Zack Snyder has a problem; he has too much love for his source material. As he proved with 300, he’s the fanboy’s director, someone who will try as faithfully as possible to recreate shot for shot the graphic novels he is filming. This, as it turns out, is the problem with his latest effort Watchmen, based on Alan Moore’s iconic graphic novel. As Snyder has tried to absorb the leviathan into his film, not without some success, and has created a massive geekgasm of a movie, one upon which much hope was placed, but that could not possibly ever succeed in its mission.
It’s an alternate 1985. Nixon has just been elected to a third term in the White House, nuclear war is pretty much a certainty and America triumphed in Vietnam, mainly thanks to the help of the godlike Dr. Manhattan and amoral nutball the Comedian. Crime prevention was the province of a group of masked superheroes, the aforementioned two, Silk Spectre, Nite Owl, super-brain Ozymandias and sociopath Rorschach. They, however, have now been outlawed and the Comedian has been murdered. Thus begins the movie, with Rorschach pursuing the murderers and the others trying to build some kind of life.
Each of these characters is given their own backstory and story strand throughout the film. We get to examine the past of each character, their motives and history. This was the meat of the graphic novel, and it becomes much of the meat of the film, as the investigation into the Comedian’s murder continues you get flashbacks and substories carrying on around it, some of which are left dangling at the end. The question being asked is what would a world populated by masked vigilantes really be like, and what kind of people would they be? Which one of them is the most human, the most honest? In the end, it might be Rorschach.
All of this is backed up with a solid visual style. Snyder has a good, if somehow sterile, eye for action and violence, especially some hardcore gore. The fight scenes are well choreographed and suitably tough, whereas the characters are changed to fit more with our modern age of sculpted bodysuits and unsubtle male voyeurism (see: Silk Spectre). Scenes with the violent and unstable Rorshach especially are handled in a no frills style.
I don’t usually mention a film’s score in a review, but Watchmen really hits a high note in this area. Snyder’s choice of pop songs to accompany certain scenes is fairly near flawless. As Simon and Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence floats out of the speakers during the funeral scene, you can’t help but get goosebumps. There is only one bum note. If you don’t know what Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah is really all about, you will after a scene in Nite Owl’s hovership. It involves thigh high leather boots.
Inevitably though the film is a victim of the graphic novel. Even though it clocks in at almost three hours, this is nowhere near enough to fit in the nuances, social commentary and humanity of the novel, and some of the backstory parts seem clunky and unnecessary, especially when compared to the clinical and efficient execution of the film’s opening credits, which detail the history of the first set of Watchmen. The acting and cinematography are solid throughout, but it is Snyder’s slavish devotion to the novel that is the film’s downfall, it would perhaps have benefited from a more focussed approach on Rorschach’s quest.
The end result of this is neither disappointing or infuriating, but unsatisfactory. Watchmen is a good film, with some great visual moments, moral ambiguity, a super-hot heroine and some amazing ideas, but it could never even hope to capture the novel. It is probably, however, the nearest you are ever going to get, and is by all accounts a much improved experience if you have read the book first. When author Alan Moore said his opus was ‘inherently unfilmable’, he was probably half-right. A film that stays with you, but for wrong reasons as well as right ones.
7/10 (A point higher than if I’d reviewed it straight after seeing it. Hindsight helps.)
Last 5 posts by Rojo
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About the author. Rojo is 24 years old and lives in Bath, UK. He lives with his girlfriend and a gay man who he keeps in the attic, although he has to let him out to work. Rojo works in a supervisory role at a supermarket. He is Buried Planet’s third most prolific poster. He has a First Class degree, so there.
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I seen the movie opening night with some friends. I knew nothing about this going in. A few of my friends were huge fans, by the end I was pretty confused, but don’t get me wrong there were things to just keep me interested. But it kind of dragged in places for awhile and the plot and story to me I just didn’t understand too much. But when the DVD comes out I’ll watch it again.
My favorite character Rorshach. My favorite scene was when Silk and Owl help him escape prison and before that when Rorschach went to prison.
Oh, and Silk’s body…hoootttt!
I should have edited my review faster! I would give Watchmen 10/10 - phenomenal movie. Perfectly scored, the visuals were great, and a deep story. It easily replaces the more recent Batman films as a serious treatment of the superhero genre.
About the only thing that irked me about the film was the undercurrent of cynicism. Also, Javen is correct — Rorschach is the most intriguing character — he’s Dirty Harry, only crazier. Best line in the whole film:
Rorschach in prison with most of the convicts he put away:
“I’m not trapped in here with you…”
(security guards restrain him)
“… you’re trapped in here with ME!!!!”
Yeah, Rorschach is the character I identified with the most — scary but true.
Also, I wish the film had gone into more detail about Ozymandias’ backstory. At nearly 3 hours long I left the theater wishing it had been a little longer. My girlfriend loved it too - she asked if we could stay in the theater and watch it again.
This one is definitely going into my DVD collection.
One warning - this movie is absolutely not for children. Holy cripes, some of the violence is horrific. Watch it in IMAX if you can find it near you. I never read the original comic- I mean ‘graphic novel’, and I still loved the film.
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Publish it!
Do you really edit your reviews? How long does it take you to write them? I bash mine out in one sitting usually. A brief read through of the published version to check spelling and that’s it.
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The Dark Knight had more focus, in my opinion. It also didn’t drag, or have too much flab around the edges.
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I guess I should. I write mine on the run, usually while I’m at work. Bah, I’ll edit it some more and publish it.
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I really did not feel like the movie dragged or was flabby. Frankly, I loved it. I still love the new Batman movies, I just think Watchmen was better because the characters seemed more human. Depressingly human, but still human. And Rorschach… well, Rorschach just rules.
A lot of people seem to like Rorschach that I’ve spoken with. I think I can see why, he has an iron-handed way of dealing justice that I think we can all find agreeable.
“Men go to jail. Dogs get put down.”
His character archetype definitely seemed to be more like Spawn, whereas his former partner (his name’s escaping me now) seemed more like a mixture between Superman and Batman. He had an underground lair, gadgets, and his personality seemed more calm and fair; even his alter-ego was a lot like Clark Kent.
I think the character that intrigued me most was Dr. Manhattan. The background philosophies concerning human nature seemed ambiguous to me. At first they seemed almost Godless, like he saw life’s function as a Buddhist’s with a hard naturalist spin to it. Later, then, he spoke of life as a miracle, and used some language I might hear from an ardent theist.
Of course, I haven’t read the novel. It’s one of the many my friend says, “YOU’VE GOT TO READ IT!” but never get around to it. I assume it’s more fleshed out there. :\
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Loved that line. It seems to me that Rorschach represented those of us who have and use our inner sense to gauge right and wrong. Rorschach is judge, jury and executioner all in one — he knows what’s right and he does what is necessary. Of course, I don’t know how well Rorschach would perform under a truly ambiguous moral situation. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be morally ambiguous to Rorschach, but still — you’ve got to love a movie that makes you think.
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Agreed. NiteOwl II was the more ‘conventional’ superhero, with all the attendant moral hand-wringing. For example, NiteOwl says to Rorschach (after refusing to help him find the mask killer), “What happened to the good ol’ days, Rorschach?” To which Rorschach quickly replies, “You quit.” I may have said it before, but, I think people admire Rorschach for his purity. He’s insane, sure, but he knows what he’s about.
NiteOwl II represents the ‘everyman’ just trying to cope with all this madness. He seems more like an observer than an actor.
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I found him interesting also, but my girlfriend positively hated him. I’m still trying to determine why she did, exactly.
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I think Dr. Manhattan represented pure intellect, pure perspective, pure rationality, and consequently he was the least human of the heroes. He was able to see humanity with such rational distance that he could say, “The existence of life in the universe is overrated.” (paraphrased) Then at the end he realizes that there is a kind of miracle in life. Sure, he murders someone in cold blood moments later, but hey, there’s hope for atheists apparently!
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Every time I pass it in a bookstore I read a bit more, LOL!