Watching the Watchmen on the Thames

I was in Central London on Wednesday evening for a talk at the RSA which gave me the not-to-be-missed opportunity to attend a special event to mark the opening of the much anticipated Watchmen film.

The event was billed as, "This one-off spectacle will be created using the world's biggest water screen projector. The water screen, moored especially for this occasion in the middle of the Thames near the London Eye, will create an enormous vertical screen of water that will extend to 72 feet in height and 100 feet across."

The show was targeted toward the Hungerford Bridge which provides excellent views across the Thames with the London Eye on the South bank and the Houses of Parliament on the North.

The screen created a dramatic effect with (prior to the main show) alternating images of the yellow Smiley face that is a Watchmen icon and of the blue Doctor Manhattan.

The news of the event had spread (I found out about it through Twitter) and the bridge was almost full of spectators prior to the advertised start of 8pm.

We were a hardly crowd as it was pretty cold and a strong wind was blowing in our faces bringing spray from the screen with it.

We also had to brave the bridge that has very open sides and shakes whenever a train goes past. Not a good place to be if you suffer from vertigo, like I do!

The show failed to start at 8pm, by which time I was already frozen enough to question why I was there, but I stayed for another fifteen minutes before bravely squeezing through the crowd to get to the safety and warmth of a District Line train back to Richmond.

I have read some reviews of the show that started not long after I left and it sounds as though I missed nothing very much. The still images, the location and enthusiastic atmosphere were enough to make it an event worth being at, I did not need to see the trailer too.