Watchmen

An oldie but goodie.

*Keep in mind that I have read the book, but only twice. Once for the specific purpose of reading it before the film came out, and once today, directly after I saw the movie.

“Watchmen” is one of those adaptations that has expectations that are so huge it can’t help but falter a little, only because everyone is waiting for it to.

That said, it is a visual masterpiece and one of the better “serious” comic book movies. I would argue that “The Dark Knight,” “Sin City,” and “300” all faced the same challenges that Watchmen did in terms of getting made, yet all three were better. However, I would not sell “Watchmen” short by leaving it out of their category, and will also readily admit that all three have a cynical sense of humor that broadened their popularity. Not to mention "V for Vendetta," which I almost forgot. Simply dazzling filmmaking and wonderful adaptation. Not copy-catting, but actual adaptation. Consideration of what looks good on a movie screen and how to achieve the overall affect that the source has on people.

As I said before, this movie is best in terms of visuals (And no, I don’t JUST mean Billy Crudup naked and glowing in the dark, though that didn’t deter me, exactly). The fight sequences are gritty and painful to watch, but never wavering, never blurred. They ran full force into the R-rating, and the level of gratuitous violence seems (from what I’ve heard) to send some who were expecting a standard comic-book movie running.

And while the violence would normally not bother me it really made me cringe. It just seemed like characters like Nite Owl and Laurie just, I don't know, enjoyed the gore. And to me, that was always what separated them from Rorshach.

The script, which was trimmed thoroughly in editing (apparently the original Director’s Cut runs nine hours?), is a little abrupt where it could be suggestive and a little vague where it seems like they just weren’t sure about what they were doing. Blaming Dr. Manhattan for the explosion that closes the movie is not a bad change—I myself was never a fan of the inexplicable squid that appeared “from space” in the book—but there was little time spent on the world’s fear of Jon, only on the awe.

I think what could have made it play was his willingness to just go. To be gone, to sever all ties with humanity. But the way they miscut his scene on Mars left out when he's considered something to fear. They also left out when Sally quips to Laurie that Jon is the H-bomb, which also would have subtly built up what they were trying to do.

EDIT: You know what I totally forgot but also hated? When Jon keeps electrocuting Laurie in the head for no reason. Manhattan was the coolest character by far in the book, but that random shit kind of ruined him for me in the movie, leaving the Comedian/Silk Spectre I relationship as my favorite. "Do that thing you do." Didn't like it.

The acting was adequate.

Jackie Earle Haley found the only superhero he’ll ever play, and threw himself into it. Not for a moment was he out of character, and while I hated what they did to his last scene, he nailed it. Unfortunately, while he gave the best performance, his character is not heroic. I wanted to sympathize with him, but I couldn’t. Rorschach is an extremely principled guy, a sociopath, so all I could do was admire the acting and that creepy mask. The same thing happened to me in the book.

Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl was the same as Patrick Wilson in anything. He was boring, uncomfortable, and a little punk, yet he had an EXCEEDINGLY comical, awkward sex scene. Watch “Little Children” and you’ll see what I mean. I do think some of it came from the character, but more could have been done to make Nite Owl less of a pussy.

Malin Ackerman suffered through pretty much every scene as Silk Spectre II. Actually, that’s a lie. Her performance depended too much on her scene partner. When she was with a gifted actor, she was fine, but she could not hold up her scenes with Wilson, who was a gracious costar, letting her have the spotlight. Unfortunately, she didn’t deliver.

Matthew Goode drove me insane as Ozymandias. I couldn’t buy that he was the smartest man in the world or the most dangerous. I thought he was “most likely to get his ass handed to him by everyone else.”

Crudup was good as Dr. Manhattan, as I think it takes skill to decide not to act. He broke pretty much every rule of acting—when to pause, when to shout, how to move his face—to showcase the character. He also (like Bill Nighy in “Pirates of the Caribbean”) managed to act through CGI.

I also thought Carla Gugino and Jeffery Dean Morgan did excellent supporting work as the Comedian and Silk Spectre. I got a sense of those characters’ pasts, and the relationship of the past to the present is very important to “Watchmen,” in my opinion.

Editing hurt this movie where it should have helped it. With Dr. Manhattan, who physically embodies quantum physics With the relationship between one generation of heroes and the next. The lack of visual quirks, the rush of the ending, and the choice of when to use slow motion. I think slow-mo works when something needs to movie slower than time to be felt properly. When moments drag on too long, or too much is happening to see it all at one time. Not when something just happens to look cool.

And, my personal pet peeve, why exactly didn’t they just get Philip Glass to compose the score for the entire film? Yes, they thankfully used “Pruit Igoe,” but they also used My Chemical Romance covering Bob Dylan. Glass would have given the picture a dash of class. The elevator music that seemed to play every time Ackerman took off her shirt for Wilson just made me groan.

I know I had a lot of complaints, but that’s just my critical nature. I thought it was overall a good film. Not a “great,” but if everything was “great,” then “greats” would hardly be so impressive. I think what “Watchmen” has done is show, yet again, that graphic novels are often as complex as pieces of literature.