From Printed Page To Silver Screen #11

Hey folks and welcome to another PP2SS this time around I’m looking the the recently released Watchmen and any news bouncing around. I intended on this being a normal review however I noticed something on the twitter stream about how bland somebody found the music, I can’t see the issue.

I went to see Watchmen on Sunday with my fiancée. She has never read the novel but she does like a comic or two now and then, we're both hooked on the Stephen King stuff coming from Marvel but that’s a whole other article. I personally got a kick out of the soundtrack. ‘All along the watchtower’ and ‘Everybody wants to rule the world’ being a couple of my favorites. I almost laughed out loud when I heard ‘rule the world’ being played in Ozymandius office. one of the best points of the music didn’t become clear until after we left the cinema. As both Kirsty and I realised that the music had helped us follow the story. Watchmen is a complex story and anything that helps you understand what they crammed into three hours is a major advantage.

I think the soundtrack was one of the best features of the film! That is quite a statement considering I would probably call this one of the best films I have ever seen. I have loved Watchmen for years but have never owned a copy, only read it second hand. I was given a copy for my birthday last year and I have read it three times since then in anticipation of the movie. So to say that I set myself up for a fall was an understatement. I love the book and the characters, what if they killed it?

We will never know because they knocked it out of the park. They stayed as true to the source material as they possibly could whilst carrying each character from one medium to another without damaging their integrity. The emotions that the story conveys, the political and moral messages are as clear and powerful as in the novel. Oh and Silk Spectre is the hottest thing on two legs, Malin Akermin is stunning, ‘nuff said.

One of the biggest points of dispute over this film is the ending and the removal of the Octopus. Whilst I’m not about to go all spoiler on you, I will say that I think the change was perfect and I don’t think it harmed the story at all. I am, however, looking forward to seeing the DVD edit with the big Octopus back!!

Overall I think the best possible with the time constraints and managed to keep the core of the story alive and well. Now on to some news about some upcoming releases.

Hugo Weaving spoke to AdelaideNow about the return of Megatron in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen:

"I've already done it," Weaving says, adding Bay had told him to keep the news hush-hush. "He's over in LA and we were working on the video split sort of thing and I had this strange conversation where he seemed to imply it was all a big secret. So there you go, I've given you the secret scoop."So how is Megatron resurrected?Weaving is coy about revealing too much, but does give a tiny hint."I think in the last one, doesn't Optimus Prime pick up a little bit of, a little shard of the cube, or the thing that's left, and he takes it with him. Maybe there's something there... but I don't know," he laughs.

Director Michael Bay has posted the following on his official site:Okay cat is out of the bag. Megatron is back ---- but you will only get to see him from the long lost past. We go way back in time as this movie explains the mythology of the Primes. He is not a tank like everyone suggests, but an alien vehicle. But sadly he does not has much screen time.

Michael

He has also made this post on his message board in response to pleas from the fans about Frank Welker doing the voice of Soundwave in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, considering he won't have the chance to voice Megatron again (Hugo Weaving is reprising that role):

I think I'm going to pursue Frank on Soundwave.

Michael

Seth Rogen is in Australia to promote Monsters vs. Aliens and he talked to "The Jono & Dano Show" about his big screen adaptation of The Green Hornet. He told the radio show that Columbia Pictures plans to begin filming in June. It will be an origin story but not in the traditional sense. It'll be unlike every other superhero film out there, Rogen said. The film will concentrate a lot on the relationship between these two different cats - The Green Hornet (who Rogen says is just "a normal guy") and Stephen Chow's Kato.

20th Century Fox has released an exclusive new photo of Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, opening in theaters on May 1st. You can view it below, and if you missed the new trailer, you can watch it here!

If you’ve got any comments on Watchmen or any of the News stories I covered then feel free to leave a comment.