Movie Review - Watchmen

Genre: Comic Book Adaptation, Superhero Thriller
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Running Time: 163 minutes (plus trailers)

Set in an alternate 1985 where Richard Nixon is serving out his fifth term and the United States and Russia are on the brink of war, Watchmen follows a group of retired superheroes who re-don their masks in order to combat an unseen villain attempting to trigger a nuclear conflict. Rorschach, a paranoid and violent vigilante who operates outside the law, discovers that one of his old allies, the equally violent Comedian, has been brutally murdered. He soon becomes convinced that someone is wiping out the former ‘masks’ so they cannot do anything to prevent the war. Enlisting the help of former comrades including Nite Owl, Silk Spectre and the super powered Dr Manhattan, Rorschach attempts to uncover the truth behind the Comedians murder before it is too late.

For those who don’t know, this film is based on the critically lauded comic book of the same name, written by the eccentric (to put it politely) Alan Moore. And when I say lauded, I really mean it. In 2005, Time Magazine named it one of the 100 Best English-Language novels since 1923. Not comics. Novels. To give you an idea of how big of a deal that is, some other works on the list include Gone with the Wind, Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Rings. Simply put, Watchmen is considered almost unanimously to be the greatest comic book of all time, and although I think ‘graphic novel’ is among the most pretentious phrases in the English language, if any publication deserves the title, it is this one. It is the geek Mecca, and for decades plans for a film adaptation have made their way around Hollywood, with a variety of directors attached, including Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys) Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream) and Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy), all of whom eventually left the project, with Gilliam declaring it unfilmable. Even when the film went into production last year with director Zack Snyder (300) at the helm, it was plagued by a lawsuit between Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox, as well as a public condemnation from Moore (although he has never approved of any film adaptations of his work, which include V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)

Rorschach investigates

But despite all the delays, the movie is finally here, and what a movie it is. I may not like Zack Snyder, but he knows the material back to front, and as a diehard fan of the comic I was glad to see that he was incredibly faithful to the source material. Indeed, there are many shots in this film that are exact recreations of panels in the book, and every time I saw one I had to resist the urge to scream in geek joy. Occasionally Snyder would add a personal touch (slow motion, anyone?) which irritated me, and the violence was at points unnecessarily gratuitous. Most people consider him to be a master of action directing, which I disagree with completely. 300 was a piece of garbage; the fight scenes here are nothing more than average, and at their low points feel stilted and fake. However, Watchmen is not an action film, and for the most part Snyder accepts this. The story is very well handled, and the directors successfully recreation of the complex characters and morally ambiguous world of the comic should leave most fans feeling very satisfied. My only real complaint in terms of the adaptation is that the non-linear Dr Manhattan origin flashback, which takes up the entire of fourth (and best) issue of the comic, is not long enough in the film.

Jon Osterman (Billy Crudup) is transformed into Dr Manhattan

But although the fanboy in me absolutely loved the film, as a reviewer I was a little less enthusiastic. Watchmen’s incredible detail and dogged authenticity is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. We get to see minor characters from the comic such as Hollis Mason, The Minutemen and Bubastis (the cat/tiger thing), but as they don’t actually influence the films storyline, their inclusion may simply confuse the general public. The film is already two and a half hours long, so Snyder could hardly include their subplots, and so maybe the best thing to do would have been to cut them out altogether. But had he done that, fans would have been outraged! This is the films catch 22. And the changed ending (which I will get to later) will surely set the internet ablaze. People not familiar with the comic may have a difficult time understanding what is going on (especially in the first act), and will probably be upset at the lack of action. The story is fantastic, and the ending should generate an enormous amount of discussion, however, it is so layered with Watchmen mythology that people may get frustrated.

Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre

On top of a sometimes dense storyline, many of the production elements weren’t all that great. As I mentioned, the action is flawed, but the acting also leaves something to be desired. The characters in Watchmen are fascinating, from the jingoistic Rorschach to the sexually frustrated Nite Owl to the super-human Dr Manhattan who is slowly fading out of touch with humanity. These three characters are well played by Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson and Billy Crudup, but Matthew Goode as Ozymandias (who has the potential to be the most fascinating of heroes) and Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre (despite being absolutely gorgeous) both disapoint. Additionally, Jeffrey Dean Morgan does a good job as the Comedian, but the characterisation makes him even more unlikeable that he was in the book. The other big problem is the soundtrack. Many of the people I saw this film with hated the music, saying it pulled them out of the film. Personally I though the choices of music (a collection of 80’s hits) ranged from awesome to awful to just plain distracting. I did enjoy the Apocalypse Now reference though!

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the lecherous Comedian

Now, the ending. If you don’t mind MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR BOTH THE FILM AND THE COMIC BOOK, highlight the space below for the spoiler filled paragraph. If not you don’t want the ending spoiled, just skip over it and read the conclusion

There is no squid! It’s gone! Not even an inkling (get it? Squid? Ink? Oh…never mind.) Instead of faking an alien attack, Ozymandias uses technology he acquired from Dr Manhattan in order to frame the superman for a series of devastating attacks around the globe. The end result is still the same; peace is declared as Russia and American join forces to defend themselves against Manhattan, and the heroes (except for Rorschach) decide to keep the truth hidden. Dare I say it, I actually think this is a far better ending than what was in the comics, as it ties everything together. The ending of the comic was always a bit of the let down for me, as up until that point everything was grounded in reality. The important thing is that the moral ambiguity is retained, and you are left wondering if Ozymandias is a hero or a villain.

Last year, The Dark Knight showed the world that comic book adaptations can be legitimate pieces of cinema. Watchmen is not as good as that film. The acting is average, and the story is a little dense. And yet, I consider both to be masterpieces. This movie is less accessible, more violent, and while it will no doubt be successful, it will not enjoy the same amount of critical or commercial acclaim as it’s more mainstream counterpart. Despite its flaws, I think that even if you haven’t read the comic you can still really enjoy this film. But you cannot fully appreciate it. I gave a lot of though to my final rating, and as a general viewer I think it should be around the three and half star area. But in the end I decided to completely embrace my fanboy-ism; Zack Snyder delivered the Watchmen film I wanted to see, and I loved every minute of it.

Oh, and for all you ladies out there, there is plenty of Dr Manhattan nudity.

Watchmen is in cinemas now. The…sigh…the ‘graphic novel’ is available in most bookstores.

What did you think of the film and/or comic? Comment now!