Director: Zack Snyder
Writer(s): David Hayter and Alex Tse

Cast:

Jackie Earle Haley – Rorschach
Patrick Wilson –Nite Owl II
Malin Akerman – Silk Spectre II
Billy Crudup – Dr. Manhattan
Matthew Goode – Ozymandias
Jeffrey Dean Morgan – The Comedian
Carla Gugino – Silk Spectre

Preamble:
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ deservedly famous comic book series is finally adapted in largely successful manner by ’300′ director Zach Snyder.

Plot Points:
In an alternate history, former superheroes examine their place in a world on the brink of nuclear war.

The Meat:
*First things first. Please do not refer to ‘The Watchmen’ source material as a graphic novel. It was not originally released as a graphic novel – it was released as a comic book limited series. People just call it a graphic novel to make it sound more respectable. If you haven’t noticed yet, comic books don’t need to beg to be put on equal standing with ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ and ‘Max Payne.’ /rant

‘The Watchmen’ tells the story of a group of superheroes called the Minutemen, disbanded and made illegal by Richard Nixon (now into his third term and navigating the United States towards certain nuclear destruction), until the murder of one of their own forces them back together. Rorshach’s theory is that someone is trying to eliminate the entire group, and slowly but surely the other members of the group come to agree with him. After all, the only people who know the secret identities of all the members of the group are the other living members. The Doomsday Clock counts down to nuclear destruction as the heroes try to find out who’s killing them. Its minute hand moves forward as the Soviet/U.S. conflicts escalate, and mutual annihilation seems inevitable. In this regard, the “Minutemen” are not only the original, disbanded superheroes who served as watchmen over our fates, but their modern, scientific counterparts.

Visually the film is stunning, as expected. Snyder’s slow motion works here, he’s got a smart sense of action and conveys speed extremely well (Peter Berg shares the same strength). With the intended ridiculousness of the costumes here (the original heroes are all 1940s-era and they look the part) this could have easily been disastrous. Instead Snyder makes it work by embracing it and simply letting us accept that it all makes sense in its own context. He also patiently allows relationships to develop. The romantic link between Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II works in their shared loneliness, even if the actual cause of their loneliness is drastically different. Rorshach’s views on the citizens he fights for are also preserved. His absolute contempt for general humanity serves as a dramatic counterpoint to Dr. Manhattan’s relative indifference to general humanity. Rorshach hates us because he’s spent so much time looking in the gutters. Dr. Manhattan finds us meaningless because he’s spent so much time looking past us. In the end they’re both right about one thing, human nature doesn’t change. More on that later.

For the most part, Snyder is extremely faithful to the original work. He smartly pares down the huge source material, eliminating periphery plots which were fine for fleshing out the affected city of the written material but would have made the film version far too long. He instead focuses on the core superheroes and they all feel like real people, even The Comedian. By cutting some of the side characters, however, he does lose the feeling of remembering the normal people affected by the actions of those above them. In ‘The Watchmen’ this is key, because the actions of detached government and the actions of detached superheroes are not only intertwined, at times they’re the same thing. The ordinary people asking “who watches the watchmen” are the moral sounding board of the story, and at issue is whether or not the film version successfully conveys their place in the message.

In addition, there is a notable departure in the ending, which must be addressed without (hopefully) spoiling the film’s ending. This assumes you’ve read the comic book, or are not worried about reading the book’s ending. Originally, the villain releases a huge, inter-dimensional squid, which explodes and destroys New York City. While this may sound ridiculous to some — and it’s valid to point out that this might not work on a big screen — it’s important to consider the crucial need for something this outlandish. For the plan, nothing except a completely alien concept would have worked. Why? Because, as was mentioned earlier, the crux of ‘The Watchmen’ is the fact that human nature does not change. The Comedian is strong as an ox, but he’s also sadistic. The original Silk Spectre is an alcoholic whore. Rorshach is.. well he’s nuts. Nixon and the other politicians and military figures are selfish, competitive to the point of being murderous. In other words, most of the powerful figures in the film have shown no moral growth from their increased power.

The key then, is that in order to bring about world peace, our super-villain needs to unleash the inter-dimensional squid — because it’s a villain that everyone on Earth can hate and fear without reservation. The world rushes headfirst into a new global union, and only something extreme and absurd could match the absurd request to create peace on Earth. The Comedian was right, the mission itself is one big joke, because humans have killed each other since they’ve existed. The squid looks nothing like anyone on Earth. Its arrival is not the blame of any one nation. It’s impossible to understand. It gives all of humanity something to fight against, together. Peace comes via united hatred, save for the “kook file” of course. In Snyder’s version, while the ending is well done and well-written, the value of the original ending is nearly entirely lost. It turns, instead, into a “fear of God” conclusion (foreshadowed by early statements by one of Dr. Manhattan’s co-workers), and the condemnation of basic human nature is lost in the translation.. Could Snyder have changed the ending and still kept the original message?

It also must be mentioned that not since ‘Daredevil’ has a film’s music been so horribly chosen. This is a notable feat, since outside of the movie, I actually like all of the songs that were used. Still, stacking ‘All Along the Watchtower’, ‘Times They Are A’Changin’, ‘Hello Darkness My Old Friend’ and a number of other songs is absolutely overkill where an actual score would have been better. At some point it starts to feel like one is listening to “Now That’s What I Call Music: 1962-1982”.

Overall this is a great adaptation. You feel for the superheroes, confused by a villain who’s simply one step ahead of them for an entire story. It’s not a battle they can win, and the heroic nature is the fact that as Rorshach says, they “never compromise, even in the face of Armageddon.” The special effects are composited extremely well, and Snyder’s visualization of superhero action is perhaps only matched by X-2. With just a couple of tweaks it could have been a perfect adaptation, let’s hope those needs are addressed on what should be a monstrous Blu-Ray release.

Movie – 8/10

‘The Watchmen’ Trailer:

Review by Steve Broome
sbroome at coalminds dot com