“Watchmen” is not a superhero movie.
In a genre dominated by heroes’ hubris, fast-paced action sequences, socialized superpowers and a ubiquitous line between good and evil, the film, though faithfully drawn from a series of 12 comic books, simply does not fit the mold.
The film is adapted from Alan Moore’s 1986 graphic novel of the same name, a tale of retired costumed heroes, all but one with no powers, who find one of their own murdered. Under the backdrop of an alternate 1980s New York, a world with Richard Nixon still as president and the Cold War at its height, the hardened but dedicated Rorschach (Jackie Earle Hayley) reunites the Watchmen to try to solve the mystery.
Unlike other comic books, whose immortal protagonists travel through the DC Universe defeating an endless onslaught of Green Goblins, Jokers and Juggernauts, “Watchmen” is self-contained and finite. The slow-burning murder mystery forms the primary narrative, functioning chiefly as a vehicle for character development. But even that has a larger purpose: to contextualize the comic’s questioning of the hero paradigm, of the crossover between good and evil, of global politics, of fear and the human condition. It may as well be an illustrated exercise in philosophy.
To his credit, director Zack Snyder tries to preserve this intellectual richness in the film. Both Alan Moore’s dialogue and Dave Gibbons’ illustrations provide a detailed storyboard, and Snyder uses as much of it as possible. But his adaptation has inherent, unavoidable shortcomings: After all, “Watchmen,” for years, was considered too dense to film.
You can’t blame him. The change of medium necessitates an emphasis on linear storytelling, so much of the character development, especially for the impotent Dan Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson) and the troubled Laurie Juspeczyk (Malin Akerman), falls by the wayside. Subplots lose their complexities. But the end justifies the means: By cutting out nostalgic ornaments in some areas, Snyder frees himself to explore the visual in detailed, textured landscapes and his signature slow-motion fight scenes, as well as the psychological, through the endlessly flawed but painfully human Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Rorschach. Some fans may find the forced emphasis off-putting, but when contextualized by the film’s nearly three-hour runtime, it makes sense why Snyder had to skim over parts of his source material.
He compensates for lost content with striking visual milieux. More contemplative than the acclaimed director’s “300,” the film tempers its slow-mo choreographed fight scenes with the minutiae of rain-soaked cityscapes, down to the last newspaper stand, neon light and signpost.
Taken together, the visuals create a kind of neo-noir dystopia befitting both the film’s gloomy poignancy and the global political climate of its 2009 release. They are faithful to the original illustrations in both appearance and mood, and even the altered parts of the film ““ and there is one big, though purposeful, departure from the graphic novel ““ were illustrated by Gibbons before Snyder touched them.
It’s this kind of thorough care that ultimately ushers in the film’s success. After all, Snyder, the screenwriters and the cast went into the project with the odds stacked against them. “Watchmen” was already the pinnacle of achievement in its medium, a work whose architect vehemently opposed any transposition to film, and that shining beacon of comic success came complete with a devout and rabid fan base ready to denounce anything less than complete faithfulness to the original. The piece was already storyboarded, the characters given finite traits and modes of expression, and the sound track determined. With such little room to interpret, Snyder added a little visual flare, elevated the tempo and wrapped the thing up.
The end result filters the literary complexity of the original through the charcoal grit of the superhero movie. It will undoubtedly offend purist fans of both the graphic novel and the archetypical, action-packed comic book adaptation. It’s not perfect, of course.
But with an open mind and a familiarity with the source material, it’s clear that even though Snyder’s film isn’t a flawless adaptation, it’s the best anyone could have produced