Watchmen: Review By Lone Wolf

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!

I saw “Watchmen” on opening night, and let me just say, once those credits started rolling, I had already decided that this was one of the best movies of the decade. I should first mention that this film was strictly made for fans of the novel and not made for your average, mainstream audience(same problem that “Punisher:War Zone” faced). This is nothing like “Dark Knight” or “Spider-Man” or “Superman” or any average superhero movie that most people are used to seeing. This film has very little action in it at all and focuses mainly on building up character development and story development. It’s kind of like “V For Vendetta” (which is based on a graphic novel written by the same person who wrote this novel). No one in this movie (except “Dr. Manhattan”) has any real powers, all of the other heroes are vigilantes who are just really hi-tech or skilled at fighting. Though director “Zack Synder” did give each character a superhuman-type moment. Ex: when “Rorschach was climbing up a satellite tower or something to get to a roof, he went from ground level to a bar 8 feet up in single leap all without the use of grabbing on to something.

I guess I’ll start out with the story. You’ve got to be a real thinking man to understand this movie, or you’ve got to read the novel, or both. The story takes off after the death of a G.I. vigilante, “The Comedian” is murdered by a mysterious man and a member of the “Watchmen”, Rorschach sets out to find out who and why they killed The Comedian. There are many flashbacks throughout the movie, mainly to explain Dr. Manhattan and The Comedian’s origins. Each member of the Watchmen are thoroughly developed, which can eventually seem like a real drag. Dr. Manhattan’s origins are explained through a long string of flashbacks that are about 20 minutes long. The movie never stays on one story, it’s constantly changing between stories or situations that other characters are in, which I actually enjoy because I’ve got to think about the plot more.

Next is the acting. Let me first say, that “Jackie Earle Haley” as Rorschach was without a doubt the star that stole the spotlight in this film. Many may disagree with me when I say this, but I think he deserves to be nominated for “Best Actor”. Everyone else played there roles very very well. Now let me delve into detail about one thing that bothered me for a while and is certainly going to bother anyone who watches this film. Dr. Manhattan, portrayed by “Billy Crudup” who played the role VERY well, he really acted like he was some kind of alien or something that is very unhuman; anyway his character is COMPLETELY nude through about 90% of the film. And Zack Synder had no fear of hiding any frontal nudity; now showing the guys cheeks wouldn’t be that disturbing and even just a quick glimpse of his genitals wouldn’t be that bad, but no, Synder wanted to keep it close to the novel and have “Mr. Johnson” have a role in the film too. Now most fans do know that “Dr. Manhattan” was nude in the novel most of the time and yes, they did show his frontals, but only a few times. Eventually though, it didn’t bother me anymore for two reasons. 1: it became a bit of a routine and 2: there is wonderful eye candy for men in this film. The beautiful “Malin Akerman” plays “Silk Spectre II” and yes, she is nude as well, but only twice. Still, it’ll help get your mind off of Manhattan. Malin payed her role MUCH better than I thought she would. I should mention though that there is a grahpic sex-scene in the film, and Synder kinda gave it a porno-type scenario. Anyway, now that I’ve got that out, I can get back to the bulk of the nickelodeon. “Patrick Wilson” plays “Nite Owl II”, (who may look like “Batman” but has a personality similar to “Clark Kent”’s), played his role very well also; a few moments that felt overacted, but nothing terrible. He was the only character who I thought wasn’t explained well enough.

Now to directing/visuals. Zack Synder did a very good job making this look and feel like the novel, using the same treatment that he gave “300", taking nearly every shot and making it look like a refelction to an image from the novel. Of course there were a few things he shouldn’t have done, some I’ve already named. He really, just like 300, over-did-it with the “slow-mo”, even when there isn’t a fight scene going on, which really adds to the films 3 hours. If he had cut back on the on that, then the film might have been cut down to about 2 hours and 30-something minutes. He did make many good decisions though. He used actual sets this time to make a scene feel more real than 300. He also dramatically lengthened some of the fight scenes and made them very gritty, which were still short. And finally, how he changed the ending. The ending is the only real break-away from the novel. Now many fans may disagree, but I really like this change. The novels ending was just too over-the-top and unbelievable, instead of using a giant monster from some other galaxy to destroy the major cities, he uses the energy machines that Manhattan made to use as bombs to destroy the cities.

Now, I could go into detail about the things in the movie and the novel, but I’ve got to wrap this up sometime. All-in-all, even though I may not sound like it, I absolutely loved this film and it is now #4 on my favorite comic book adaptations list. Strictly for fans and you’ll be lucky if you enjoy this even if you aren’t familiar to the novel. If I didn’t answer some of your questions, please let me know.

P.S.: Do NOT go see this with someone who hasn’t read the novel or is your parent, grandfather, aunt, uncle, etc. I had to learn that the hard way.