Preview: Watchmen

Why do comic book films, like video game adaptations, invariably disappoint? Such rich, immersive mediums as comic books or video games are very subjective: you can take away something different each time you play or watch, and you can feel an empathy with the story that lacks in other mediums - especially with video games, which are interactive. A disappointing film adaptation can destroy this empathy, and the film appears to pale in comparison to the original format.

Supposedly, 93 comic book films were slated for production in 2009. How many of these existed merely as pencil on the back of a producer's napkin before being dismissed I don't know. Everyone knows comic book movie are disappointing. Look at Spiderman 3, a film which seemed determine to stumble into self-parody with a 'dark' be-quiffed and 'emo' Peter Parker. The Batman reboot is the exception. Superman (2006) flaunts the rule. Everyone knows this the same way everyone knows that Rorschach is the best Watchmen character. Who doesn't like the masked, trench-coat wearing, creepy vigilante, who shows little emotion and wastes fewer words, who refuses to compromise, has a troubled past, Noir-ish sentiments, and cares for no-one, is deceptively strong and quick but vulnerable....I'm getting carried away.

But thats why comics are great: they carry us away. At least as effectively as books or films, the best - and those in the know know that Watchmen is the best - combine the immersion of a good book with the emotional  manipulation of a good director. If you haven't read the 1986 Watchmen comic, which examines the morality surrounding the superhero myth (a myth that sustains even in this comic - none of the heroes bar one have super powers); are heroes above the law? Do they have the right to dish out their own brand of justice? And as the tagline roars, who watches the Watchmen? If you haven't read it, read it.

Now: the film. Directed by Zack Snyder, who oozes stylistic flourishes from every pore (he directed 2007's 300), Watchmen, like the comic, follows a group of costumed vigilantes, forced into retirement by a law banning superheroes, who fancy that one of their own is killing off their number one by one. This while Cold War tensions heat up between the US and Soviet Union. A conspiracy is uncovered which threatens the world as we know it.

 Getting the film made has been a struggle; Terry Gilliam dismissed it as unfilmable (though Terry Gilliam directed Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, also deemed unfilmable). Directors, writers, lawsuits and copyright thefts later, the film is slated for release worldwide on March 6, 2009.

But I'm still excited about this one. Director Zack Snyder originally wanted to include the Watchmen's comic-within-a-comic Tales of the Black Freighter (in a world of superheroes, comics feature pirates) in the film, but as this would have increased the runtime catastrophically, it is being released as a standalone DVD. The very fact that Snyder sought to include what is arguably one of the most enjoyably clever and symbolic aspects of the Watchmen comic in the film is exciting fanboys no end. Similar to the way that Hamlet puts on a play-within-a-play which mirrors the events of his father's death to stir the emotions of the murderer King Claudius, Tales of the Black Freighter mirrors the Watchmen story in damning, swashbuckling and desperate style.

Lets hope Watchmen subverts the trend, and becomes The Dark Knight of 2009: the benchmark for the genre.