Watchmen, 2009

With any movie adaptation of Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel, "Watchmen", the director is in an unenviable position because of the novel's near biblical standing with fans. Any change to the source material, even if to correctly serve the transition across mediums, would be sacrilege. Stick too close and you cannot create something that works cinematically. Amongst Moore's ramblings, he is correct in saying Watchmen is the opposite of cinematic. It is episodic and meant to be read at one's leisure. You are not meant to digest all of its staggering information in one sitting. I think therefore it is no surprise "Watchmen" could be considered cinematic Marmite, with widespread praise and criticism. My objective opinion (which is rarely the operative word for reviews so far) is that Zack Snyder and his creative team have achieved a minor miracle by creating a tremendously physical movie with the psychological weight to go with it. There is so much going on visually, audibly, thematically, fused together to produce a stunning, eclectic tapestry that could spellbind and overwhelm initiates enough for repeat viewing. All in a tightly-packed 160 minutes that kept me rapt throughout, if not some of the so-called adults near me (Okay, it's a blue CGI penis, get over it!) Let's make no mistake: it's not as good as the book. How could it be, without translating every scrap of detail, while at the same time, altering it to suit the big screen? This will go on the ever growing pile of movies that are better as books, but the sheer uncompromising ambition of the project deserves credit. "Watchmen" is a thing of savage beauty. Bones split through flesh, heads hewn by meat cleavers, people disintegrate in nuclear fire, but it is not pornographic. Like "Rambo", the violence is very real, not sugar-coated as in many Hollywood blockbusters. In the brilliant opening fight scene, an unknown assailant slams The Comedian's temple off of a marble top counter with such quick, sickening force as to almost certainly fracture his skull. And with "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole adding a certain poignancy to the Comedian's death. We are then treated to an exquisite montage depicting the Minutemen, a group of 1950s crusaders who lived in a time of apple pie and Uncle Sam. This sequence shows the simplistic nature of good and evil dissolve into deception and complexity. The Comedian of the 50s is shown in a photo opportunity cheerfully apprehending a bank robber; the next scene reveals him as JFK's assassin from the grassy knoll. The super heroine Silhouette shares a celebratory, post-WWII kiss with her female lover. In the next moment, they have been both brutally slain, "Lesbian Whores" painted in blood on the wall. This is where "Watchmen" excels. Beneath the comic book veneer of yellow jump-suit clad crime fighters and naked blue demigods lurks dark, mature themes of nuclear tension, political agendas and the dark side of human nature. It is a postmodern superhero story that admittedly was more relevant at the time, but the ideas can be applied to our terrorism-addled world, [SPOILER] as best demonstrated in an ending shot of an alternate New York fitted still with the Twin Towers overlooking a city starting anew. [/SPOILER] Fittingly, the film is very pop cultural, just as the novel has become an essential element of our popular culture. The Minutemen are a sensation, with the same reverence as the Beatles. There are Andy Warhols of the Nite Owl, and erotic comic strips of the Silk Spectre. Ozymandias is good friends with David Bowie. The music superbly adds to this notion, with tracks such as "The times they are a-changing" by Bob Dylan, "Sound of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel and K. C. & The Sunshine Band's "Boogie Man" used well to transport us over four decades. President Nixon's war room is straight from "Dr. Strangelove or How I learned to stop worrying and learn to love the bomb", and Rorshach's noir perambulations to a very Vangelis-like theme combine "Blade Runner" and "Taxi Driver". "Watchmen" is a brilliant satire that deconstructs the superhero mythology entirely, even poking fun at the old Batman and Superman strips that presented morality in very black-and-white terms. Mothman is sectioned for reasons other than dressing up as a giant moth. To see if Silk Spectre is okay behind him in one scene, Dan Dreiberg aka Nite Owl II has to pivot his entire body, a la Keaton's Dark Knight. In the vile scene [SPOILER] where the Comedian attempts to rape the Silk Spectre, the Comedian asks why she dresses the way she does if she doesn't want it. And you do then remember why all superheroines feel the need to dress as prostitutes. [/SPOILER] These heroes do not fight super villains as you may expect -with exception to Moloch and the ill-fated Captain Carnage- but real world threats like the Vietcong, those damned Commies, besides of course their own battered psyches. Rorschach addresses the Minutemen that seemed so bright and cheerful during the movie's intro and they are all dead, insane or shadows of their glorious past selves. Once a fearful enemy, Moloch is a withering recluse in a scummy Bronx apartment. A certain coldness pervades "Watchmen" that may or may not be intentional. It adds to the cosmic indifference of the universe to humanity's plight, core ironic idea of the story. This makes the Comedian, who is dead within five minutes of the film's beginning, its centrepiece as he is viewed retrospectively by the others. The Comedian, aka Eddie Blake, believes life is a joke. He is not alone. In the words of an ageing Silk Spectre from over the top of a mid-afternoon Margarita. "It rains on the just and unjust alike." God does not move in mysterious ways because he does not exist; only humans do and with that comes their evil tendencies. Whereas Rorschach swims valiantly against the tide (in his ideals if not his methods), and Dr. Manhattan sees life as an overrated phenomenon anyway, Blake has fun, permitted the freedom to commit a catalogue of sins, knowing karma will not punish him. It's hard not to root for him, despite his vile nature. His actions add to Watchmen's constant existential angst. The character's pasts, though fascinating and wonderfully portrayed, add nothing to the plot per se, but add to the idea that life is chaotic and even hopeless at times. Fantastic heroes and heroines toil and suffer to save a world that is barely worth saving. This is one of the story's great ironic ideas, a joke, you might say. "Watchmen" would depress if not for the energy of the entire production. The hope this film provides is that life existing at all is a thing of beauty and must not be frittered away. Miracles can be born of chaos and hopelessness. The film in that respect is about the wonderful adaptiveness of life and how important it is to be at peace with each other as to avoid nihilism. It isn't all doom and gloom, anyway. There is a rich vein of humour pulsing through "Watchmen". Dreiburg has been rendered impotent by his years of inactivity and can only get it up after a heavy bout of super do-gooding. Rorschach's utter deadpan is a source of black humour. Ozymandias nobly seeks to provide the masses free energy, only to be labelled a socialist by investors. The movie is packed with high class performances. Billy Crudup plays Manhattan with a soft, flat, nearly effeminate voice that is so strange coming from the mouth of this god amongst men, a wonderful oddity to add to a film full of wonderful oddities. Jackie Earle Haley is an absolute vision as Rorschach (in the same bracket as Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon perfect), a sociopathic antihero who can barely contain his bile about a vermin-riddled world he feels compelled to save. Jeffrey Dean Morgan's presence is really felt as the Comedian, despite him existing in the past tense. Patrick Wilson does a solid job with a comparatively dull character in Nite Owl, a more traditional hero with esteem issues. Malin Akerman is fine as Laurie but ultimately more eye candy than genuine talent. Just as he is in the book, Ozymandias is the weakest of the characters, [SPOILER] suspiciously aloof [/SPOILER], without the back story that the others have been so richly treated to. The performance from Matthew Goode is good enough, but has a strange German lisp about it. You feel the casting for this important role could have gone to a stronger actor. I suppose those who think of "Watchmen" in purely conventional terms of a beginning, middle and end will see its plot as majorly flawed and obviously comic-booky. Like "Batman Begins", there was a plot because there needs to be one. The character development and the assault on the senses is the real reason to like this film. I feel the story's biggest loss was the Minutemen, who are filed away in an admittedly excellent opening montage. The Minutemen existed in a time of truth, justice and the American way, and this gives way to a complex, tense, morally stunted 1980s in which nuclear death is just around the corner. In this respect, the Minutemen are as important as their modern day counterparts. "Under the Hood" is understandably deferred to the DVD and Hollis Mason is reduced to a cameo [SPOILER] when his arc is one of the most heartbreaking things I've read. [/SPOILER]

What did you think about this review?

Thank you for voting.

Like Dislike

Abuse report sent

Report abuse