(NOTE – I reserve the right to change my final grade or anything in this review. I want to have time for this film to settle in and I’m taking this film very personally as I have a huge love for the graphic novel. Consider this review a work in progress.)

Watchmen Movie Review

The date is July 25, 2009. A brown-haired, medium-build punk stands in front of a microphone at the San Diego Comic Con 2009. He tells Zack Snyder he’s sorry for saying “Snyder couldn’t do it” or that “he wasn’t the right guy.” I apologize for saying he wasn’t going to be able to adapt Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ pitch perfect comic book. He then jumps at me in slow motion and beats my face in.

The comic and film take place in an alternative 1985 where Nixon is in his fifth term as president, and superheroes are as common as celebrities to the point they’re phased out of comic books. Unfortunately, due to the Keene Act of 1977, superheroes are outlawed and illegal, sans Edward Blake/The Comedian (Jeffery Dean Morgan). Poor Edward receives a visit from a hooded man who beats him to a pulp and tosses him out of a window. An ex-vigilante (and former Watchmen/Crimebuster) Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) decides to investigate the murder of Edward Blake, suspecting someone is picking off costumed heroes. What follows is a tale of deception, rape, violence, and saving the world.

Watchmen, where do I begin? First let’s get the big thing out of the way: Zack Snyder gets it and is as faithful as anyone has ever been to the source material. He understands that everything translates well and that even the appendices need to be integrated into the film, somehow. Sure, there are times when he takes liberties with the material (i.e. – Janey waltzes in while Manhattan is interviewed on the show, instead of complaining to the newspaper) and almost all of it works. To those who fear that Watchmen’s themes weren’t carried over, fret not. Take it from someone who’s read it over and over again for eight years, understands it well and is one of the world’s biggest fans… Snyder does it.

As has been obvious since the first trailer appeared, the film perfectly captures the visual look of the comic. This is a living, breathing alternative New York that feels like it existed. Major credit has to be given to Alex McDowell and his team for crafting such a desolate, beautiful version of reality. If I’m not mistaken, they only had one set for this New York that they so perfectly recreate. Every detail from the comic is treated with care and no stone is left askew. It’s truly a marvel to look it over and feel that everything is right. Larry Fong overlays these detailed sets with the stylized art of Dave Gibbons. Some shots literally look as if Fong took tracing paper and copied right from the novel.

All of this would be moot if the themes and characters weren’t retained well, which thankfully they are. Let me talk about a man who deserves an Oscar nomination as much as Heath Ledger did, maybe more. Jackie Earle Haley is Rorschach. Every line he utters and every action he performs embodies Walter Kovacs. As was the case in the comic, his most powerful scene is his origin and Haley hits every chord with precision. His “partner,” if you will, Nite Owl II/Dan Dreiberg, is played by a man who seems born for this role. Patrick Wilson already looked the part and seeing him on screen lives up to the expectations I had for him. Dan is probably the only “true” hero in the entire story. He’s Bruce Wayne mixed in with a boy scout and Wilson captures his pathetic nature perfectly. It’s unfortunate though that some of Dan’s back story was cut for time (we get it in the director’s cut) because I would have loved to see how Wilson would have handled said scenes with Hollis Mason (Stephen McHattie).

Jeffery Dean Morgan needs to be made a film star after this. Hopefully, unlike Gerard Butler, he’ll pick better roles. Like Butler did with Leonidas, Morgan shows his star power as The Comedian. It’s funny considering The Comedian is probably the most cynical and psychotic of the group, but Morgan delivers it and sends it back only to deliver it again. He’s the wise-cracking asshole he was in the book, but it never feels over-the-top or excessive. The scene where he spills his guts to Moloch came off as a man beaten, broken, and talking to who the only friend he thinks he has. In any other hands, it could have been a crazy man walking around muttering gibberish, something it wasn’t in the book.

Billy Crudup has made Dr. Manhattan his own, and by that I mean he has probably created the definitive version of the character. It’s going to be hard to imagine anyone else’s voice when picking up the book again (in fact, when reading it the other day, I could only hear his voice in my head when Manhattan came up.) A lot will be made of Haley’s Rorschach but Crudup is right there with him as far as performances go. Most readers imagine Manhattan to have an echoing, all-powerful voice and yet Crudup (and Snyder) does the opposite. We get a monotone voice that, really breaking it down, fits the character to a “T”. Dr. Manhattan doesn’t give a flying flip about anyone, which is why for the most part his facial expressions are limited to boredom. Crudup understands the difference between Jon Osterman and Dr. Manhattan – which is why we generally do feel for the guy when he’s about to be zapped to bits and become larger than life.

This leads us to the final two characters: Matthew Goode (Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias) and Malin Akerman (Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre II). Veidt was the least publicized of all the characters which made me worry that he wasn’t handled as well as he should have been or perhaps that Goode gave a lackluster performance. Adrian is the character most changed (but not different) from his comic counterpart. Goode made the decision to give him a German accent when he’s out of public and it will take some getting used to, but it works once it hits full swing. There are two added scenes that actually build upon Adrian’s character rather than tarnish it. It’s not a performance that’s as instantly likable as the four mentioned already but once it settles (and I really insist you take some time to absorb this film) it’s on a par with the others. As Adrian is my favorite character of the entire story, I was proud to see him brought to life so expertly.

Malin Akerman is a different animal altogether. Firstly: in her defense, the character of Laurie was written to be a whiny, confused brat who hates the idea of being a superhero because it was forced on her, and is defined by her relationships with Manhattan and Nite Owl II. Secondly, she’s easily the weakest of the bunch. She’s not bad, but she’s sort of the equivalent of Katie Holmes in Batman Begins. Akerman does look the part and gets better as the film goes on, but before we get there she shows trouble displaying the type of emotions she should. Carla Gugino plays her mother, Sally Jupiter, and does a tremendous job at conveying that character’s sexuality and pin-up lifestyle. It’s just a shame it takes Akerman a while to get acclimated to the role of her daughter.

The biggest fear of the novel’s fans was that the themes would suffer if Snyder opted to focus on ‘cool’ and ‘awesome’. Well, I can say that the themes are in fact translated and played out perfectly on screen. These are flawed people and every idiosyncrasy is on board for the ride. The themes of “peace through sacrifice” and the moral ambiguity of right and wrong is completely left intact even with the slight tweak that more or less works better for the “free energy” subplot that’s in there. Watchmen takes its time to develop everything and yet moves along briskly. This might be the best-paced film since Seven Samurai, where the time breezes by and no scene feels like it drags or needed to be slimmed.

In fact, that’s my main complaint with the film. As well as this version works, it still feels a little incomplete. The credits were rolling and aside from being in awe of what I had just watched, I wanted more. This may be due to the fact we’re promised a director’s cut already, but I still wanted to see some scenes extended. My biggest gripe is that Hollis Mason’s scenes are trimmed down, save for one scene at the beginning. For a character who is so integral to the plot and to why Dan is who he is, it was a shame to see him so reduced. The other scene I missed in there was Rorschach’s interaction with the psychiatrist Malcom Long who digs more deeply into who Rorschach is. The scene is still there and works, but for the uninitiated the book tells it from Malcon’s point of view and how it takes its toll on his marriage. It’s a wonderful, powerful exchange that will hopefully find its way into the directors cut.

Truthfully, I’m going to need more time to digest this film. Not enough time has passed for Watchmen to be declared the greatest film anyone’s seen in their life or that AFI needs to redo their 100 Best Films list. It’s ironic this is released after The Dark Knight because it’s been said that Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns were a new kind of comic book, and Watchmen followed Batman’s release in 1986. The same compliment could be paid to both films. Watchmen furthers the notion, in some ways better than The Dark Knight did, that comic book films can hold their own. Zack Snyder already was getting some major praise just for getting the film made so closely to the novel. For him to also retain the meat that made the Watchmen book what it is has to be one of the biggest achievements in the history of the medium.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

Empire Online got their hands on the first look of the new “Watchmen” trailer. Based on the award winning DC Comic written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Zach Snyder directs the movie adaptation that hits the big screen in the summer of 2009.