Movie Review - Watchmen

So, I've just gotten back from seeing Watchmen. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a comic book fan and I am big fan of the Watchmen book.

The movie faithfully follows the story in the comic as much as it can. Filming every part of the story would have made the movie way too long. In fact, the sub-plot involving the "comic-in-a-comic" Tales of the Black Freighter has been made into it's own animated full length feature that will be released on DVD later in March. The sub-plot of the street corner with the newsstand is also mostly cut out. The newsstand is shown near the end. Those who didn't read the book would not understand the significance of this shot. It is one of many examples in the movie of there being a small piece that enhances the movie, only if you have read the book. Lastly, the catastrophic event near the end is different. Again this is because the sub-plot involving this in the book is too long to film.

I must say though, sticking so closely to the source material makes portions of the dialogue seem a little cheesy and heavy-handed. This is because the book and movie try to be very dark and real. Most comics that are turned into movies still maintain a sense of fantasy so the dialogue is allowed to be a little over the top. Watchmen tries to be too real so some of the words seem corny.

The movie is visually stunning. It is slick and stylized and sexy (especially Malin Ackerman, and especially during her sex scene aboard Archimedes in which she was naked except for thigh high black leather boots, fulfilling many a fan boy's fantasy.) The action was a lot of fun to watch, the fight scenes especially. Of course, the stunning visuals are to be expected from director Zach Snyder, the man behind the beautifully bloody 300. He definitely maintained the visual aesthetic of the book.
The actors that were cast maintain this visual. Each of the principal actors looks strikingly similar to their character, with the exception of Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias. The book portrays him as a tall, broad chested, blond, athletic, All-American male-type. Like he is a Navy pilot from La Jolla, CA who paid his way through college playing quarterback. The actor, Matthew Goode, is blond, but shorter, thinner, and British (the accent comes out every now and then.) At first it bothered me, but by the end of the movie I understood why they used him. He was great. None of the actors were big name A-listers so their fame did not take away from their performance or their look. (Billy Crudup is the most famous, but his character is blue, glowing, and naked, i.e. made using a green screen.)

Most of the reviews I have read said that if you have not read the graphic novel there will be some things that are confusing. They also said that if you read the graphic novel you will probably understand the movie much better than someone who had not. As someone who has read Watchmen, I totally agree. There are characters, signs on the street, restaurants, and advertising that appear that have significance, but are lost on and could confuse those who didn't read the book. The example that struck me the most was the music. As Nite Owl and Rorschach approach Ozymandias' Antarctic headquarters Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" is playing. At the end of that portion of the book there is a quote ("Outside in the cold distance/A wild cat did it growl/Two riders were approaching/And the wind began to howl") from the song printed (attributed to Bob Dylan because he wrote the song, but Hendrix's version is more famous.) I am a big fan of Hendrix, but I don't think I would have gotten the significance of the lyric without seeing it printed.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I loved the little nods to the comic book and other things throughout. (Look at the combination of the briefcase Rorschach's analyst carries. Spoiler: it's "0300".) I liked the style. It is fast paced, action packed, and sexy. It is not as deep or poignant as the comic was. This is because it is no longer 1986 and the paranoia of communism no longer exists. But some of the themes do apply, like terrorism and cowboy presidents.

So, if you've read the book, go out, see the movie, and enjoy. If you haven't read the book, go out, get the book, read it, then see the movie and enjoy.