Watchmen Review

Published by Jeff Leins on March 7, 2009

As a graphic novel adaptation, Watchmen is nearly perfect visually and conceptually.  Fans of the 1986-1987 artwork by Dave Gibbons will recognize the carefully crafted tableau lifted directly from the panels and brought to life through modern technology.  The dystopia created by writer Alan Moore is fleshed out in the smallest of details and the dialogue recited almost verbatim.  Those who are familiar with the “most celebrated graphic novel of all time” should find plenty to revel in during the cinematic experience.

However, moviegoers who haven’t picked up the graphic novel may not share the same excitement, thrust into a gritty, alternate reality where costume heroes walk amongst a chaotic public cowering under the imminent threat of nuclear war.  An amazing opening credit sequence does its best to fill in past progression, but perhaps there’s too much to cover in a story famously considered “unfilmable.”

Richard Nixon is serving his fifth term as President, a curious alteration explained by a throw-away line hours into the film.  “I haven’t had this much fun since taking care of Woodward and Bernstein,” cackles the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a masked sociopath turned government operative.  To give you an idea of how complex the plot is, the Comedian is thrown through a window in the opening scene.

His funeral reunites the Watchmen, a group of heroes who fought injustice alongside him in the streets and during the Vietnam War victory.  They all retired years ago, forced into obscurity by the Keene Act banning their line of work, except for Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), a disturbed vigilante hiding under a shifting shroud of ink blots.  He still creeps around in a dark brown trench coat following clues that may uncover a conspiracy to kill the former Watchmen.

Rorschach warns the others, including Night Owl II (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), and the smartest, richest man in the world, Ozymandias (Matthew Goode).  He even stops in to inform Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), a neon blue product of a quantum experiment accident and the only hero with any real powers.

Manhattan is capable of teleportation, controlling objects with his mind, and exploding the delicate structure of humans into unrecognizable pieces.  It was his god-like abilities that turned the tide of a sliding Vietnam conflict and the last remaining deterrent to Russia inciting doomsday, but his superior presence has left him disconnected from human emotion.  Manhattan is a marvel of special effects work, though unaware audiences may be shocked by his constantly nude form.  What was used sparingly and tastefully (as a reference to classic sculptures) doesn’t translate to an enlarged creation and extended screen time.  I’m basically saying we all could have done without numerous eyefuls of blue penis.

Director Zack Snyder (300) sticks to the source material, faithfully delving into each backstory to determine why these characters adopted a life of crime fighting.  His direction is extremely impressive, striking a balance between Moore’s original vision and his own visual recreation.  Occasionally brilliant scenes renew the Cold War paranoia through modern day references to a more recent fear of terrorism.  Unfortunately, annihilation anxiety still exists and Snyder’s film was able to harness the looming threat even in a story where an atomic blue man walks on Mars and a costumed couple has sex in a flying owl ship.

Watchmen is not without flaws.  It ticks on too long and nearing a third hour the intricate plot starts to crumble under the weight of its collective minutiae.  Even after the stunning conclusion, the characters are slowly, carefully resolved, which subtracts from the impact of the ending and its message.

When the credits finally roll, Snyder had successfully tackled the impossible and emerged with a complete adaptation that should please even the most devout fans of the novel.  The rest of the world has homework to do.

4 out of 5.