Who Watches The Watchmen

image courtesy of FHF

What: MTV Spoilers Watchmen Screening

Where: Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood

When: Wednesday February 18^th

This was the taping of a new MTV show called “Spoilers” where viewers can find out little tidbits about upcoming movies with interviews, sneak peeks, and behind the scenes extras. Entry to this show is all done online through MTV or other networks and is completely free.

The Movie

Though it’s a 2 hour 40 min. movie, it doesn’t even feel it (until you look down at your watch and aptly respond with “What the f***?”). I enjoyed it and will most likely see it again. Now when it comes down to the comic book fans, it’s not going to be perfect. I thought it was a bastardization of the book and at often times was over-sexed, over-violent, and over-gored. This took away from the classic story that I hoped it would be and transformed it into a somewhat long political action flick. I guess when you have a director like Zack Snyder (300, Dawn of the Dead), you tend to get an influx of ruthless action scenes and horror-esque mutilation. Then again, this is the comic that couldn’t be made into a movie and Zack did do a nice job. Certain sections were cut out (duh) and the ending….well, let’s just say I like the ending. I’m still very undecided about the music. They use a lot of music pieces that correlate with the time (Simon & Garfunkle, Dylan) but songs as iconic as these tend to stick out when run together with a movie. It’s a good movie with a good message and not just another superhero movie. It’s got action, sensuality, depth, and hilarity in it. Go watch the Watchmen.

The Interviews

We were able to see the cast as they arrive in pairs. They all seem like very nice people and it’s quite amazing to see your characters right after you watch such an epic movie. They came on stage, talked a little, and were soon on their way off to whatever it is actors and actresses are busy doing. Zack Snyder showed up near the end and gave a 20-30 minute interview followed by a Q&A session with the audience. So the story goes that Zack initially did not want to direct the movie. Like most fanboys, Zack did not believe that The Watchmen could ever be made into a movie and declined at first. Later on he realized that if he didn’t do the movie, Warner Bros would just find someone else to do it with the updated script (Dr Manhattan goes to Iraq, Veidt gets run over by Archie) which would be an epic disaster. So, in a noble gesture, he decided to take on the project and try to keep the movie true to the comic. Snyder also dropped that a director’s cut that’s a little over 3 hours in length was due to come out in July for the die-hard fans.

Anything Else?

We got to watch some previews and behind the scenes stuff of Land of The Lost with Will Farrell and Star Trek by JJ Abrams; both of which looked really good. Overall it was a great event lasting over 8 hours. By the end of it, the only words to come out of everyone’s mouth was “Foooooooood…”