Watchmen

"The world will look up and shout 'Save us!'... And I'll whisper 'No,'" Rorschach.

Whoa....just saw the new trailer for the upcoming "Watchmen" movie. For those of you who do not know "Watchmen" - it's a graphic novel that was released in the 80s. It's as deep and involved as anything I have ever read. Excellent story, great character development, violent, gritty, and one of the best pieces of fiction I have ever read. Now, I am sure one could ask, "How good can a comic book be?" Well, just google "Watchmen"...

The trailer looks fantastic and I absolutely can not wait to see how the novel translate to the screen. Phenomenal footage. What I like about the trailer is that it does not give any of the story away, but then again I have to add that a story as deep as "Watchmen"....not much damage a trailer can do...

Without giving anything away, I do want to add that "Watchmen" has one of my all-time favorite anti-heroes - Rorschach. I am a huge fan of the anti-hero; ever since I first saw "Escape from New York" with Kurt Russell as the quintessential cinematic anti-hero Snake Plissken. Of course others could argue that Bogart's Rick Blaine of "Casablanca" is the quintessential anti-hero - but who I am to split hairs?

I hope I am not crucified, but the character of Rorschach is about anti-hero as they come and I can not wait to see how he is translated onto the big screen. The novel describes Rorschach's youth and it is an upbringing just screaming, "serial killer." What he goes through as a kid is ridiculous. But instead of going down the road of serial killer, he becomes - well, I don't know how to describe him as other than an anti-hero. I like to think of an anti-hero doing the wrong things for the right reasons. Rorschach does whatever he wants for his own reasons -

"Stood in firelight, sweltering. Bloodstain on chest like map of violent new continent. Felt cleansed. Felt dark planet turn under my feet and knew what cats know that makes them scream like babies in night. Looked at sky through smoke heavy with human fat and God was not there. The cold, suffocating dark goes on forever and we are alone. Live our lives, lacking anything better to do. Devise reason later. Born from oblivion; bear children, hell-bound as ourselves, go into oblivion. There is nothing else. Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It’s us. Only us. Streets stank of fire. The void breathed hard on my heart, turning it's illusions to ice, shattering them,"
Rorschach.

The trailer does have some amazing, albeit, extremely short footage of Rorschach. Check it out if you are so inclined:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GUmgQHvqqc

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