I’ve been a fan of Watchmen from the early ’90s, when Mark Pollard let me read his sacred twelve. I’ve since then purchased the graphic novel myself, read it several times (it requires several readings), and generally developed a love of the work. I approached Zack Snyder’s Watchmen with mixed feelings. I had heard we were going to get the real Watchmen – not some hosed-down version of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s creation, but the whole beautiful, dark, gritty, brutal, angry, sad animal. I also knew that, even though the movie ran to 160 minutes, some stuff would have to go. Still, something inside me said that even a diminished version of Moore’s Watchmen could have a massive impact on the big screen.
I was impressed by the movie. I think that it has lots of flaws, but also some big ideas, and lots to say about how we should understand change.
Philosophy for change 