Watchmen

I could spend time going on and on about how important the graphic novel was/is. I could hit you over the head about it, but seriously, just read it. Most fans of this novel have been opposed to the idea of a film adaptation forever. I am not one of those people. Since I first read it when I was 13, I have been dying to see it on the screen. I just wanted to see how someone could do it. Being a movie person above everything else, I wanted to know how it would look. I wanted to see what all of my favorite not-so-super superheroes would look like actually walking and talking and fighting. The time is finally here. So with 15 years of me waiting for it, how does it stack up? Also, doing a full summary is nearly impossible, so I will probably miss a lot. Sorry.

Watchmen exists in a different reality where masked crime fighters do not have super powers, they just have an ability to go outside of the law. It is set in the 1980s, in a world where Richard Nixon gets re-elected 5 times because he won the Vietnam war. he won it with the help of these masked heroes, especially Dr. Manhattan(Billy Crudup), the one with actual powers. Do to some crazy circumstances, Manhattan is now a glowing blue and he lives outside of our ideas of time and space. He can manipulate matter and sees the future. The film is set off by the murder of The Comedian(Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Rorschack's(Jackie Earle Haley)belief that someone is killing off costumed superheroes. See, costumed heroes have been outlawed because the city cops felt threatened. So, everyone has retired except Rorschach. Rorschach wants to warn all of the former heroes so he visits Night Owl(Patrick Wilson), Dr. Manhattan and Miss Jupiter/Silk Spectre 2 (Malin Ackerman). No one seems to share his concern, but Night Owl goes to visit Ozymandias(Matthew Goode) to warn him anyway. Ozy is the world's smartest man and he has made a fortune selling out his super hero past. Soon, these Watchmen are back on the hunt as costumed heroes and searching for what might actually be going on.

At 2 hours and 45 minutes, Watchmen offers a whole lot of dialog to chew on and a whole lot of questions to think on. It also offers up some of the most brutal violence I have ever seen in a movie, especially one this massive. There is something totally shocking about seeing a superhero inflict that much carnage, which is the point. Watchmen, as a graphic novel, attempted to subvert our ideas of what being a superhero was. As a film, Watchmen is subverting our ideas of what a superhero movie should be. It is pointing out how absurd it is that we have these PG-13 superhero movies because superheroes have the kinds of powers that would cause serious violence but we never see it. Watchmen gives us the blood, the breaking bones and the carnage people like Superman would actually inflict. It is also pointing out how stupid the costumes can be. The Comedian wears the tiniest mask, yet remains unknown? Miss Jupiter wears something sexy, only because she is supposed to be sexy. I am not sure Zack Snyder totally hits his subversion claim, but he makes a serious attempt and mostly succeeds.

Watchmen wants us to question what makes someone a hero. That has always been the underlying claim of the novel. The Comedian is a horrible person, but he is not considered a super villain because he fights for America and he is after criminals that may or may not actually be worse than he is. The film does a good job of maintaining that. Rorschach is an absolutely brutal human being but he has a set of moral standards and he is resolute in them. Then you have Night Owl and Miss Jupiter. Night Owl hides his humanity in his technology and he is a nerdy bumbling man, but in costume he is confident and alive. He seems very much a normal guy, but he is hiding that desire to put his costume back on. Miss Jupiter was only a costumed hero to please her mother, but she misses it. There is something exciting about that world and when Night Owl and Miss Jupiter finally start fighting again, their world's ignite, literally for a second. Watchmen gets extra points for not playing impotence as a joke, like most movies do. The impotence makes the sex later a bit more interesting, as it questions masculinity or points that masculinity is wrapped up in being a superhero. I do wish Snyder took the sex a bit more seriously when it happens, but it is hard to fault the man for putting these two hot naked people in slow motion and giving a lot of thrusting.

This is not an easy movie to watch and/or follow. It requires patience and full attention. The action is loud and brutal, but it is slowed down and not as choppy as most, so you get to see how beautifully choreographed it is. The blood and gore factor are out of this world for anything other than a horror movie. The acting is a mix of bloody brilliant(Haley and Crudup) pretty good(Morgan, Wilson) and just downright awful(Ackerman). As Rorschach, Haley is not only a coiled snake ready to pounce, he is a force to be reckoned with. All growly and bad ass, his Rorschach is a bit more intimidating than I anticipating with his mere presence and seeing his shifting mask actually move, was astounding. I wanted to like Wilson more as Night Owl, but I think Ackerman was more the problem with them and it kind of brought Wilson down, but Ackerman does serves her purpose. See, Miss Jupiter has to engage in a sex scene and be naked. Well so many young and hot actresses refuse such things, she she is what we get. I have seen her act decently in other movies, this movie is beyond her scope as an actress. She is not a distraction, though and she does look phenomenal, which is important. I imagine many people will tune out Dr. Manhattan, which is a shame because he offers a lot of interesting gems about life and love from an outsider's perspective. He is an interesting case study as the anti-Superman. Whereas Superman was always coming from a place of trying to be human in every way, Manhattan has no desire for such things. He can see the future, but knows he cannot change it.

Watchmen offers a pretty cynical view of the world and a bleak look at humanity and the movie does not shy away from it at all. The ending has changed from the novel, but it works better this way in the movie. If they were to keep the graphic novel ending, there would have been another 30 minutes of movie and the audience would have tuned out, I imagine a giant squid would have confused people a bit. I was actually quite surprised at how some of the events from the novel stayed in the movie because I thought the studio might make Snyder tone down the whole thing a bit, but am happy they let Snyder really do this the way he wanted.

The last thing I want to mention is the use of popular music in the movie. I think it is brilliant in almost every moment except the sex. Snyder gives us a super cheesy slow motion thrusting over Leonard Cohen covering Hallelujah. That being said, Bob Dylan over the opening credits, Ride of the Valkyries in Vietnam, and Jimi Hendrix during flight, are all superb. Snyder certainly has a Tarantino like mind for popular music in his movies.

After waiting 15 years for this movie, I am happy to say I was not at all disappointed. I was so giddy when it was over and over the the days following, I just thought about more and more things I loved. I hope this review gets through the love I have for the material and how pleased I am that it worked. This was not an easy thing to do and Zack Snyder has proven himself as a master adapter. I hope his next project, totally original, keeps his winning streak alive.

Final grade: A