It'll be interesting to get a review from someone who isn't really fond of Snyder's work (or at least 300).
I gave it a mixed/positive review and I think
300 is absolute garbage. Although I will say my opinion has fallen somewhat upon reflection.
Basically, he says that Snyder remained too faithful, and that the nihilism of the graphic novel comes through but is watered down in its impact because, according to the Glieb-man, "since the Cold War nuclear fears of the '80s never did come to pass."...
What a neck-deep crock of ^^^^. I don't think Glieberman understands this as a fictional alternative reality. It's not meant to be our world as it was, with us as the ultimate result.
I'm sorry, but he's right. It's the major failing of
Watchmen as a novel. The book was set up in an alternate universe to power the engine of the story but it was released at the height of the Cold War and
about the Cold War as much as it was about superhero comics (and more to the point how idiotic superhero comics are compared to the reality of the Cold War). The book cannot be divorced from from that milieu and efforts to do so are doomed to silliness. Not only did we make it through, but real "squid" events have proved either fractious and destabilizing (9/11) or overlooked completely once the news celebration passes (the Asian tsunami). In fact the mass slaughter (intentional or otherwise, and it's worth remembering in
Watchmen the squid was viewed as an
accidental dimensional breach) of Johnny Foreigner is virtually ignored around the world.
Watchmen works in its own space (the novel anyway; I don't think the film holds together by the end). But it doesn't work in
our space 25 years later. Unfortunately, it was supposed to, because it was about
us as much as anything. Poor readers often call
Watchmen nihilistic. It's not; it's incredibly
naive. Brilliant, but naive.
Relegating the book to "alternative universe fiction" is like pretending
1984 isn't a political novel and ignores the reality of
Watchmen's contemporary publishing. It was never escapist fiction (one of the reasons the fans of rapists and psychopaths stand out). The EW assessment is fair.
