This film is more than a film, it is an adaptation of the comic world Shakespeare’s (Alan Moore, if you’re really that ignorant) Magnum opus, The Watchmen. According to the man himself its unfilmable, which is just the way he likes it, judging by the fact he’s given up all financial residues that he’d stand to profit from. Zack Snyder (director), David Hayter and Alex Tse (screen writers), on the other hand, thinks differently as does the comic artist himself, David Gibbons, who worked with the film maker to refine the movie aesthetics and insure a faithful translation of the comic panels to the screen.
The running time is well over two and half hours – still not enough to give the work the justice it deserves, but just enough to convey what comic book geeks have been raving about for two decades, that is The Watchmen isn’t a comic book in the true sense, but an epic treatise on the human condition and the socio-political world it has spawned. Its the ultimate in super hero deconstructionism as each character fulfils a reversal of the genre’s archetypes. Its also an intriguing case study into alternative histories, with itself now having its own historical perspective. The story is still set in an alternative 1985, when the Cold War was still running hot and fear of nuclear annihilation felt more real than Islamic terrorists.
I’m personally amazed this movie got made with such an uncompromising dedication to the original material. This isn’t a commercial movie in the true sense, any exec thinking that this will break records is in for a huge financial disappointment – why? Because its just too damned high brow and opaque for the average movie audience. Think of it like this, would you go and watch a four hour production of Hamlet without studying the play first? Seriously, unless you were born in the sixteenth century you’ll have no idea what the characters are referring to half the time, let alone appreciate the complexity of the story. With the Watchmen it is the same thing, audiences need to be prepared, they need to understand the context, that means reading a hefty tome of a novel albeit with pictures, but nonetheless its not a light read. These days no one expects audiences to do this, and that means once word of mouth hits the streets that they just didn’t get it, then the masses will turn away, leaving the film with a huge drop off in the following weeks. Fortunately it looks like the studios were having an artistic revelation when the film was green lit and felt that regardless of whether it makes money or not, it something that should be made. Thank God it was before the credit crunch, eh?
I’m going to start by saying that I loved this movie because I loved the book and this interpretation is slavish in its reverence for its look and feel. Thanks to advances in film technology; panels and sequences are lovingly recreated and enhanced with a dollop of movie magic. Furthermore the violence and nudity of the novel is pretty much all left intact. Its a pretty gruesome movie in parts, with plenty of movie ketchup and sickening sounds splashed around the screen. Nevertheless for me personally this story is all about the characters and its central conceit, how can you save mankind from itself without killing millions of people?
The premise of the movie is that in this reality Superheroes are real and have been among us for decades. However just as celebrities rise and fall, so have the heroes who are currently banned from partaking in any cape action and have become condemned to a life of impotence and vigilantism.
To make matters worse America is now under a fifth term of Nixon who won the Vietnam war thanks to the help of the world’s only true super powered hero, Dr Manhattan.
On a dark and stormy night, a semi retired hero, named the Comedian, is brutally murdered by a unseen assailant. This act incites a tragic sequence of events that will lead to the unravelling of a terrible global conspiracy, that could possess a greater threat to the world than the growing confrontation between the Russia and America.
It’s a brilliant set up, and after reading the copy you can’t help but wonder how does a movie do such a story justice? Believe it or not it tries to keep the actual plot simple – almost too simple considering the sophistication of the premise, which is the film’s main weak point. However this is forgivable as this story is about character first and foremost, and here it delivered one hundred percent.
This world presupposes a reality where Superman is an even bigger prick than in the original and where Batman is not one character, but two; one half an impotent well meaning geek, the other a raving sociopath with hygiene and mother con issues. Its a world where Captain America is painted as a misogynist who appears to be in it only for the thrill of the kill. Wonder Woman is another gal with mummy and daddy issues and is caught up in a love triangle between Superman and Batman.
The equivalent of this world’s Lex Luthor, Reed Richards or Tony Stark is Adrian Veidt who is the world’s richest and smartest man, spending his time trying to find a solution to unlimited energy, but has a God complex worse than Tom Cruise.
You have to hand it to Moore for delivering such a delicious premise, god only knows how that psyche developed into a mind that could create such a set up. Now that would be an interesting story in itself.
So how does the movie do in delivering these characters?
I’ve got to say but I loved the interpretations, certainly some are stronger than others.
Let’s start with Dr Manhattan as played by Billy Crudup. For me he’s the movie’s most recognisable actor, he pretty much delivers a detached and serene Manhattan, yet with the understanding he could destroy everything if he so chose to do so. His voice is measured and Byronic – his key sequence when he is on Mars remembering his past and present is wonderful, and hits all the right beats. It is possibly one of my favourite parts of the movie, as we find the emotional core of this God like being. What’s even more remarkable is how the effects and Crudup’s performance made you believe in his reality, up there with Gollum in humble view. Loved the fact they kept the man’s schlong intact.
Niteowl (Dan Dreiberg) is played by Patrick Wilson, who’s new to me in film, he manages to effectively deliver the nerdiness and lack of confidence that has come to possess the character. He’s Batman, devoid of a crusade. Empty inside, his virility has turned to impotence and without his costume he’s drifting through life. Wilson really projects what a warm, yet ineffectual human Dan has become since hanging up his costume. I kind of miss the pot belly, but that could’ve looked really ridiculous on the screen.
Rorschach (Walter Kovacs) is played by Jackie Earle Haley. He effectively steals Bale’s gruff Batman persona and delivers wholesale the damaged sociopath’s character to the screen as if the drawing had just ripped its way across from panel to celluloid. He hits all his beats beautifully - my favorite is in the prison when he tells everyone to remember that he’s not trapped in here with them, they’re trapped in here with him. Perfect.
The Comedian (Edward Blake) is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. He’s a dead ringer for Robert Downey Jr who’d also have been perfect for this crucial role. It was vital that the Comedian came across with all the menace and cynicism of the graphic novel, furthermore his apparent amorality and bursts of sadistic and misogynistic violence needed to be all there. You can’t compromise on an uncompromising character, and indeed they don’t, during the critical Funeral sequence, his back story is fleshed out, as we witness the contradiction between his purpose and his actions in his relationship with the heroes and women. The Vietnam scene is there in its entirety – when you see it you’ll know what I mean.
Malin Akerman (Laurie Jupiter / Silk Spectre II)possibly comes off the weakest in this. It’s not that her performance is bad or anything, but other than getting Superman and Batman’s horn on, there isn’t much to remember. She functional rather than outstanding, certainly not the most memorable of performances, especially when compared to Carla Gugino who plays her mother in the flashback sequences with the kind of zestful and sexy energy you’d imagine. Part of the reason is its just the nature of the character. She doesn’t start in a positive place, and comes across as whiner at just about everything. It’s not helped by the fact he story arc is very much out of a cheap day time soap which with all the post modernist revisionism in all the world can’t hide.
Ozymandias (AKA Adrian Veidt) is played by Matthew Goode . Some reviewers haven’t been particularly kind about how he played this crucial character. In all fairness he’s a tough cookie to interpret, with a thinner back story, and less integrated in the main character arcs until the end of the film. His main scenes espouse exposition and philosophy without any foil for him to allow his character to shine – even for a moment. Somehow for me he just about about pulled it off, albeit with a bit more breathlessness and sweat than Cudrup, Earle and Wilson.
Much has been made about Snyder's decision to change the ending of the movie. Sorry - no giant squid in New York this time around. For me personally, I felt the central reason for the change made more sense and brought the various threads of the story’s themes to a satisfying ending. Simply put the big bad makes it look like the disaster had been caused by Dr Manhattan. America and the world in fear of what he might do next decide to make peace and work together to find a way to defeat Dr Manhattan. I loved this, why? Well in a Godless world – man creates God. God then tries to destroy man. It’s archetypal and dare I say it a more sophisticated ending than the one in the novel. Aside from that everyone who lives – lives and everyone who dies – dies. The alteration is theme enhancing and more than a little aware that gratuitous shots of bloodied New Yorkers isn’t what the American movie going public want right now.
There’s so much going on in this film that one viewing doesn’t do it justice. There are little scenes and touches that hint and in fact show a deeper more textured world here. If you’ve read the book you’ll see so much more happening here. There are rifts, nods and reproductions of visual elements, sounds and character moments that should bring a wry smile and the odd tear to the fan, who will no doubt be breathless for the extended DVD cut. I know I will.
Comments