Watchmen is easily one of the most divisive comic book adaptations of all time, as Zack Snyder sought to bring Alan Moore's "unadaptable" graphic novel to the big screen with a $130 million budget in tow. With a tricky premise revolving heavily around politics, featuring acts of sexual assault and touching on the generally darker side of superheroes, Watchmen wasn't a frothy comic book flick ala Spider-Man, nor could it even simply be called "gritty" like Christopher Nolan's dark Batman movies (which are nevertheless peppered with humour). The movie heavily divided critics, earning 64%, while grossing only $185 million at the box office, making it a colossal financial disappointment. Looking back, though, it's little surprise that the movie didn't make money: for all of its visual beauty, the postmodern approach to superheroes was simply too strange and too much for casual audiences, which is the audience Watchmen really needed to make serious money (though with the R-rating, this was always going to be a struggle). Fans of the comic may have scoffed at Snyder changing the ending of the movie (by removing the giant squid attack), though this is easily forgiven considering how challenging creating a convincing CGI squid would have been, and how this probably would have turned off those casual viewers even more. For the open-minded viewer, Watchmen is gorgeous, thought-provoking, well-acted and absolutely like nothing ever put to film. To call it underrated is an understatement.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
