“Watchmen”, at its core, is not an action movie.
Yes, it has its fair share of action sequences, but anyone headed to theaters expecting a pure action movie should stop right now and prepare themselves for something much darker and deeper than a popcorn flick. “Watchmen”, in every sense of the word, is mature.
Viewers should go into theaters expecting the film to deal with rape, mass murder, nuclear holocaust, and sex. Expect excesses of blood and extreme violence, along with images of prostitution, sex, and nudity. The themes, the characters, the events, and the ending all portray a world of true despair and hopelessness; a direction rarely seen in modern films or television. Watchmen repeatedly confronts the viewer with the brutality of human nature, depicting us as creatures willing to obliterate each other in an instant if it even remotely ensures our own safety.
Acting
What truly carries the movie to the point where it can actually deliver on these grandiose themes is the acting. Jack E. Haley’s performance as Rorschach easily matches and, debatably, eclipses the Oscar winning performance given by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. In a truly magnificent performance, Haley portrays Rorschach not only as a sociopath, but also as a man who truly wants to change the world at any cost. Several scenes throughout the movie stand out as superlative examples of the true quality of his acting. Namely, when Rorschach is recounting when Walter Kovacs “died” and Rorschach, as the world knew him, was born. In this chilling scene, Haley portrays Rorschach getting so worked up over one of his investigations that he simply snaps and Walter Kovacs, the man, ceases to exist. The facial movements under the mask and the overall body language far surpass what even the graphic novel was able to achieve with that scene(which is slightly different in the graphic novel) and it is a truly chilling performance that easily rivals anything put on by Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight.
In addition, Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s performance as the Comedian is also of note due to is duality and contrast between a good man who cares for humanity, and the evil, sinister actions he has perpetrated in his life. Morgan’s performance steals the scene in the same manner that Haley’s Rorschach does, providing some extremely deep social commentary. Throughout the movie, you can’t help but like the Comedian despite his terrible actions and repeated confirmations that he is not a “good person” in the traditional meaning of the word. However, he is portrayed as someone who wants the best for humanity and simply recognizes the futility of trying to fight our bestial tendencies.
Less impressive, but still good none-the-less, are the performances by Malin Akerman(Silk Spectre II / Laurie Juspeczyk), Billy Crudup(Dr. Manhattan / Jon Osterman), and Patrick Wilson(Nite Owl II / Dan Dreiberg), who all provide strong performances that, despite not quite living up to the graphic novel, do accurately portray their characters on screen.Akerman seems a bit out of place as Laurie at a couple points in the film, but for the most part achieves everything that is needed out of her character. While not a standout, she does not drag the movie down.
Crudup’s performance as Dr. Manhattan was also satisfactory, achieving a certain level of melancholy detachment, while still portraying emotional attachment to Laurie. Given the immediate handicaps facing Crudup due to the simple nature of playing a CGI character, his performance is commendable, but nothing of particular significance.
Patrick Wilson’s performance as Dan Drieberg is effective, and noteworthy simply because he portrays Dan as a weak, insecure man who uses the mask of Nite Owl to empower himself, and make him into a better man than he would be on his own. The shy, hesitant actions of Dan come to life through Wilson’s performance and effectively translates the entire purpose of the character directly into the movie in a way that I was not expecting.
Weakest of them all was Mathew Goode’s performance as Ozymandias / Adrian Veidt, who doesn’t quite fit the character and delivers as rather mediocre performance overall. He doesn’t bring the movie down with his performance, but it also does absolutely nothing to help the movie either. The ending is slightly less impactful due to this, but it is ultimately due to both the writing and acting for Ozymandias. With relatively few lines and a rather weak portrayal of his view of the world leaves his character poorly portrayed (at the very least, worse than in the graphic novel). As a result, the ending is not nearly as significant as it was in the graphic novel and Ozymandias not nearly as powerful a character.
Plot
Despite being a typical “whodunit” storyline, Watchmen goes much deeper, delving into the nature of humanity, the insignificance of a single life in the universe, the miracle of life, the struggle of common men and women to better the world and the sacrifices needed to achieve true peace.
The plot itself would have played better with audiences 20 years ago, during the Cold War paranoia and constant threat of Nuclear Holocaust, but the ideas remain the same. Is it truly mankind's fate to continue escalating our war efforts to the point where the only thing preventing the total annihilation of each other is the threat of extinction? This is where I feel that the movie is a bit out of its period, since much of the world has completely forgotten the fear and dread of potential Thermonuclear War. Our society no longer lives on the brink of extinction. Because of this, the dark storyline of Watchmen will likely be hit or miss for many people, with a certain portion of the general populace completely missing the point.
However, in the translation from the graphic novel to the movie, certain things were lost in translations. For example, the scene with Dr. Manhattan providing a monologue looking back on his life translates rather poorly into a movie setting and ultimately comes off as poorly paced and lacking focus. This sequences works in the graphic novel, but on screen it falls apart.
In the graphic novel, the entire point of this sequence is to demonstrate how Jon (Dr. Manhattan) no longer sees life as significant, but rather as a simple sequence of events within the universe that have no effect beyond their mere occurrence. Because Jon sees the past, present and future timeline of the universe all at once, his perspective on life has been distorted to the point where he no longer has any connection with humanity. This leads into a later scene where Jon has a revelation about life after witnessing some of the events of Laurie’s life. I believe that many viewers will only end up confused and bewildered during this sequence and not completely understand its significance within the overarching storyline of the movie.
Cinematography and Special Effects
By all judgments, this is one of the most impressive looking movies ever released. The quality of the CG, combined with the special effects and tiny details littering every scene makes this a true marvel to watch. Camera movements and cinematography follow the graphic novel almost frame by frame, resulting in what is truly an astoundingly faithful translation into film. However, the liberties taken with the action sequences are also extremely well handled. Although Watchmen purists, like myself, could argue that the fight sequences drag on a bit too long, it is hard to argue against something that is so well choreographed and filmed. Clearly drawing on his experiences from 300, Snyder produces visceral and powerful fights that are sure to thrill action fans in audiences.
Faithfulness to the Graphic NovelCharacters like Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan are perfectly portrayed in the film, matching their characters in the graphic novel almost exactly. Even getting down the tiny details, like the glowing like of Dr. Manhattan and the constantly shifting mask of Rorschach, nothing was overlooked with these characters, who are presented exactly as any fan of the graphic novel would want them to be.
Less accurately presented are Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II, who both have a sort of high quality production value to their suits that would not be expected of the common people that they are. Dan Dreiberg may have been rich in the graphic novel, but his suit was almost certainly not Batman-esque in its quality and capabilities; and Laurie’s costume was not tight latex that leaves almost nothing to the imagination.
Other changes are for the most part minor, and have no significant effect on the overall outcome of the storyline. They do however weaken the overall development of the story in a way that is slightly disappointing. However, the only thing I feel has been significantly overblown is the change to the ending. Within the context of the movie, it does not really change the ultimate outcome of the storyline at all; instead leaving the end exactly the same, only swapping the step it took to get there with a slightly different one. This new ending even hides a slight homage to the original ending that was a nicely implemented touch. Some would argue that the new ending does not make as much sense, but I ultimately feel that this ending works out just as well as the original ending and wouldn’t have changed anyone’s opinion of the graphic novel if this had been how Alan Moore had chosen to conclude his masterpiece.
Some nice touches that have been added in order to help ground the movie more firmly include the title sequence that essential serves as a timeline recap introducing the universe and everything that is happening. It more firmly establishes the setting and condition of the world in a way that helps to prepare audiences for what is to come.
Conclusion
I am sure that having read this entire review you probably are under the impression that I am absolutely in love with the film and feel that it is a masterpiece, given the pages of praise I have given it, but that is not exactly how I feel about the movie. This is a great movie. It is a movie that everyone should see at some point. But, it is also a movie that you need to be prepared to watch and prepared to accept ahead of time. People expecting an action flick will leave of the theater disappointed and people expecting a movie of the same caliber as the graphic novel will also leave disappointed. Not everyone will like it, and I will be the first to admit that it is a bit slow paced and drawn out at points. However, if you are willing to go in and examine its message, and enjoy the wonderful performances put on by the entire cast of actors, together with the fantastic presentation and effects, then I don’t see how you can really complain about the movie. I applaud Snyder for essentially accomplishing what many people believed to be impossible. He translated “Watchmen” into an absolutely fantastic movie.
Verdict
4.5 / 5
