Watchmen: Chapter I

So, Watchmen is one of the most famous, one of the best and one of the highest valued graphic novels in the world.

So, why would we get another adaptation of it with a relatively cheap animation? It basically gets no advertising push and with little information about it (it doesn't even have a wikipedia page at time of writing this!).

Just seems like they are devaluing the IP by releasing it this way!

But that's the why, now we move on to the what - the actual product!

And dammit, I thought it was pretty darn good. Clearly a straight adaptation, but they did it well. It engaged me, I thought the animation style captured the feel of the book well, and the voice acting was pretty good.

So why I don't think this should exist, given it does - I have to admit it could have been way worse.

I love how we finally get to see Watchmen in its truest animated form. Snyder's adaptation was great, but this is as close as it gets to the comics coming to life.

The characters, the slow, lingering shots, the sound design, and the intricate details of the scenes are everything I hoped for. As a huge fan of the Watchmen comics, this feels like a real treat. I didn't expect it to be this good-I thought it would be on par with other solid DC animations, but this film has its own distinct flavor.

Rorschach's voice, inspired by Snyder's film, was possibly even more satisfying than Jackie Earle Haley's portrayal. I truly believe this will be a one-of-a-kind film and an honest depiction of the comics.

Huge thanks to the artists-it was a real treat. I can't wait for Chapter 2!

I expected this movie to be a full unabridged comic adaptation, but instead it's just a disappointing shot by shot animated remake of the live action version of "Watchmen", albeit the director's cut. If you've already watched Zack Snyder's live action movie, you'll be extremely bored by this movie. If you have only read the comics, you'll probably enjoy this adaptation. However, if you've only read the comics, the motion comic is far more complete than this.

I'm not sure how chapter 2 expects to cover the remaining ground of the comic in less than 90 minutes. Unless there's a director's cut of these animated films, I expect that a significant amount of story was unfortunately cut out.

I read the novel back in the day. And after that I watched Zack Snyder's version. I loved the message of the novel and I always thought Zack did a great job with his vision ahead of time.

Now we have the animation. It is very faithful to the resource. Story, characters and even their costumes and such. The story goes how it is happening in the novel. I can say the animation is more faithful from Zack's version up until now. However, I found that Zack was able to give better emotion and message. With Jackie Earle Haley's Rorschach voice acting and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Edward Blake voice acting the story was darker. In this adaptation it is more brutal. I am not saying one is better than the other but just different naturally.

Back in the day, because of the mindless MCU movies people treated Watchmen pretty hard. People created a hatewagon against Zack. Of course the ending of the Watchmen movie had to be different from the novel version because of the budget and technology limitations at that time, and some people had a reason to hate. But now with the different heroes versions such as The Boys and Invincible people can judge and watch with a wider perspective of an R rated adaptation.

I believe animation did a faithful adaptation for the 1st Chapter.

It's okay.

If you've read the Comic or watched Snyder's adaptation, the story is pretty much the same thing, bit by bit. You could completely skip it and not lose much. But unlike the film (which has some good acting in some parts that might feel dull in this one), it does include the "Tales of the Black Freighter" section that Snyder didn't have space for. And well, the dialogue is always good to hear, and Rorschach a treat.. good enough to deserve a refresh every now and then!

As a note, this first film (of two) completes issue 5 of 12 from the comic.. which is almost half the story, and it lasts around 1 hour and 20 minutes. Second chapter is expected in 2025? For newcomers, waiting that long and needing to rewatch this sounds like a bad idea. Just wait and enjoy them together. Or read the comic, which was already great. The visuals are okay, I guess.. with 3D models and brush-stroke textures. It serves enough as a vehicle for what is the draw (story), anyway. And works well as an introductory way to consume Watchmen.

You know if you want to watch this or not.