Kevin Smith Says HBO's Watchmen Was His Favorite Thing This Year

This has been a huge year for geek entertainment. "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker closed out a 2019 that also included Avengers: Endgame and the launch of the DC Universe app, among many other things. One strong moment for a lot of folks in geek circles was also the return of Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith as Jay and Silent Bob in Jay & Silent Bob Reboot. But Smith, who wrote and directed that film, said that HBO's Watchmen was his favorite thing out this year. During a conversation with his Fatman Beyond co-host Marc Bernardin, he broke down why.

Smith and Bernardin -- whom himself had recently interviewed Watchmen showrunner Damon Lindelof -- had plenty to say about Watchmen. Smith said that it was so good he convinced his wife -- who usually stays away from such things -- to watch along with him.

"It was a dream come true," Smith said. "It was everything that we talked about as kids, going 'imagine if somebody took this s--t seriously.' But Damon Lindelof, rather than saying 'I'm going to give you the Watchmen that you know,' he's like 'I'm going to show you the Watchmen that I was inspired by, and to me it f---ing fits. I can't speak for Alan Moore, but how could not not love what it became man? It was insanely f---ing groundbreaking, it captured my imagination, it felt like Watchmen without being Watchmen. They didn't overdo fan service but there was so much of it that you could see it was made with loving f---ing hands. Every episode was thrilling to me."

He particularly singled out Regina King and Jeremy Irons for praise, saying that at first he did not understand the storyline Irons was in, but ultimately loved it when you got to see where it was going.

"Watchmen was my favorite f---ing thing this year and that include my own movie," Smith said, noting that at first he was annoyed that the series was going to come out weekly rather than being something fans could binge, but adding that ultimately he had to "learn anticipation again, like when we were kids."

Watchmen is available now to stream for free for HBO members on the HBO Go app. Other digital video on demand services have it for sale or rental, and a home release is coming in January.