Movie Review: Watchmen Survives the Hype, Mostly

By Kevin Clang

From a filmmaking perspective, “Watchmen” is a monumental and groundbreaking achievement, one that will be remembered for some time.  Director Zack Snyder and screenwriters David Hayter and Alex Tse have taken a graphic novel that has often been described as un-filmable and adapted it into a gorgeous and stimulating motion picture.  Brutal and bleak, “Watchmen” at times offers us perhaps the most human superheroes we have ever seen on film.  It is a comic book movie that makes most other comic book movies look silly.  “Watchmen” is utterly unique.

"Watchmen" is rated R for violence, gore, adult situations, and nudity.

Moviegoers should know what they are getting into before they sit down; “Watchmen” is not your typical action movie.  The film is both trippy and intellectual in ways that most audiences will not expect.  Dealing with heady issues such as morality, rape, impotence and what it means to be human, “Watchmen” is certainly not for everyone.

When it was originally released in 1986, writer Alan Moore’s 12 issue series “Watchmen” revolutionized the comic book industry.  Its main story followed masked vigilante Rorschach while he investigated the murder of Edward Blake, another vigilante know as The Comedian.  In doing so Rorschach unearths a plan to kill off all former costumed heroes, which forces him to reconnect with his old partners.  The comic is set in an alternate 1985, where superheroes exist but have been outlawed by President Richard Nixon, serving his fourth term.

For the most part, Snyder’s adaptation is incredibly faithful to its source material.  Chocked full of back stories, origins and other supplements, Snyder does his best to fit as much of the graphic novel’s material onto the screen.  If anything, the director tries to do too much, the end result feeling disjointed and truncated.  Fans of the story will easily be able to follow the plot and recognize specific scenes from the comic; those who have not read the book may often feel lost. 

While he is able to form his own vision with the story, Snyder’s affinity for speed ramping and the considerable amount of violence and gore he has added feel out of place.  The movie is not for the squeamish. An obnoxious soundtrack and an added subplot involving Richard Nixon detract more from the film than they add as well.  “Watchmen” is also notable for having perhaps the most unintentionally funny sex scene I’ve ever seen.

Despite all this Snyder does do a lot of things right.  At 163 minutes, the film is quite long, but thankfully it very rarely drags.  The cast is exceptional, especially Jackie Earle Haley as the sociopathic Rorschach.  Haley dominates the role, and the story suffers whenever he is not on screen.  Rorschach does some questionable things, but the audience always roots for him.  A character with such a black and white sense of morality would have been easy to exaggerate, but Haley never goes over the top. 

Like last summer’s “Dark Knight,” “Watchmen” is a big budget movie that Hollywood just isn’t supposed to make anymore.  “Watchmen” is notable for being both incredibly ambitious and somber, even if ultimately it ends up being crushed by its own weight.  After 20 years in production, Snyder should be congratulated just for getting the damn thing done as faithfully as he has.  It is definitely worth seeing, but to fully appreciate it you should read the comic first.

3.5/5 stars

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