Apparently, Lots of People were Watching the Watchmen

Well, the long wait was over, the lawsuits were settled and the box office tallies are in. Watchmen is officially a hit.......for now.

It took in a big $55.7 million over the weekend, making it the biggest opening so far in 2009. Although, as my wife said, "Isn't 2009 like five minutes old?" So, maybe not a record that's going to stand for long. Worldwide, the film raked in $83.2 million, so let's just say that, for a nearly 3 hour long, hard R, thematically dense and detailed film, it's done well.

I went and saw it this weekend, and while I did enjoy it, it was not a perfect experience. The fight scenes seemed amped up to an almost ridiculous degree (didn't Matrix-style slo-mo wire work become passe, like four years ago?) Some of the contemporary music was used extremely well, but a lot of it was hugely distracting.

Overall, however, it was pretty much exactly how I always pictured the film version looking and feeling. It was long but nver dragged, it was complex but not confusing. It retained its tone and weight despite the relatively minor changes (and those changes needed to be made). So, was it everything I hoped for? Well, as the book is one of my favourite novels ever, no. But attempting to capture every little thing that made the book so ground-breaking and mesmerizing was never a possibility, so I'm not disappointed.

However, I am quite interested to hear feedback from someone who never read the novel. Was it completely incoherent? Was it boring? Did it hold together?