The new issue of Rolling Stone just hit the stands this week. In addition to a cover story spotlighting irrelevant pop star/trainwreck Britney Spears, the issue features the pop culture mag’s annual “Hot List”. Under the more than slightly condescending heading of “Hot Geek Angst” (at least it doesn’t say “Bam! Pow! Crash!”), writer  Brian Hiatt has this to say about the upcoming adaption of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s Watchmen:

Recently, Warner Bros. screened the first 20 minutes of Watchmen; it looks like the best parts of the movie come straight from the book, like a visually stunning sequence starring naked, blue-skinned, atomic-powered Dr. Manhattan. And the worst parts may well be everything else — especially since Snyder has admitted to altering the book’s apocalyptic ending. But even if he botched it, he’s given Moore’s masterpiece a new life. I’ve even spotted actual females reading it on the subway. And that, at least, qualifies Snyder as some kind of superhero.

While he’s obviously a bit cynical in regards to the quality of the movie, he does raise a valid point. Let’s face it, the movie can’t possibly do the comic justice. Watchmen isn’t just the greatest comic book ever published, it’s one of the best works of fiction ever published. And while Zac Snyder seems to sincerely care about adapting the comic as faithfully as possible (rumors of a squidless climax notwithstanding), he simply isn’t a good enough filmmaker to produce a movie that comes even close to approaching the greatness of Moore and Gibbons’s work. I’m not trying to slam Snyder, I just feel that Watchmen is too complex to be made into a movie without losing important details in the translation. I doubt there’s anyone working in Hollywood today that could pull it off.

(At this point, I think I think it would be prudent to assure you that despite appearances, I am really looking forward to seeing Watchmen, and I expect I’ll enjoy the hell out of it.)

Even if the movie turns out to be a crashing disappointment–and I’m sure we’re all going to find something in the movie to grouse about–Hiatt is correct when he says that Snyder has given Watchmen a new life. We can’t expect that everyone who goes to see the movie will stop in at a comic store on the way home from the theater to buy a copy of the Watchmen trade, since the past few years have taught us that grossing millions of dollars at the box office doesn’t really impact comic book sales in any significant way. Hell, the Blade franchise was respectably successful, and yet Marvel still can’t get even regular comic readers to give a damn about the character. Even so, chances are the movie is going to be a massive hit. The two highest-grossing movies this year were The Dark Knight and Iron Man, and if Snyder’s 300 can gross $200 million, I think it’s safe to say that The Watchmen is going to be huge. Already, you can feel the excitement the movie is generating. Comic stores are having a hard time keeping the trade collections in stock, as collectors are snapping up copies for themselves or to pass along to non-comic fans. The initial Watchmen trailer even boosted downloads of the Smashing Pumpkins song,”The Beginning is the End is the Beginning,” which plays throughout the trailer.

My point is that–and believe it or not, there is a point hidden somewhere in all that rambling–even if we all leave the theaters on March 6th feeling grumpy as hell, we should take comfort in the fact that what was once something of a secret kept by comic book fans has transcended the genre to become a part of American pop culture history. Keep that in mind before you hit the message boards to register your complaints, should you have any.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 am and is filed under Comic Books, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.