The long wait is finally over, at 14h00 the 6th of March 2009 ,I sat down to view Watchmen .One word sums it up ; Classic. It’s not the Dark Kinight ,cause I believe it has earned its own space, value and right to be judged on its own ground. Its far superior to the candy floss super hero movies that was the last Xmen: the last stand , Elektra and the likes. Like the Dark Knight , Watchmen elevates comic book movies to the level of art. Where there is subtleties, substance and grand themes in the pretty pictures and maladjusted personalities that dress up in costumes and go out and fight crime. But the wonderful thing about it, is that these absurd characters have a lot to say about our own society than we would like to believe.
Zack Snyder needs to be commended for the work he has done on this pic. Personally, I was doubting if he could pull it off. Since this is the same guy who gave us the very juvenile 300 ; with all its pretty pictures and action, the film had no substance or point than just to be an action film with no brains. But in the scoring of the film, the change of the books ending, the adapting of costumes, the portrayal of the characters , the retention of certain themes and metaphors from the book, Snyder has proven to me that he is more than just an action geek. He is a man who understands detail, a man who,surprisingly understands character and motivation very well and a director who can satisfyingly balance a good story (and its themes) with good effects in the same vein as Spielberg in his prime and Del Toro when he is doing his Spanish movies.
For example the film starts off almost identically with the killing of Edward Blake aka the Comedian ( Jefrey Dean Morgan) as in the comic book , but he ads some nice element to the scene as envisioned in the book; he recreate the 80’s for the uninitiated into the lore of Watchmen through the TV ads and great debate on the nuclear stand off between the US and the USSR (cleverly stylised). All this is done with us watching the ageing Comedian watching tv. Then he brings the panes in the comic book alive, much like he did with 300 when Blake gets attacked. But the attack is more vicious than in the comic book, which sets out more or less the standard of violence for the movie. The fight sequence is carried out with t Nat Kings Cole’s song “Unforgettable” playing in the background. At one level the song works as an ironic piece to all the violence that’s on screen, with the songs smooth and slow tone; contrasted with the bone crashing violence ( this is actually literally true) that is displayed on screen . It’s also ironic in that sense throughout the story the death and character of the Comedian will always be in the background, it will act as the motivation for the story and we will continue to see how this particular mans interaction with his fellow caped heroes affected their past ,present and future .So in a sense the Comedian is unforgettable, even Morgans performance is that great, but kudos to Snyder who gives us layers and layers and layers to peel from .
If you are not sold into the film by the opening scene then the montage that comes afterwards that displays the alternative history of the watchmen universe, using iconic moments in our own history as a reference point ,clinched it for me. This sequence hints at some of the characters backstory but also hints at how dark and scary the watchmen world is. This sequence is brilliantly conceived, shot and realized. Set to the tune of Bob Dylans “the time they are changing”. Zack Snyder in true postmodernist mode,the man fully understands the idea of inter-textuality .The music such as that of Simon and Garfunkel’s “ the sound of silence” is both a comment on the scene,the time and the story. But also works as a marker and a referral to a certain time in our history . The sequence “with the times they are changing” shows us the golden age of the superheroes up to the current crop of Watchmen and also hints at the problems they face from the humourous to the the disturbing ( the killing of one of the heroes because she is a lesbian) but also brings us back to our own history and insecurities that our world has gone through.
In the Watchmen universe there seems to be a lot of insecurities that lead to fear, which leads to leaders who exploit these insecurities and fears. Nixon is an iconic image of leader who should have never been trusted with power and here he is running for a presidency way passed 1984. Even the collection of superheroes in the film Rorsarch ( Jackie Earl Haley), Dr. Manhattan ( Billy Crudup) , Silk Spectre 2 (Malin Akerman), Night owl 2 ( Patrick Wilson ) and the Comedian are also riddled with doubt, insecurity and fears but act them out in different ways. The heroes the play are iconic characters in super hero comic book lore but never have they been represented in such a way.
Rorschach who is our narrator and almost stop gap protagonist who we follow the story through him,while detouring to other characters. Rorschach is a mesh up between Dirty Harry and Batman. Played excellently by Jackie Haley who rocked to fame as the paedophile in the film Little children. Haley makes the man both noble, vulnerable and psychotic , without ever alienating the audiance. Then Patrick Wilson, who was also in Little children , brings the vulnerability and insecurity he showed in little Children to Night Owl 2. Who is like Bruce Wayne in his forties, whose balding, fat and has used up most of his millions in fighting crime. He suffers from a shrinking self esteem problem and can only get it up when he is Night Owl and has kicked some baddies butts. Dr.Manhattan, being the only real “super” hero with actual super powers in the film,kind of reminds us of superman . Although he may not want to admit he also suffers from a lot of insecurities and alienation that extend to a mini existential crises that centres around his own form of humanity. Malin Akerman as Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre 2 does a good decent performance and shows the dichotomies that a female superhero has to deal with that is realised in a compelling and well rounded way.By the end of it I kinda felt sorry for people who played wonder woman and the rest. Matthew Goode plays Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias the smartest man on earth and the man who has harnessed all his mental and physical abilities, is actually a revelation. In his stylish 80’s frock the man plays the character quite convincingly and even though he is a been skinnier than the comic version ,he adds both grace, nobility, arrogrance and nuance to Ozymandias.
So it’s not just us meer mortals who struggle with issues of being inadequate but so do our heroes. The fact that these heroes reference so many popular icons also starts asking questions of those heroes; How long can the batman continue fighting crime and evil before it corrupts his own soul like it has damaged Rorschach? How long can superman care about the human race? How long can people belief in leaders who deceive and beguile them? Yep this is no ordinary superhero movie, there are a lot of questions the film asks, from issues around leadership and the powers we tend to give our leaders, to the notion of what makes a hero, to issues of the individual good vs the greater good, how does one measure this? To the issue of belonging and handling middle age,to ideas of compromise vs principles. The film is stacked with grand themes.
Zack Snyder and his crew and cast have created an epic film with epic themes, to do a proper review of the film will take more space than this. The performance are brilliant especially of Crudup, Wilson, Haley, Goode and even Akerman (who some fanboys have been bashing), the story although close to the three hours is truly engrossing , the themes are thought provoking and if you pay close attention to the visual some of the recurring metaphors and themes are quite imaginative. For once the trailer is on the money; You have not seen super heroes like this before. If you want your movie with a bit of meat on them then check out Watchmen , the first classic of 2009 in my humble opinion and a great piece of post modernism art.
(I originally posted this on mydl but this film is so great i hope the tvsa masses goes and see it.sweet