March 7, 2009
Review – Watchmen (18)
Directed by: Zack Snyder,
Starring: Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman, Patrick Wilson
The year is 1985. President Richard Nixon is in his 5th consecutive term in office. America has triumphed in Vietnam and currently stands minutes away from nuclear war with the USSR. Masked vigilantes have been outlawed but one of the original ‘masks’, Rorschach remains active. When former vigilante The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is murdered Rorschach must leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of a sinister plot, the magnitude of which defies belief. This is Watchmen.
If you know me, you know I’ve been awaiting this movie since first reading the graphic novel almost a year ago. The rich, complex story and unrelenting brutality combined with deep characters made that graphic novel one of, if not the, most celebrated of all time. I, for one am a true fan of the book. As you can imagine though, holding the novel in such high praise inevitably lead to great fears of a multi-million dollar Hollywood massacre of something great, a travesty that happens way too often. I grew even more worried when I learned that Zack Snyder would be directing. You might call that unfair but in my opinion he made a full blown dogs dinner out of 300, a movie that could have been so much more. Faith prevailed though. Snyder is, after all, a huge fan of comics and has been a watchmen fanatic for years before taking on the project.
So how was it? In a word; Awesome. You can clearly tell how much care and attention has gone into re-creating this masterpiece for the screen. Snyder’s inner fan-boy never let go of what was important; the source material. Sets were beautifully re-created, characters were excellently realised and the magnitude of the story was never lost. The cast of relatively low key Hollywood talent payed off as none of the cast were too big for their roles and, for the most part, executed them perfectly. Rorschach in particular (A clear reference to Taxi Driver‘s Travis Bickle) has been translated so well I never once thought to myself “I imagined him different there…” When Jacky Earle Haley delivers possibly the best line in the whole book – “None of you understand. I’m not locked in here with you… you’re locked in here with me.” – you just go “Fuck yeah!!!” inside and the grin doesn’t leave your face for a good while after.
Possibly the best part of the movie, however were the action and fight sequences. They were fast-paced, satisfying and very, very violent. This is where the film earned it’s 18 certificate. Bones are broken and pushed through skin, faces are melted with hot cooking fat and many, many evil-doers are reduced to pools of bloody pulp by the only super-powered hero, Dr Manhattan (Billy Crudup).
The movie wasn’t without it’s issues, although they would most likely be un-noticed by viewers who haven’t read the graphic novel. Without giving anything away, the ending has been changed quite profoundly. You still get the same result, they just take a different route. Also some of the CGI could have been done better in my opinion. A lot of reviews seem to talk about how off-putting they find the appearance of Dr Manhattan’s (Billy Crudup) swinging blue cock but truth be told I didn’t really notice it. Of course I noticed it, it’s a glowing blue knob for Christ’s sake, but it wasn’t distracting or off-putting. The CGI I’m referring to is in some of the big grandeur shots… it looks slightly dated. A bit glossy where you wouldn’t expect it to be… a bit Toy Story 1. Also, not a big deal but this movie really favours those who have read the graphic novel and loved it.
These minor flaws didn’t stop me from enjoying the hell out of this movie though, no-sir-ee-bob! This was full on comic nerd glory and the true vision of what great comic-to-movie adaptations can be if you take out the Hollywood fat-cats and leave it to the professionals. Iron Man kicked down the door… Watchmen owned the room. Long live the nerd!
Verdict: 
News Feed
March 8, 2009 - 2:10 pm
….your writing is once again excellent!!! I may be biased but am not wrong!!! Keep doing what you do Dan, somewhere out there, there is a job for you doing this!!! (and that would pay for a decent (if not luxury) nursing home!!!)
March 9, 2009 - 1:59 pm
Heck yeah. I hadn’t even read the comic through thoroughly and I found that by itself, the film stood strong. It would be interesting to see some reviews from critics that haven’t had the comic seasoned frame of mind entering the film.
I think that drawing from the comic itself as reference for visual information worked really well for this, and they certainly managed to tell one hell of a tale well.
March 10, 2009 - 12:47 pm
Dude, good review as always.
Saw Watchmen last night was pleasently suprised. But still Dr. Manhattan seemed to be backflipping back into the ‘Uncanny Valley’ which was a bit lame. Rorschach should get the award for best Ginger in film, that guy was raw. =]
Though I don’t blame Alan Moore for backing out of the film the ending was weak super weak(no pun intended).
March 10, 2009 - 1:02 pm
I think pretty much all the characters were executed perfectly. You have to understand, these people are “super-heroes” but they’re not all nice people. Rorschach is the anti-batman leaving all his foes dead or dying, Dr Manhattan trades up his wife for a newer model, The Comedian is a rapist and a murderer and Ozymandias.. well can we say “pompous douche-bag!?”
As for the ending, it’s true, I would have perferred it if they’d stayed 100% true to the graphic novel ending but I thought it worked none the less. They managed to tie in two seperate events in order to make the movie more accessible to the non-fanboy. Alan Moore, with all due respect, needs to get off his high horse and accept that Zack Snyder has actually done a fan-fucking-tastic job of translating his masterpiece to the big screen.
March 10, 2009 - 4:20 pm
And I agree compleatly, I thaught the Pyramid and rockafella references were superb aswell. Though I mention Mr. Manhattan from an effects point of veiw.
The effects were the best in cinema today and shows how far special effect have come, but Mr. Manhatten is suffering from a case of the uncanny valley. Look term up and you’ll get what I mean.
March 10, 2009 - 4:35 pm
So I take it you’re referring to his schlong?
March 10, 2009 - 4:46 pm
Surprisingly enough no.
The uncanny valley is a hypothesis that when robots and other facsimiles of humanity that look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers or lack of believability.
The “valley” in question is a dip in a proposed graph of the positivity of human reaction as a function of a robot or character’s lifelikeness.
And my point being that though Mr. Manhatten looks pretty good, he still lacks believability.
My 2 cents is that he should of been more stylized.
March 10, 2009 - 4:48 pm
I see. I thought you meant that the addition of his lifelike wang caused a reaction of revulsion in you because it got too lifelike.
I see what you mean but when it came to characters they couldn’t give a middle finger to the source material. It would just piss the fans off too much.
March 10, 2009 - 5:00 pm
lol cheers. But too true about the source material.
But on the wang front my only opinion it that it was about time some on had the balls to add it in (again no pun intended), I get kinda fed up of seeing ‘action figure’ bodies in this type of thing, I see it alot in Games Design, Dudes have dicks not manginas what are they afraid of? It reminds me of that South Park episode ‘Eeek a Penis’.
March 10, 2009 - 5:37 pm
I am DYING to see this. Going to have to go at the weekend I think – If I don’t see this on the big screen I’ll regret it forever…
March 26, 2009 - 12:04 pm
Better than the animated comic by far, was quite good, but thought it could have been better
Share the love...