Watchmen Script Review Online

CHUD.com did a review of the 2003 version of David Hayter's Watchmen script. The film will be directed by Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy).

Here's part of the review: "How do you adapt one of the richest, most complex and best received comic books – sorry, graphic novels! – of all time? You don’t, cry legions of comic fans.

"But let’s say you did. One of the best ways to go about it would be to focus in on the basic story and the themes, cut away what’s left over and remain terrifically faithful to the work. And that’s essentially what David Hayter has done with his December 2003 draft of Watchmen, based on the book by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

"Keep in mind that this review is based on a script from the end of ’03, so many changes have certainly been made since then. It’s really important to note that this script is only a couple of months older than the one that Stax reviewed for IGN FilmForce in ’04, but it has fixed almost everything that sounded awful in that draft, which included such disasters as Laurie having superpowers – that is not in this later draft.

"The script opens with the beating and murder of Eddie Blake, the one time costumed operative known as The Comedian. Rorschach – the last of the costumed vigilantes still operating in a world that outlawed them a decade ago – begins investigating the murder, convinced that there’s a conspiracy behind it. He tries to enlist his old partner, Dan Dreiberg, the now-retired Night Owl, but Dan – who spends many of his evenings with the original Nite Owl, Hollis Mason – wants nothing to do with it."

You can read the rest here.