WATCHMEN

Like the graphic novel, Watchmen is overflowing with details. The sheer faithfulness to the original story is, without a doubt, the best thing to happen to the movie adaptation. Sure some scenes were cut and the ending...
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WATCHMEN

Like the graphic novel, Watchmen is overflowing with details. The sheer faithfulness to the original story is, without a doubt, the best thing to happen to the movie adaptation. Sure some scenes were cut and the ending severely altered, but catching the details doubled what would have been without reading the book. It is not on the same level as the original story, but it does do justice, and certainly could have been much, much worse.

Watchmen begins with the murder of the Comedian, a vigilante connected with the government. Rorschach (the inkblot mask) investigates the murder, and comes to the conclusion that someone is “picking off costumed heroes�. He alerts Nite Owl II, who’s crime fighting becomes rekindled by a relationship with Silk Spectre II. Dr. Manhattan, who won the Vietnam War for the U.S. and is emotionally deprived by conscious choice, departs Earth as a result of turmoil in his relationship with Silk Spectre II. Somewhere in there, the Doomsday clock, which charts the tension between the U.S. and the USSR is set at five minutes to midnight.

As said before, the best part of Watchmen is the details. The same will go with the book, which I have read twice. Nearly everything is faithful to the source material; pictures, dialogue, and even costumes on extras are exactly the same. Even in the first scene, especially the sidewalk to up-the-building-window transition, the angle and objects shown in each frame are close to identical to the pages in the graphic novel. My knowledge of directing has grown somewhat since my last review, and as a result I see somewhat more. According to Understanding Movies, viewers often “read� a frame from left to right, much like a book. I noticed that motion can start from the left and go to the right, so one sees a person moving towards the right and is somewhat surprised by the entrance of someone on the left side of the screen. That may be basic, but to me it is a clever way to translate a character’s feelings to viewers on a close to subconscious level. On the contrary, one sex scene in particular was filmed and acted so badly that it was like watching a pornographic film or something of the like. The “climax� of the scene was funny, but the level of graphic content was completely unnecessary.

The visuals are stunning, and the violence brutal

Violence is a key part of bringing out the flaws in the heroes of Watchmen. Rorschach is especially brutal. If capital punishment were on a ballot, he would vote for it without question. I wouldn’t say gore is important, but potent. Blood makes the violence human (literally and not literally) and calls on the viewers to plead for the pain to be brief. In Watchmen, the gore moves from being an accent to becoming the signature, and creates a gladiator like entertainment feeling from the guts n’ blood. Violence is often called sickening when it is not supposed to be, and in this movie, it should be but becomes comical instead. I do think seeing a guy’s arms sawed off once can be kinda cool. Watching Dr. Manhattan splatter people around the screen, over and over, is not.

Zack Snyder is wiz behind the camera. Not all of his pals in front of it are. Billy Crudup and Jackie Earle Haley give painful (in a good way!) performances. Dr. Manhattan’s (Crudup’s) lack of emotion is both what it is and deeply sad. He does not value life, despite his gift of living after his lab accident that led to his current state. The mix of monotony and detachment makes for one messed up Superman. Haley’s Rorschach is brutal, alone, and angry beyond belief. The growly speech that eventually builds up to a confused rage is extremely potent when creating Rorschach. On the other hand, Malin Ackerman as Silk Spectre II and more or less Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl II are closer to the other side of the spectrum. Their predicament is like a short person standing next to a tall person; the short one seems shorter and the tall one seems taller. Even with that in mind, some things cannot be let go off. The previously mentioned sex scene was weak. The worst was when Malin Ackerman absolutely dropped the ball during what could have been the best line in the film. Some things could have been better, but the way the story works and the manner it is presented in created some tough situations for all of the actors.



Another valuable part of Watchmen was the special effects. The technology required for Dr. Manhattan and the resulting output is incredible. The Owlship and Rorschach’s mask both look awesome, especially the always-changing inkblots. Some minor instances are behind the times, but overall, the computer animation combines with the colors and directing to create a stunning picture (again, literally and not literally). Almost taking a back seat, the score and timely 80’s music collaborates with the scenes in a beautiful way. Like other parts of the Watchmen (holy crap this is repetitive), one Jimi Hendrix song does not fit its context. The rest, from Simon and Garfunkel to Bob Dylan, makes whole the era draped around the characters.

Watchmen certainly succeeds in many places, but stumbles in others. Flaws are flaws; some can be covered and some can’t. In the end, the best words for Watchmen would be “an experience�. The visuals are incredible. The attention to details from the source material and overall faithfulness is striking. The acting brings life into already living characters, and the music pulls the full context of the time together. I have seen better, and I have seen worse. What I have not seen is a movie that is so in touch with its original material. Nor have I seen so much potency from visuals themselves. I know that there is room for improvement, but if the clay is hardly moldable and something greater than mediocre comes out…Well, let me say this: Watch the Watchmen. But read it first.