Transforming Watchmen, one of the most celebrated graphic novels of all time, into a movie is as ambitious an undertaking as anyone in Hollywood is likely to ever attempt. For more than 20 years, a variety of filmmakers have been involved in the task of attempting to bring Watchmen to the big screen only to fail, and after seeing the movie it is easy to see why.The man to finally bring it to the screen is Zack Snyder, the director of 2007’s smash hit “300”. Snyder may have replicated the story faithfully, with only one major plot point deviation, and re-created panel-by-panel the iconic look of the graphic novel, but the nuances are gone. The film seems too busy and too detailed for it to achieve the level of personal involvement that one can get from reading the books. Watchmen is a perfect example of how source material, no matter how faithfully adapted, often loses something critical in translation.
Watchmen takes place in an alternate universe during October 1985. Richard Nixon, unaffected by the Watergate scandal and adored by a skeptical population, is in his fifth term as president. The United States and Soviet Russia have never been more antagonistic toward each other and the threat of nuclear war is eminent. This is the reality in which the main characters find themselves. With two exceptions, they are ex-superheroes, individuals who have been forced by the government to remove their costumes and bury their secret identities. This law does not apply to Dr. Manhattan, the blue-skinned superman who is the United States' ultimate weapon. Rorschach has chosen to live outside of the law, acting as a vigilante with uncompromising determination, and still prowling the city at night. Laurie Jupiter, once called Silk Spectre, is Dr. Manhattan's girlfriend and assistant. Adrien Veidt, formerly known as Ozymandias, a billionaire businessman and the
"smartest man in the world," is working with Dr. Manhattan on a plan to save humanity. And Dan Dreiberg, a.k.a. Night Owl, is at loose ends, trying to figure out how he fits in the new order. There are other, older "Watchmen" as well, those who were active in the '40s when the group was first formed. These include Laurie's mother, Sally Jupiter, and the crass, electrifying Comedian, whose death during the opening scene sets the events of the film in motion.From a visual and stylistic standpoint, Watchmen develops a gloomy, paranoid atmosphere for the film, which perfectly suits it. One of the largest personal flourishes added by Snyder, being the excellent opening credit sequence that details the history of the world in which these heroes live. Set to Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are-A Changing”, this sequence is without a doubt the film’s shining moment.
Despite giving out detailed backgrounds of the protagonists, Watchmen’s stars, for the most part, fail to compel. The exceptions are Rorschach, brilliantly portrayed by Jackie Earle Haley, who brings Oscar caliber energy to his performance that makes the movie his own. And The Comedian, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who appears only in the start of the movie and in flashbacks, yet brings an intensity that lights up the screen every time he appears.
Aside from Haley and Morgan, none of the other heroes are memorable. Matthew Goode and Patrick Wilson occupy space as the subdued Night Owl and Ozymandias, but there's not much for the viewer to hook into. Malin Akerman is attractive and looks good with and without clothing as Silk Spectre, but there's nothing in her performance to suggest that she actually has talent or understands her role. Billy Crudup gives us a Dr. Manhattan who is a detached, emotionless enigma, where as in the novel, Dr. Manhattan is a tragic, tortured figure, but not much of that comes across in the performance which is at its best during the pre-Dr. Manhattan flashbacks.
In the end, while Watchmen is visually stunning to look at and a faithful adaptation of the graphic novel, the movie only truly takes off during the opening credits and every time that The Comedian and Rorschach appear on screen. The task of bringing the book to theatres may just have been too big a task for Zack Snyder, caught between the pressure to satisfy the hardcore Watchmen fan base and creating a film accessible to the average filmgoer, all the while cramming a 12 part series into an under 3 hour running time. While the film may not have been the penultimate screen version of Watchmen, it is definitely not a bad film. It is just one that reaches for greatness only to miss it narrowly in the end.
