"Watchmen" Review

A funny thing happened when "Watchmen" came out. For years the film industry and the novels rabid fans have wondered if an adaptation were made, would it be faithful to the original material?

Once Zack Snyder was handed the reigns, the question still remained. Now that the film has finally been released, would it stay loyal to the original material? The answer is emphatically yes -- but perhaps to a fault.

"Watchmen" is aesthetically gorgeous, with amazingly detailed, vibrant sets, but one of its most obvious weaknesses as a film is that it is at times too loyal to the book.

I read the book a few years ago while I was in high school and I was marveled by the detailed plot, the non linear way of telling the story and the engrossing characters. After finishing I immediately considered myself a huge fan of the book. I was extremely excited while watching the film; for years I had anticipated being able to watch some of my favorite superheroes come alive on screen.

But the majority of people have never heard of Dr. Manhattan, the Comedian, Rorschach or even "Watchmen" itself before sitting down to watch the film. This can be problematic because some of the lines the characters speak are taken directly from the original source, which makes a fan of the material (such as me) extremely happy, but to someone who hasn't read it, some scenes translate into wooden, even corny exchanges of dialogue.

"Watchmen" begins with the murder of a superhero and then quickly sketches in the back story of an alternative universe in which masked vigilantes have been outlawed. The few who remain either work for the government or are retired. Set in 1985, it's a world that closely resembles our own during the last days of the Cold War in the 1980s. Russia has invaded Afghanistan and the US wants them out. The doomsday clock is ticking towards midnight, with the threat of nuclear annihilation in the air. In the world of "Watchmen," the Vietnam War ended in 1971, Watergate never happened, and Richard Nixon is still President.

The murder of The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) prompts Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), who has ignored the government ban on crime fighting activities, to investigate and he discovers a possible conspiracy, putting the lives of all the masked heroes in danger. He warns Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), who thinks about his glory days as a hero and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), who has used his superhero past to build a business empire.

Rorschach also tries to warn blue-skinned Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and his longtime partner Laurie aka Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman). Manhattan works for the government and helped end the Vietnam War with the Comedian. Ever since suffering a horrific accident that transformed him into the god-like, super-powered creature, he has been steadily losing touch with humanity. Laurie also harbors resentment toward The Comedian, who tried to rape her mother, the original Silk Spectre (Carla Gugino), and seeks solace in the company of her old friend Nite Owl.

There's a lot of ground to cover and the film isn't in a hurry to cover it, taking the better part of an hour just to establish the world where the film takes place. With many people meeting these characters for the first time, the film doesn't give the audience enough time to learn about the characters and accept them. By the end of the movie they haven't had the chance to connect with them completely.

The film is still enjoyable for those not in the "Watchmen" novel subculture, but without that previous knowledge of what the novel means culturally, some of the story is lost on the audience. But aside from some cardboard moments between characters and perhaps some audience members feeling confused, the film is a violent, tremendously entertaining adaptation.

The opening-credit sequence of the film is fantastic, and gives the audience a great introduction into the world where "Watchmen" takes place. It packs in the story of how the Minutemen (masked crime fighters of the 1940s) gave rise to their more nihilistic counterparts in the 50s and splices in historical events like the JFK assassination. The sequence is set to the thrillingly redone sound of Bob Dylan's ''The Times They Are A-Changin'," which is just one of the many pop culture references that are in the movie.

The film features some very stylish directing, but sometimes it feels as if the camera is too still and emotionless. One thing Snyder has shown he is extremely adept at are his use of slow motion shots. At the beginning of the film when the Comedian is murdered and later on when Ozymindas is attacked, Snyder uses slow motion shots to bring the audience close to the characters. At the beginning of the film when the Comedian is thrown from his apartment window he lets the audience watch every last detail of the scene, to the specks of glass that break as he falls.

He also added a few light touches of his own that were not from the novel: a pool of blood that forms a smiley face; the bloody aftermath of a superhero "rescue," a street prostitute exposing her breasts, and one character gets his hands cut off instead of having his throat sliced.

Snyder's attention to detail is absolutely extraordinary. Multiple views of the film will be needed to find every easter egg he has hidden throughout the movie. Snyder also does a great job of blocking his scenes, using his actors and the sets to recreate individual panels from the book.

Snyder's film is a dense piece of work with many layers of historical, cultural and intellectual commentary. Many of the film's deeper meanings are almost impossible to capture in a single viewing, which I think will help "Watchmen" stand up years down the road.

Some of the performances in the film were extremely hollow, but the ones that stood out were Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach) and Jeffery Dean Morgan (The Comedian). Each gave an extremely emotional and intense performance for two of the most popular characters from the original novel.

Haley's portrayal of the slightly insane, ink-blot mask wearing vigilante Rorschach is perfect. The actor is covered behind his endlessly shifting face-mask for almost the entire film, only offering the audience his gritty voice as a peek inside his character. But Haley's best moment comes when his character is in prison and his mask is off. His fights with the inmates and verbal sparring with his shrink are some of the films best scenes. The actor showed passion for the role even before he was part of the film.

In an interview with the A.V. Club (www.avclub.com) Haley said that he created an audition tape with the help of friends and sent it into the filmmakers unsolicited.

"I put together this little Halloween sort of Rorschach-ian costume and made this cheesy audition tape, and we sent it in to Zack," said Haley And a couple weeks later, he called me in for a meeting, and I went in and talked with him about the character for a good hour or two, and we shook hands. And a couple weeks later, I got the call and he chose me. And was just thrilled."

Morgan's take on the Comedian is surprisingly engaging. Although he plays a despicable character, Morgan somehow makes the audience feel sympathetic for him. At the very least he makes you understand this amoral soldier who commits some pretty atrocious acts on screen from nearly raping a woman in one scene to the brutal killing of an innocent in another.

Patrick Wilson brings a delicate touch to Nite Owl and his various unresolved issues, while Billy Crudup does a decent job with the film's most challenging role as the naked blue God among men Dr. Manhattan. Crudup's spent most of the time making the film dressed in small electronic sensors to enable the film's artists to render his character digitally in post production. Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre) and Matthew Goode (Ozymindas) give serviceable performances, but neither actor does anything memorable with their roles.

Snyder has said that even though his Watchmen movie is about an alternate 1985, it's subtly commenting on the world today. Once you realize that the Cold War and the domino theory and everything else was just a mass hallucination, you start to question our current situation and paranoia's, like the War on Terror.

One thing that Snyder's adaptation could not translate was the novels human perspective. The newsstand vendor and his customers, excerpts from the companion comic "Tales of the Black Freighter," the home life of the psychiatrist treating Rorschach, and the fiery tabloid editor and his sloppy assistant were victim to Snyder trimming his cut down. These scenes and characters in the novel convey a feeling of dread, of normal, mortal concern which is exactly what the writers were aiming for by putting the US at the brink of nuclear war.

For extreme fans of the novel and the film, Snyder will be releasing a directors cut in June which will run for over three hours. The extended version will also include some things the director was forced to cut from the final film. Along with extended and according to the director "more violent" scenes, the companion "Freighter" comic and excerpts from Hollis Mason's "Under the Hood" autobiography will be featured.

In the end though, "Watchmen" is the place where style and story collide. After years of fans worrying, a big time Hollywood studio has delivered a loyal adaptation of "Watchmen." Snyder has made the ultimate nihilistic movie, topping even "The Dark Knight" in that respect (but not in quality).

The characters are faced with tough decisions and by the end are forced to chose between what's right for themselves and for the world at large. It's a movie everyone should see including people who haven't read the graphic novel.