Have you seen Watchmen yet? I liked it, but I loved the book, and I felt like the movie was just a companion piece. Similarly, I liked the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie, but didn't think it held water as a stand alone work. The parts of Watchmen that I thought stood on their own merit were the pieces that were added in as supplements, most especially the alternative history montages that established the story's background, like Alan Moore's narratives did in the comic books. Sorry, was I supposed to say "graphic novels"? Accept it; if you've read the comic books, you're a geek. Accept it and we can get on with our conversation.
If you haven't read the books, then you didn't get the full affect of the movie, and your opinion doesn't really matter. Sorry. Doesn't this apply to all movies made about books? I know that there are some instances where movie adaptations are valid works of stand alone art (read The Lord of the Rings movies or Fight Club), but even in those cases a lot is lost by only watching the movies. When someone tells me that they don't want to read the book because they're waiting for the movie, my estimation of them falls a tick. Does that make me some sort of geek elitist? Maybe so.
Wow, I just went off on a bookworm rant when I wanted to talk about Flower Power. The phrase "Flower Power" has a negative connotation in society today that I don't understand. Patchouli stinks, I agree, but when I hear people use the term "Flower Power" I get a sense of cowardice, of uselessness, of the degradation of society. I don't understand why non-violence is held is such disregard in our society.
In the artistic montages at the beginning of Watchmen, there is a scene where a hippie girl puts a daisy in the barrel of a National Guardsman's rifle, just before there's a fusillade into the crowd of protesters. For some reason this scene has been haunting me, so I looked up it's historic inspiration. I hope that when it's my opportunity to stand up for my beliefs, I can find that sort of equanimity. Okay, I'd prefer it if I'm never required to stand up for my beliefs. I think humanity would get along a lot better if nobody had to resort to absolutes.
