Watchmen

"Rorschach's Journal: October 12th 1985. Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'Save us!' And I'll whisper 'no'. "

Title: Watchmen
Year of Release: 2009
Director: Zach Snyder
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Action

I read the graphic novel not too long before I heard that a movie was in production, so naturally I was quite excited to see it brought to film. Over the year or so I've been growing more and more excited, as the reviews came out, slowly getting worse and worse I worried, but upon reading a few I'm not all that surprised. The common problem seemed to be that there is plot holes, or confusion, which after seeing the film is very understandable. Zach Snyder made this film primarily for the fans of the GN. Snyder managed to cut this down to three hours, which seems to leave an unfinished yet still satisfying film. So, if you watched the film and found the main problem with it to be that it was confusing or something you could either read the graphic novel or wait until the directors cut which is supposed to be four or so hours long. Some people may be thinking that's nuts, but after seeing the theatrical cut I'm certain it'll be fine. The film is very well paced, it doesn't feel slightly tedious. A longer much needed cut will hopefully make a better film.

For those who aren't familiar with Watchmen you must know that it is one of the most respected, popular and influential comic books of the 80's, so don't go saying it stole ideas from shows like Heroes or from The Incredibles (I use those two because I've read people go on about it). Watchmen starts with the death of a masked hero/vigilante called "The Comedian". The circumstances are quite mysterious, his identity was a secret among most. Rorschach, another masked vigilante begins investigating, his theory on the matter is someone is trying to pick off masked vigilante's. Now unlike most "super hero" movies, there is only one actual "super" hero and his name is Dr Manhattan/Jon. Jon was a normal physicist until one day he is locked in some machine (not sure exactly what) which destroys him, slowly though he regenerates cell by cell. Once he is fully back his view of the world is completely different and he can do practically anything. Silk Spectre [II] is in love with Dr Manhattan but there is problems there as Manhattan's view on life interfeers with their relationship. Nite Owl [II] is a growing old and unfit man who used to put on a costume, mask and fight crime, he is also interested in Silk Spectre/Laurie. Ozymandias, supposedly the smarted person in the world is one of two people to have shown his true identity (Adrian Veidt). There is more to be said, but I'll stop there.

Those who are worrying about how faithful the adaption is, don't worry! This film is very faithful, other than the ending. But the meaning is still there, it's still the same, it's just taken a different road. With the original ending it probably wouldn't play out in film half as good as it does in comic form.

The acting was pretty good from most of the cast. Billy Crudup did a perfect job with Dr Manhattan, I can not think of anyone else who could of done a better job, with this performance you really feel and get a great understanding of Dr Manhattan. Dare I say that I enjoyed the film character more than the original? That doesn't mean it's handled better, or really any different, it's just I'm more of a movie guy than a book guy. So being able to see how expressionless he is at times and hear how emotionless his voice is is very effective. Some scenes with him, particularly the Mars one is quite strong, and I was mesmerized by how fantastic he was. Jackie Earle Haley plays Rorschach, everyone's favourite character from the GN, especially mine. Again, he was perfect, he had everything going for him, providing the exact voice I imagined for Rorschach, and he had the look down, he was very intimidating character in the book and he is no less intimidating in the film. Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays The Comedian, and once again.. perfect. I can tell there will be a lot of fan-hate I'll get for what I said about Manhattan, but also, I thought the Comedian was far more effective in the film. He's more dark, and disgusting in the film, in a way that makes certain aspects of his character feel more deep. I can't stress more, that I'm more of a film guy, so it's imminent I'd provide the film characters of the book ones if they're done as they are in the book. Everyone else in the film were decent enough, but not as great as JE Haley, B Crudup or JD Morgan.

Now there are a few problems I had with the film, one being a common problem, and it was the music. I'm not sure exactly who chose the soundtrack but by god they need to be slapped! In one scene in particular with Dan & Laurie a song called "Hallelujah"? (I'm not sure if that's the name, but it's repeated heaps in the song), I was cringing at the poor choice. With the four hour directors cut, that is one thing I would love to see changed, though I'm sure it won't. The soundtrack at a lot of point was distracting, trying too hard to force a mood onto you, or it was just plain wrong, like what I just mentioned. The score was fine; the soundtrack was horrible. Despite that, there was at least one good choice of song, Bob Dylan's "The Times Are-A Changin" which featured in the opening credits, perfect choice.

This film also seems to be a bit graphic, not just in terms of blood and violence but also in the sex scene I really thought it was pushed on a little long to an excessive, pointless and killed the "romantic" mood of the situation. Now Snyder sure does seem to like his violence, so does the graphic novel but in the film, I think at times it was a bit much, not for my personal taste but because it just didn't fit in. One fight scene involved a bone being snapped and the bone goes through the skin and there is quite a bit of blood, there is a lot more bloody situations, and some are much more ineffectively graphic. Another problem regarding the fight scenes is how unrealistic they were, it could be misleading and make people think thats these people are actually much stronger than your average person. Some scenes people were thrown quite a distance punched and went a distance, though it was stylistic and looked nice, it doesn't fit in with this film.

Now I could put those aside quite easily and push them to the back of my mind if it wasn't for the biggest problem of them all. At the beginning of the third act it just seems to make a giant leap with the plot, leaving you dazed and confused and doesn't really seem to make sense. Another five or so minutes alone could of helped smooth it out a lot more so it made more sense instead of leaving you to assume and the like. It wraps up though very nicely killing the bitter taste that could of remained ruining the film for me. The ending was quite effective, not quite as climatic at aspects, an improved score could of helped make it more dramatic I think.

So my main beefs were the music, unrealism/graphicness (?) and plot jump, but with such a complex film those don't seem to be enough to bring the movie completely down. It still is a very good adaption, handled by anyone else, and I can almost guarantee you they would of ruined it. Believe me there is a lot more I can say, but I feel I'll just be rambling on. Zach made this for the fans, and I cannot thank him enough for at least trying his best, this film obviously did a number on him after watching an interview with him he looked like he had aged some years.

EDIT: After seeing Watchmen for a second time, I picked up on what I missed regarding the plot. So for those who haven't seen the film, pay close attention I missed it, and two other people I saw the film missed it too.

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