The plot of Watchmen is rooted in an alternate version of reality where Richard Nixon remains president and the United States and Russia hover on the brink of nuclear war. A disbanded group of superheroes with some very ugly secrets reform when one of their own - The Comedian is thrown out of his apartment window. As they investigate who did it and more importantly, if one of them is next, the only genuine superhero among them - and the only deterrent from nuclear war - the omnipotent Dr Manhattan is becoming increasingly detached from human kind.
The original Watchmen graphic novel was a revelation when it was first released in 1986. The first comic to deconstruct the notion of a superhero in a modern-day 'real' environment, this groundbreaking piece of work plucked apart the conventions and history of the superhero genre and even transcended the medium of what a comic could convey and is since the only graphic novel to win a Hugo award and feature on Time Magazine's top 100 novels of all-time.
When Zack Snyder was confirmed as director and a budget of $130 million was granted to create his vision of the Watchmen world the big question was could a director who had in essence previously made a two-hour overly-stylised music video (300) adapt a novel layered with nuance and subtext?
The answer for the most part is a resounding yes. Although the viewer is confusingly bombarded with information at first with a 10-minute montage set to Bob Dylan's 'the times they are a'changin', Snyder for the rest of the movie confidently navigates through the various characters and plot strands, he presents a complicated story in a surprisingly concise manner and does justice to the novel in a 161 minute running time that feels spritely rather than painful.
Though the movie isn't without its problems - for a start it's not a movie for everyone, it's targeted towards its core audience and expects them to sit through it for its lengthy duration, Snyder has been so faithful in adapting the story, he has been rather unforgiving in making the film accessible to those without any knowledge of the Watchmen universe. People with no knowledge of the novel may see it as disjointed, confusing and lacking pace, those who aren't fans of comic-book movies as a whole may want to steer well clear. The film is scored to hits from artists including Billie Holiday, Jimi Hendrix and Simon and Garfunkel which at times feel distracting, a love scene set to Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah feels at best out of place and at worst - twee. Although the film as a whole keeps a solid pace and rarely hits an off-note, the final act isn't perhaps as tight and well thought out as it could be.
The cast veer in their ability to fully inhabit their characters with complete conviction. Jeffrey Dean Morgan impresses as the morally inert Comedian, a clever riff on Captain America and a brutal bear of a man whose immediate dispatch kicks the film off. Jackie Earle Haley radiates menace as the anti-hero Rorschach, a reprehensible feral sociopath who exudes disgust for criminals but ultimately finds more in common with them. Patrick Wilson finds a quiet desperation in the socially impotent Nite Owl, the only real hero of the story who longs for his bygone days of capturing criminals. Billy Crudrup impressively manages to infuse Dr Manhattan with warmth, despite spending the movie radiating neon blue light. Only Matthew Goode as Ozymandias - the smartest man in the world and Malin Akerman as the Silk Spectre feel uncomfortable, never looking completely at ease in their superhero guises.
Overall, they are relatively small niggles in what is a very impressive movie. The studios have let Snyder loose with $130 million and what he's come back with is essentially the most unmarketable blockbuster to date. Whether it's goes down in lore as a masterpiece or as an oddity, Snyder has proved his naysayers wrong with a fluent, ambitious and clever adaptation that weaves it's magical trickery in the same way as the highly-regarded original novel.
Jonny Dawson
