for two years. In the "framework" also appears
Silhouette, but it should not be seen that the work of Moore
lesbian heroin was killed along with his lover in 1946. Other error, and far greater weight, is to show
Comedian sitting at the same table with
Hooded Justice (right next to her secret lover
Captain Metropolis). I have two if the oath since 1940, and that is since
Blake tried to rape Sally Jupiter
and this has been ousted from
Minutemen. If you have not read the comic and you're still wondering who the little man behind
Sally, the answer is
Larry Schexnayder, the publicist that the superhero has married (in comic) in 1947.
9) L 'Moth Man
obviously crazy, is dragged to the ambulance by two nurses. A third man is ready to make him wear a straitjacket. (1949-1954?).
Notes:
Mothman was persecuted during the years of McCarthyism and, because of excessive stress, the superhero has come to acknowledge a nervous breakdown.
10) Silhouette and his lover killed. On the wall the word "lesbian whores." On the bed is a photo taken in Times Square 1945. (?)
Note: In the comic papers reveal the homosexuality of
Silhouette heroin in 1946 are excluded from the Minutemen
. Six weeks later the two lovers are killed.
We have no reference points because time
Snyder altered the official chronology.
11) A man comes out of the bedroom
Sylvia Kovacs under the eyes of the little
Walter . There are other "clients" on hold, and one of them reads the New York Gazette
that shows the title "The Russians have
the atomic bomb." (1949)
Notes: A little 'Given the strong likelihood of confusion of the crisis
Mothman must have occurred in the fifties.
12) shaking hands with Kennedy
and
Dr. Manhattan (1961).
Notes: A scene taken from the fourth chapter of the comic.
13) The Comedian
kill President Kennedy in Dallas November 22, 1963.
Note: In the comic you can imagine that
Blake may have killed Kennedy
, but is never said openly. Same thing
for Carl Bernstein Bob Woodward and
, the two journalists from the "Post" discovered that the maneuvers of men
Nixon in the Watergate Hotel.
14) Sally and her husband Laurie
fight while watching the scene. The camera glides on TV showing images of the all'Brinks Hotel on 24 December 1964.
Notes: In 1964
Laurie has 15 years and not 5 as we are shown in the scene. Remember that Sally
was shown pregnant in 1949. Just do not we Mr. Snyder
!
15) Two criminals caught by
Rorschach. (After 1956 the first 1975)
Notes: Note on the ground the "signature" of the executioner.
16) Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba (1962)
Castro see U.S. planes flying over the capital.
Note: We are going back in time, or the director wants to show us how it has intensified the arms race because of the presence of Dr. Manhattan
?
17) peaceful protest for the war in Vietnam. A hippie girl comes close to a soldier's rifle and slips a flower into the barrel. Although the act of non-aggression, the military fired on demonstrators.
Note: In this scene
Snyder blends (knowingly?) Two famous photographs taken in 1967 by various photographers. In the photo of Marc Riboud
, is in fact shown a young girl who appears before the soldiers with a flower in her hand. In one of Bernie Boston
rather see a guy who actually put the flowers in the barrels of several guns.
18) Andy Warhol presents a portrait dedicated to
Nite Owl II . Beside him is always the friend of Truman Capote
. (1969-1975?)
Notes: Behind
Warhol on the bottom, there is a man with the hat (!) Looking pictures that represent spots
Rorschach. As the shot widens, the left is a second portrait dedicated to
Adrian Veidt. The boy who appears naked on stage makes it impossible to see these details. Should be the
Dr. Manhattan that overshadows his colleagues?
19) Landing 's
Apollo 11 on the Moon. The
Dr. Manhattan take a picture
Neil Armstrong. The astronaut says the phrase "Good luck Mr. Gorsky
. (1969)
Note: In this comic scene is not this idea to include it in the movie does not seem particularly bright because it could raise further questions that the script does not ever answer. The phrase
Armstrong seems to refer to a line delivered by the U.S. during a pilot phase dell'allunaggio. As has been revealed many years later, it seems that the gentlemen
Gorsky were neighbors of
Armstrong and the latter, when he was little, he heard Mrs. Gorsky
reject the bold dashing husband of sexual intercourse with the phrase "
Oral Sex? Do you want oral sex? You'll have when the child of our neighbors walk on the moon! .
20) Ozymandias posing for the press in front of
Studio 54, a historic New York nightclub known to history as the undisputed temple of disco music. After the photo session, we see the smartest man in the world go by his celebrity friends including
we can recognize the Village People ,
Mick Jagger and David Bowie
. (1977?)
Note: It actually see
Ozy shake hands with Bowie
because the character of Adrian Veidt
follows through and around the main character of Nicholas Roeg
The Man Who Fell on Earth, played precisely by the "White Duke" in 1976. In 1977, when he was inaugurated
Studio 54 and have formed the Village People
actually
Bowie had already stopped for a while 'the role of Ziggy Stardust
, the leader of
Spiders From Mars . Evidently the decision to present the singer in its most famous comes from the need to make it more easily identifiable for the viewer. If you think that Ziggy
alien was in fact a character, the writers had more than one reason to show the eclectic
Bowie at another time in his career.
21) The new group of
Watchmen posing as former Minutemen
. (?)
Note: In the comics the only meeting of
Crimebusters there was in 1966 so it is once again an inexplicable step from shrimp? You might also add that in fact the group was never formed, then what sense does this picture taken with obvious promotional purposes?
22) While screen tv
Nixon celebrates his third term, New York is in turmoil, the people took to the streets to support the police and the law
Keane declaring all vigilante outlaw. (1977)
Note: The U.S. presidential election were held November 2, 1976. The images of Nixon's victory
so do not agree with those of the disturbances erupted in New York in 1977. Whereas the law
Keane was approved on August 3, 1977 to resolve the issue of the strike by the police, I consider that unlikely since Jan. 20 (Inauguration Day itself the new president) until the beginning of August, New York has remained out of control. Maybe someone
errors highlighted are nothing, or not likely to jeopardize the enjoyment of the story, but that does not stop to wonder why were not complied with the principles of consistency and plausibility.
resorting systematically to trickery to pull the wool over the eyes, probably not the best way to convince the millions of fans who have waited for years to see the result of your work and are ready to judge without special discounts.
Now I wonder: Zack Snyder
overestimated their abilities, or conversely underestimated the intelligence of the average viewer, and especially the average comic book reader?
In my opinion, the real problem in the opening credits, is that despite
Dylan continues to repeat that "times are changing, in fact, on the big screen, there are shown changes very little. Since the first images it is clear that the adventurers of
Watchmen are "different" from those that have been shown to date. They are more incattiviti, have the same weaknesses and the same human flaws for which should be a paragon of virtue. Have no qualms to kill and in some cases are real villains (like the Comedian
). They have a keen business sense and commodified their images as soon as they get the chance. The times are changing? I do not think so, because the second generation follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, while the world has discovered all of a sudden they've had enough of false gods. Delete
Hollis Mason, the naive adventurer who offered more than any other real points of contact with the common idea of \u200b\u200bthe superhero "classic" was probably the biggest mistake made by writers. What better way to represent the failure of the American dream if not by the barbarous murder of the first
Owl?
Hollis Mason is a character who is a
Watchmen as
James Stewart is the films of Frank Capra
and in the comics is just the 'senseless murder of the hero that makes the reader understand that it has been a point of no return, that all humanity is now involved in a mad, unstoppable danse macabre from which no one can steal.
Snyder's film grants
Hollis Mason only a curtain
with Dan, but given the didacticism of the dialogues is obvious that the sole function of this character is to transmit the first information on the heroes of the past. Too little when you consider that in the comic
Hollis Mason is the engine of the first three chapters and in fact is the only one to represent the right side of the coin, the spotless knight with whom he empathizes spontaneously.
"What is the point most days in the music of today? Do you really think that people know what is in the music room? They believe that only get smarter because they feel emotion in his stomach and this is important: all of Beethoven become knights on horseback against the enemy. " Conductor
Balduin Baas in
Orchestra Rehearsal of
Federico Fellini (1979)
- hears what sounds ? - Yes - The mean anything? - Yes, it's an old song: like all the old songs, reminds me of something I forgot. and Laurence Olivier
Katharine Hepburn in Love Among the Ruins of George Cukor (1975)
Not many songs and classical pieces
quoted by Moore in Watchmen we find in the film
Snyder .
The American had an eye on Bob Dylan
correctly represented with three songs, but in two cases they cover signed by Jimi Hendrix
(
All Along the Watchtower ") and My Chemical
Romance ("Desolation Row
). Mr. Zimmerman
is obviously the lion's share in the opening credits with the aforementioned "
The Times They Are A-Changin . The director then part of the right foot, but unfortunately his subsequent choices are not as bright. Also extracted from
Watchmen find the song by Billie Holliday
"You're My Thrill
" in the comic song "listen" in the background during the scene where Dan
and return to Laurie action.
Nite Owl II is a man who looks back with nostalgia and his musical tastes reflect this aspect of his personality. In the film, the song is inexplicably
Lady Day used in the scene where Dr. Manhattan
Laurie tries to excite
doubling. So a change really bizarre and completely unmotivated.
The last point of conjunction between the two musical works is "
Ride of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner
. In the film, Snyder
inserts the notes of this symphony as background music during the advance of
Dr. Manhattan in Vietnam, and for many it was a nod to that film buffs will certainly remember the use by Francis Ford Coppola's
in Apocalypse Now .
In addition to this key Cinephile, one might add that in extracts of
Under the guise present at the end of the first chapter of the comic,
Mason cites "
Ride of the Valkyries" by associating the saddest episode of his life .
Probably the idea of \u200b\u200busing the work of Wagner
could derive from this source, too bad, however, that the writers have missed the opportunity to link more closely with the comic and the movie
Coppola excluded from the script the line that says
Rorschach in the second picture on page three of the XI chapter: "
We are approaching the heart of darkness .
Heart of Darkness is the title of the novel by Joseph Conrad
that inspired Apocalypse Now
.
The only piece that we find mentioned in the comic and perfectly set in the same stage of history in both works is "
All Along the Watchtower."
For other songs chosen by Snyder
we can say that the director has not excelled in originality and in some cases, his choices are entirely inadequate.
The scene where the musical element "working against" the objective by Snyder
is certainly one that shows the embrace of
Dan and Laurie
. What
Cohen is a really great piece, but the mix of music and images is really indigestible even for viewers who can not be defined not fussy.
deserves a special mention "
The Sound of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel
.
Snyder makes us feel the song during the funeral of
Comedian, but the reasons for this choice is not clear.
track symbol of the late sixties, the song of the duo is closely associated with the degree
of
Mike Nichols, one of the most successful films of the period. How
Schlesinger, also
Nichols is a director of race and had used the piece since the masterful opening that shows us
Dustin Hoffman property and dragged the escalator. A clear metaphor of a person incapable of managing their lives and which simply take the current waiting for something to wake him from his existential torpor.
Paul Simon wrote the song to make it even more tangible sense of loss felt by Americans after the death of Kennedy
, but in the context of graduate
the song took on a different value and representative of a deep unease bordering inner apathy.
As mentioned earlier, Snyder
appropriates and juxtaposes the images in a calligraphic and without any flicker of originality. Indeed, to be honest, also lost yet another opportunity to prove that he really grasped the basic grammar of
Watchmen .
The sequence in fact part of the frame with an angel in the cemetery, just like in the comics, but as the work of
Moore and Gibbons
Sally the angel is crying for the fate of
Comedy - and not by chance that the image also shows a direct reference to his famous pin smiley - in a metaphorical film every element has been removed and the scene proceeds in more rhetorical modes showing only a funeral made even sadder by the rain continues to fall "on the just and the unjust." Last
example use "awkward" the score, to the time we see
Nite Owl II and Comedy during the scuffles broke out in New York during the strike of the police in 1977. As a soundtrack the scene
Snyder opts for "I'm Your Boogie Man
"
of KC & The Sunshine Band . Someone could wonder about the meaning of a pop song-dance in a highly dramatic moment in the story, others may also justify the choice as an attempt to represent the scene from the perspective of
Comedian, a cynical person who shoot people in the same way that reduces the bottles in a playground . I would also agree with the latter interpretation key, but if we take into consideration the fact that this precise sequence is actually a memory of Dan
, choosing
Snyder is once again totally wrong and not fair with the personality of the second Nite Owl
.
"Even if I have the utmost respect for certain books, I think that converting them to film should be completely irreverent. At that point, I count only the script, and get to write a script that works be my only concern. I have no guilt when I change it radically certain scenes or invent new ones. Sometimes what works beautifully in a book, does not work at all in a movie. " Ruth Prawer Jhabvala conclude this long reflection on
Watchmen 1.0 with some remarks about how, at least according to myself, this film was to be developed.
established that it was actually impossible not to make substantial cuts to the plot to get something "commercially" expendable, perhaps it would be enough to take a narrative structure of classical (so-called three-act) and take only the views of Rorschach
. I say this not because I was particularly impressed by the excellent test
Jackie Earle Haley , but because on balance it is
Rorschach the real glue of the novel and its identity as a private-eye would have helped build a great psychological noir fiction where the element remains in the background just as happens in the comics.
choice so far (but then it really is?) Would lead to radical changes (less weight to Dr. Manhattan
and Laurie), but with a well-written script, nothing really required was to be sacrificed and the parable of the story would remain unchanged. Not
would have been a brave and interesting show
God Manhattan from a distance and to depress the viewer in the shoes of the common man? In this regard we can not forget that among the things taken from Snyder
there are memorable characters, "taken from the road" governing the scene beautifully and have nothing to envy to the leading figures in terms of characterization. Of all the memories of Bernard
, a daily newspaper that keeps track of the mood of the community and which is capable of surprise the reader by providing highly personal readings of the facts and unsettling. A typical example we find in the sequence of Chapter III shows that the output of the new issue of "Nova Express
" and the surprising reaction to the news that the dell'edicolante blue superman has infected his former partner: "His
ex says that they could not agree on the sexual plane! Which means that it is also a fag! My wife also had sexual fantasies about that monster! I've always suspected ... . So unless
Watchmen, but more
Marvels, Kurt Busiek's miniseries of
and Alex Ross
when the true protagonists of history are normal everyday people struggling with extraordinary beings that you can perceive only the 'image of the facade.
Of course I say all this in the absolute knowledge that if
Snyder had really followed this advice, bankruptcy, this article would have a completely different tone and we'd all be here today to repeat the famous words: "but not enough for him to follow the story as was written? ".
"It is not necessary that a director can write, but if he can read, it helps." Billy Wilder Francesco Moriconi
