“Who watches the Watchmen?”
When news leaked that Rorschach appeared (for one single frame) in the trailer for ‘300’ I was giddy with anticipation. That was back in 2006. I went out (like most other comic book fanboys) and found a copy of the graphic novel so I could re-familiarize myself with the story and characters, and no review of the movie Watchmen would be complete without first talking about the novel so…
I was first struck by the fact that the story itself has held up after twenty years. Sure, it’s clearly an alternate earth story, with Nixon’s third term, and winning the war in Vietnam because of a giant walking, near-naked, blue nuclear arsenal. But at its core the story of Watchmen was created by Alan Moore to showcase the strengths of comics versus other mediums, while at the same time asking the question: What would real people be like if they decided to become ‘Superheroes.’ Most people who ask themselves what they would do with Superman’s powers never really consider what the consequences for their actions would be. Here, we see what some of the repercussions might be.
The story was at the time probably too cerebral for the average comic reader, but it awakened other writers and editors to really up their game and it has since become the most celebrated (and imitated) graphic novel of all time…
Another reviewer said that most hardcore comic fans will find a moment in any comic-film adaptation where you get a ‘giddy feeling in the pit of their stomach manifesting as a scene they had been visualizing for years is played out on the screen, larger than life that literally makes the eyes water.’ I have to agree and for in Watchmen it was the moment that Rorschach opened Edward Blake’s wardrobe to find the secret stash of his costume, weapons, and memorabilia; discovering that Blake was the Comedian. Seeing the costume and weapons on display just as they were in the comic panel just as I imagined it would be. The scene was done slightly different in the comic vs. the movie, but the payoff is still the same. And that obvious love of the original work by the director shows in scene after scene. Shot for shot, panel to panel, the movie is clearly a shrine to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ work.
Zack Snyder attempted what Alan Moore said was impossible and passed with flying colors. He directed the soon-to-be blockbuster that Moore himself declared was unmakable and that many more declared would be unwatchable.
Dave Gibbons often gets forgotten in all this, but he brought those characters to life at least as much as Moore did on the page, and without his help, the movie might not have been as true to the original work.
Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earl Haley were perfect casting choices for Dan Dreiberg (Nite Owl II) and Walter Kovachs (Rorschach) respectively. Wilson was Dan as far as I was concerned, his voice, his inflections… pretty much exactly as I heard him as I read the comic. Haley even moreso.
Billy Crudup is the voice of Jon Osterman (Dr. Manhattan), don’t get me wrong. His calm almost too quiet voice was the perfect contrast to this being of pure power that stood before all the others. My only complant was the nudity (say it with me: Big Blue Penis). I found it distracting from the scenes and the dialogue. Although the scene in which he demonstrates his power by exploding a tank and then crushing it is one of those moments in the film for me. And then theres the line: “I never said, “The superman exists, and he’s American.” What I said was,”God exists, and he’s American.” Yes, the concept scares me.
Malin Ackerman is one of the few rough parts, her acting is nothing special, though I imagine performance was more physically demanding than say Crudup’s. She physically looks enough like Laurie Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre II) and sounds basically like how I heard her in the comic, but her wooden acting severely detracts from her performance.
Matthew Goode is roughly in the same boat as Malin Ackerman for me. He looked the part but in his attempt to play the role, he just seemed to go through the motions and phone it in. I never found him particularlly believable.
The movie benefitted by having a large amount of heretofore unknowns in the acting world. The biggest name on the marquee was Billy Crudup, and the only reason I knew his name was “Princess Mononoke”, after that it was Matt Frewer and I hadn’t really heard his name since he was “Max Headroom” and shilling for Coca-Cola.
All in all, it was good. I have no regrets about going to the midnight showing and then again the following Saturday. But, I think perhaps the ending was a little too foreshadowed. I give Watchmen 4 stars out of 5.
