Who Watches the Watchmen? In the End, It's the Fans
By Marisa Balkus
After months of hype and fanboy sensationalism, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ hailed graphic novel, Watchmen, has arrived – or slammed, rather – its way onto the silver screen, and not a minute past doomsday. Originally printed in 1986, the comic-series-turned-book has been praised by critics and fans alike, providing a bleak account of what happens when superheroes aren’t quite heroic in a society preparing for a nuclear world war. The novel is rich with dialogue, intricate in plot, and filled with artwork panels that were, until now, considered to be untouchable and ultimately un-filmable. However, 300 director Zack Snyder has pulled off with flying colors (and flying bodies) a successful big-screen adaptation that will surely please fans, but may perplex general audiences.
Let it be known that Watchmen is not a superhero movie. While films like The Dark Knight and Iron Man strive for gritty realism and justice, Watchmen takes realism by its core and pummels it onto filth-ridden streets. The film is set in an alternate America where President Richard Nixon has been elected to a third term, the U.S. has won the war in Vietnam, and a nuclear holocaust between the United States and Soviet Union appears imminent. Meanwhile, masked vigilantes roam the streets of America, stopping crime and often indulging in it. There are plenty of gratuitous sex scenes to go around, and, make no mistake about it, Watchmen is easily the most violent non-horror film to come out in decades. It’s a lot for an audience to take in - especially one unfamiliar with the source material - but Snyder successfully illustrates the setting in the immaculately filmed opening credits. Appropriately set to Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” the sequence explains the triumphs and downfall of the Minutemen, a praised group of heroes in the 1940s, along with the formation of the Watchmen.
Watchmen begins as the brutal and ironically masked vigilante named the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) sits in his apartment, watching Nixon give a press conference on television, when an unknown murderer busts through his front door and throws him out of his high rise window, killing him. The Comedian’s death prompts an aggressive response from Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), a former anti-hero whose inkblot mask, lengthy trench coat, and guttural voice provide an overarching and austere narrative to the film. Rorschach works under the firm belief that “someone’s pickin’ off costumed heroes,” so he meets up with his former comrades – the now retired Watchmen – to raise awareness about the situation. Rorschach confronts Dan Dreiberg, superhero alias Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), who is showing signs of his retirement: he is chubby, living off canned foods, and constantly reminiscing about the good old days. Rorschach also meets up with the godlike, vividly blue Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and his then girlfriend, the fanboy favorite Silk Spectre II, a.k.a. Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman) to inform them of the Comedian’s death. The last of the Watchmen is the eloquent and genius Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), who has publicly marketed his superhero name to create his own capitalist empire. Influenced by the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses the Great, Ozymandias is mysterious and brilliant, as he dismisses the majority of Rorschach’s allegations.
The murder-mystery style plot is sewn together with the origins of each of the six Watchmen. This is where general audiences may become confused – the plot jumps back and forth in time, which works seamlessly in the graphic novel, but may be more muddled to some on the big screen. We learn that Laurie was pressured into becoming a vigilante by her glorified mother, the fiercely feminine Silk Spectre I (Carla Gugino), who was nearly raped by the Comedian. We see how Jon Osterman changed from a normal working man into the most pivotal weapon in the world – Dr. Manhattan – thanks to a freak experimental mistake. Rorschach’s violent development into a fighter against injustice is illustrated at length through his psychoanalysis while in prison. The film is rich in this type of character development, which allows viewers to familiarize themselves with the ongoing storyline as well as the past.
The shining light of Watchmen is Jackie Earle Haley’s commanding performance as Rorschach. A fan favorite in the graphic novel, Haley’s Rorschach is poetic, yet terrifying; well intentioned, yet violent; clever, yet uncontrollably psycho. There is quite a sense of satisfaction in hearing Haley spew the lines of Rorschach’s journal aloud: “Why are so few of us left active, healthy, and without personality disorders?” he writes of his former crime fighters. Lucky for us, Rorschach’s so-called pals deliver in their performances, too. Crudup is solid as the weapon-like superman Dr. Manhattan, and the character’s immeasurable power comes across both physically and emotionally. Wilson, Morgan, and Goode are also entirely effective as their respective characters, Nite Owl II, the Comedian, and Ozymandias. Malin Akerman’s performance as Laurie is at times painful and forgettable, but that won’t stop her picture from adorning walls of fanboys for the near future.
Perhaps the most positive – and also the most detrimental – aspect of Watchmen is its incredibly faithful storyline. Screenwriter David Hayter has nearly mirrored the graphic novel word-for-word, panel-for-panel, all while keeping the same chronology. Given the depth of the source material, the screenplay is a remarkable feat. Despite some tweaking of the ending, Watchmen fans will be pleased with the authenticity of the film; the only key omission is the inclusion of the comic-within-a-comic, Tales of the Black Freighter, which was released by Warner Bros. as a direct-to-DVD. Those unfamiliar with the novel, however, might be daunted by the fast pace of the detailed storyline, and turned off by the fact that – heaven forbid! – there is far more dialogue than there is action.
One of the most unique features Snyder has implanted in the film is its abstract soundtrack. One would assume that a pivotal, gory murder scene would not go well with Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable” playing in the background, but, weird as it seems, it works perfectly. Same with select tracks from Jimi Hendrix and Simon and Garfunkel. The only song that’s completely out of place is in a laughable scene that should have been omitted as a whole: Dan Dreiberg and Laurie having graphic sex in Dreiberg’s flying Owl Ship to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” It’s painful enough to make even the most hardcore nerds cringe.
The most vital question in reviewing a comic book film is this: does it live up to the hype? With solid acting, stunning cinematography, and an ultra-faithful storyline, it’s hard for a longtime fan to say no. The film offers a wild ride through a complex, disillusioned, and thoroughly entertaining universe. Watchmen will make a lot of money at the box office, will not be an Oscar contender outside of special effects, and certainly won’t be the average moviegoer’s cup of tea. In the end, it’s an extraordinary homage to an even more extraordinary comic, directed dutifully by a fan, made for the fans. You don’t have to like the Watchmen, but you should certainly watch it.
