Next to The Lord of the Rings and Dune, Watchmen is probably the hardest story to ever bring to film. Heck, after the rumors involving Terry Gilliam directing in 1989, I lost track and figured no one would seriously try, after all, it was just an obscure comic book. Thanks to Snyder’s success with 300, DC Comics decided to gamble on him. Watchmen may not be a near-perfect adaptation as Jackson’s Rings but it’s pretty darn close given the limitations of film, technology and most importantly, the balancing act between pleasing fans and entertaining those unfamiliar with the original comic by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
Without giving away too much I’ll just stick to the premise of what gets the picture rolling.
Since the Forties, masked heroes have been fighting crime in America until the Keene Act made it illegal in late Seventies. Two (Dr. Manhattan and The Comedian) took the option of working for the government, two retired (Silk Spectre and Nite Owl) and one refused to do either (Rorschach). There were others but they got out of the business earlier and as the opening credits show, several had their careers end in a very grisly manner.
Now it’s 1985 and someone has murdered The Comedian, a controversial “hero” who made numerous enemies over his long career killing for the CIA, for president Nixon (currently serving his fifth term) and for sport. Somehow this piques the attention of Rorschach, a more unhinged yet equally violent character with a rigid moral compass. He immediately suspects somebody is killing former “masks” so he warns his old partner Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan and (indirectly) Ozymandias while continuing to investigate.
Meanwhile the United States and the Soviet Union are heading toward a nuclear war. For 25 years, the Soviets have considered Dr. Manhattan’s presence in the US as a threat to their security. It hasn’t helped that Nixon has used the omnipotent being on at least one occasion to solve a foreign-policy problem…winning the Vietnam War. This has only made the Soviets more aggressive and paranoid, hence their current invasion of Afghanistan which Nixon is planning to not let go unanswered.
If you’ve read the comic or trade paperback, you already know how this will pan out, otherwise see the movie.
Snyder did a great job keeping this well-loved story intact as much as possible. He and the actors got more things right than wrong by a huge margin. Billy Crudup is better as Dr. Manhattan than the printed version because he expresses the character’s detachment from humanity more effectively. Patrick Wilson conveys the former Nite Owl’s feelings of defeat, resignation and impotence over his inability to do anything while the world is falling apart. I also have to applaud Snyder for keeping the setting of 1985. Surely the bean-counters in Hollywood wanted to “modernize” it to the present which would completely ruin the key element of the “past” in telling the story. The changes he did make, namely the ending and most things involving Rorschach, aren’t deal breakers. One friend told me he overheard a person saying that Snyder’s ending was better than Moore’s. I would have to agree not as a fan of the book but in how it was more plausible to a general audience.
Worth seeing? Yes. It isn’t for the squeamish though. Snyder has a penchant for ultra-graphic violence and nudity as 300 proved. It’s also R rated which I couldn’t believe Hollywood allowed but there was no other way to effectively do this. Watchmen was a landmark comic 20 years ago for portraying superheroes as flawed beings with sexual, mental and emotional issues, like real people. If you’re expecting Iron Man, Dark Knight, Spider-Man or (ugh) Tim Burton’s horrible, crappy Batman, don’t bother. As for the purists, I would recommend also staying home and continuing to gripe through forums and blogs.
Bonus contest: I didn’t get any serious tries for my Batman: The Brave and the Bold story but I’m going to try again. For $10 worth of iTunes (or something equivalent for you Zune Luddites), name the Charlton/DC Characters Rorschach, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl, Ozymandias and the Comedian are based on.