Watchmen – Book vs. Movie

Always, read the book first. The movies are often good, but the source material is almost always better. My review of the Watchmen book is here.

Read here for a good description of Alan Moore’s other works and how their stories were changed for the big screen (into the movies From Hell, Constantine and V for Vendetta).

Because of the director’s proclivity for spewing blood all over the screen (see 300),  I went into the film with the expectation that it would be gratuitously bloody. After watching, I thought the level of sex and gore was in line with the book (though my wife thought it was a bit much), and, as many have stated, I certainly would not take a child to see this movie.

Differences (with spoilers) between the book and the movie, which may or may not end up in the director’s cut:

• No giant psychic killer squid;
• No evil pirate comic book story arc (which, though I understood the metaphor, I found distracting in the original book);
• No island where Adrian put people on to create his monster killer psychic squid;
• Little about Rorschach’s head shrink and Rorschach’s affect on him
• Obviously a big change in how the cause of the attacks at the end are portrayed (since there was no giant psychic killer squid)

I did think (as I’ve seen many mention) that the movie ran a bit long…though I’d be hard pressed to suggest what to cut out.

The characters of Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) were outstandingly played. And we enjoyed the portrayls of Nixon, Kissinger and even a cameo from Lee Iaccoca (who I believe catches a bullet, but not the way Adrian does).