Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

Video journal #4 is up at the official Warner Brothers Watchmen movie website. It’s hosted by comic book artist Dave Gibbons, and the video gives us a few tantalizing glimpses of how the world he and Alan Moore created will look on film. He remarks upon the incredible attention to detail that is being put into the film, which certainly is impressive. This will no doubt please the purists who demand this level of faithfulness to the source material, but it leaves me feeling…concerned.

I have no doubt that Zack Snyder’s Watchmen will be a good movie. If he succeeds in translating it to the big screen, it will be a great movie. Someone once described it as the “Citizen Kane of comic books,” which I think is an apt description. Just like the Orson Welles classic did for film, Watchmen completely redefined the medium of comics and what could be done in telling a story.

In interviews Alan Moore has asserted that despite their superficial similarities, comic books and movies are two entirely different media. An artist can do things in a comic book that simply can’t be done in a movie.

I believe there is such a thing as being too faithful to the source material, which I think is a problem with the first two Harry Potter movies. Every little detail from the books found its way onto the screen, with one huge exception: the pacing of the story. Reading the books is like a mad, wonderful trip on a magic carpet as J.K. Rowling whisks us away to Hogwarts with Harry for the first time. The pages fly right on by, making for a breathless experience. Can the same thing be said for the movies? I would say no. In fact, they feel downright leaden at times.

A good director knows when to make changes for the sake of the story. Film is a kinetic, dynamic medium. It is driven by action. Stories in a book or graphic novel rely on action as well, but it is a reflective, introspective medium. Books can proceed at a slower pace without losing the reader’s interest. One of the smartest things Peter Jackson did in adapting The Lord of the Rings was to eliminate the chapter in Fellowship with Tom Bombadil. The outcry from fans over this decision was incredible, but consider the alternative. Frodo and his companions are being pursued by the Ringwraiths when they meet old Tom. He’s a fun-loving, wonderful guy you can’t help but like…but he brings the story to a screeching halt as he and the hobbits sit their asses down and have themselves a picnic. In the book we allow it, because we know we’re in for a long haul with Tolkien. On the big screen it though would have been ridiculous. The audience would have been scratching its collective head and thinking, what the hell is this? I thought these guys were on an urgent mission. They don’t have time for this.

Will Zack Snyder’s Watchmen be a drag to sit through? God, I certainly hope not. Expectations are astronomically high for this movie, which means the chance for disappointment is also high. Snyder’s previous movies have been good, but they pale in comparison to the scale of this one. He’s an ambitious director though, and seems to be up to the challenge.