War bonds poster by N.C. Wyeth, 1942
Watchmen was always going to be a compromise - the dense and heavily thematic graphic novel by Alan Moore deconstructing the superhero archetype could never be turned into a film without some compromise. The question was always who would be put in charge of choosing which compromises to make and whether the result would be watchable or enjoyable. Considering that 300's Zack Snyder was the one put in the director's seat, I found the final product surprisingly watchable, and the compromises made are mostly defensible. I admit that I enjoyed Watchmen quite a lot, although my love of the story it tells probably has a lot to do with that. I have read the graphic novel half a dozen times at least, and this makes watching Watchmen a particular kind of viewing experience. It would be a completely different experience to someone who had not read the graphic novel - I almost wish I could see it as something completely new. I was determined not to succumb to fan-boy reactionary responses, but I found a part of myself seething within the first five minutes of the film (I felt personally affronted when Rorschach didn't unfold a wire hanger in the Comedian's apartment - old-school fans will know what I'm talking about.)
Zack Snyder hasn't earned too much leeway on the basis of his previous work, but I was impressed with how many things he got right. First and foremost, he made the choice of being slavishly loyal to the original text in most instances. Obviously, certain things need to be edited out, and his modified ending won't work for everyone, but the look and feel of much of the movie matches the original art of Dave Gibbons very well. Most of Alan Moore's "origin-story" storytelling is handled well also, which is crucial in a superhero movie where the narrative is about 80% origin story. In particular, the opening "history" montage is very well done, showing a gradual shifting from "golden age" to modern grit. Dr. Manhattan's flashbacks are also well done. And Snyder hits certain buttons just right for Watchmen fans, like the hilarious over-the-top love scene in the Owl Ship. It helps that Snyder made some good choices in casting - Patrick Wilson is the stand-out, balancing the shlumpiness of Dan Dreiberg with the gadget-hero nerdiness of Nightowl. Jackie Earle Healey, Carla Gugino, and Billy Crudup are also good choices for their roles. I have to admit that my views on Wilson and Healey are a little skewed because I also watched them playing very different roles in Little Children, which I rented on DVD this weekend as well.
Zack Snyder's biggest failing, in my opinion, is in being able to get great performances and line deliveries from his actors. Some actors (like Patrick Wilson) can obviously deliver the goods when working with an action-oriented director, difficult dialogue, and green-screen backdrops. Some others, though, obviously needed more help. Malin Akerman is conspicuously out of her depth in most scenes, making for the movie's weakest performance, but others struggle as well - I was surprised how much trouble Matthew Goode seemed to be having with some of Ozymandias's admittedly wordy lines. And the dialogue is one area where Snyder should have intervened more liberally - some of Alan Moore's dialogue just translates poorly to film, and some judicious script-doctoring could have made the talk-heavy scenes less cumbersome (I'm thinking of moments like the Comedian's scene with Dr. Manhattan in the bar in Vietnam.) Also, Snyder's best work in the movie involves him taming his baser instincts - when he lets his own style take over, the film suffers. An early scene where Nightowl and Silk Spectre defend themselves from muggers in an alley goes way overboard and turns into a blood-bath, for instance. When the characters should be showing their chops by defending themselves, Snyder has them tearing limbs off and throwing gang-members around like rag dolls.
As I said, though, the compromises were a necessary part of the adaptation. And that raises the question of many fans of the original text - does this movie need to exist at all? For me, the answer is "why not?" - I like this story, and I like movies that do a good job of telling stories I like. In a perfect world, someone would make a smart post-modern superhero movie on the level of Watchmen without resorting to adaptation, but that's just never going to happen in Hollywood. We're lucky to get something like The Dark Knight Returns, which has its own set of compromises to wade through. Watchmen may not meet the exacting standards of Alan Moore and his most dedicated fans, but it more than justifies its existence by delivering a thought-provoking and visually arresting simulacrum of a classic story.
"Watch That Man" by David Bowie
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