Grade: B+
Synopsis: In an alternate reality 1985, where Nixon is still President and the world is on the brink of nuclear war, the murder of an aging costume hero reveals a terrifying conspiracy.
Watchmen is the film that couldn’t be made. The source material, a series of comics written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, is a dense, self-reflexive deconstruction of hero mythology mixed with a heady dose of cold war paranoia and noir-ish mystery. How do you begin to simplify it into a two-hour format digestible by a mainstream audience?
For the story’s snarling protagonist, Rorschach, the answer would be simple: “No compromise, not even in the face of Armageddon.” For director Zack Snyder, the answer is remarkably similar.
This is about as literal and faithful a translation as possible. Sure, some things have been condensed, some sub-plots dropped, and the ending altered, but these are more like snips rather than full-blown cuts. The story’s there.
Granted, some parts work better than others. Jackie Earle Haley is fantastically visceral as Rorschach, Jeffrey Dean Morgan amazing as The Comedian, and Billy Crudup’s Dr. Manhattan is relentlessly fascinating. On the opposite end of the spectrum, however, Malin Akerman is the weak link as Silk Spectre II, and Matthew Goode looks too young for the role of Ozymandias. But Akerman and Goode’s shortcomings are only really apparent next to the spot-on performances of the others.
Watchmen is full of things like that. Not glaring flaws, but little things you can nit-pick. That said, there are moments, such as the opening and credit sequence that follows, that are absolutely perfect, making it an easy recommendation for fans of the original comics and newcomers as well. Just don’t go in expecting a big super-hero action film and you won’t be disappointed.
