MOVIE REVIEW | 'Watchmen' done well, but misses some finer points
Brian ManzulloAdapted from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' seminal 1985 comic book, director Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" succeeds in broad strokes, but stumbles over the finer details.
Clocking in at a hefty 162-minutes, "Watchmen" still feels like an abbreviation of a bigger, better story.
It is impossible to disconnect the film from the source material it so painstakingly emulates, but doing so ads to the film's enjoyment, even to those who have only heard of the book.
Moore and Gibbons' original 12-issue story was both a superhero murder mystery and critique of the human condition. The two created a deconstruction of the superhero psyche and a cynical history of the American comic industry that pushed the medium's capabilities to the limit with a story that could not be told any other way.
They accomplished that end with almost surgical precision. It goes without saying that the film falls short of that.
If the original comic book creators were surgeons using the most precise tools, Snyder takes to the same procedure with all the subtlety of a lumberjack with a rusty axe. Thankfully, he manages to avoid springing a leak in any metaphorical arteries.
Snyder, with screenwriters David Hayter and Alex Tse, keep as much of the original story as the running time allows, but even at nearly three hours, the story doesn't expand far beyond a superhero murder mystery.
Taking place primarily in 1985, the story begins with the violent murder of a militaristic hero known as the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, "Grey's Anatomy").
A violent vigilante known as Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children") begins investigating the murder, while he and the other retired heroes deal with the looming Cold War-era threat of nuclear apocalypse.
Rorschach's former partner, Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson, "Hard Candy"), deals with the emptiness left by no longer being a hero, by catching up with fellow retiree Silk Spectre (Malin Ackerman, "27 Dresses").
Silk Spectre feels that her lover, Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup, "Almost Famous"), is drifting away from humanity. Manhattan, the only character in the story with true superpowers, is aiding former hero and billionaire industrialist Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode, "Brideshead Revisited") to create a machine to produce clean, free, renewable energy.
The two hope that such a resource would help stop the trend of escalation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Confused yet? Snyder was.
Seemingly unsure of how to handle such a beastly story, Snyder follows the structure of the comic very closely. It works in some places, but otherwise leaves the film looking like a disjointed series of flashbacks.
The Comedian's funeral is a particularly bad section in this respect. The priest says a line of the prayer, the camera closes up on a character, then a flashback scene of them interacting with The Comedian plays. Wash, rinse, repeat.
It's tedious, and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that good comic book storytelling does not always translate onto the screen.
Issues with the story notwithstanding, there is a lot to like in "Watchmen."
Visually, it is an astounding film. The cinematography is fantastic, the production design is painstakingly detailed and the color design is breathtaking.
The action sequences bring out the best of the film. The pacing, sound effects, and sheer visual excitement of these sequences make them the high points of the movie.
However, it could be argued that Snyder lingers too long on broken bones, gore and face-kicking instead of developing the labyrinthine plot. This movie proves that Snyder certainly has established a visceral filmmaking style, but still has a long way to go in developing his skills as a storyteller.
The central cast is filled with outstanding performances and the audience will almost be begging to see these characters be given room to breathe and grow, which they never get.
Haley steals the show as Rorschach. He's vicious and psychotic, but also relatable and charismatic. As fun as the character is with his mask on, Haley really brings it home when his face is visible, giving a performance that feels like a standout Kevin Spacey role from 10 years ago.
Morgan and Wilson are standouts in their respective roles. Morgan creates a morally devoid monster of a man who manages to be a sypmathetic character. Wilson's Nite Owl serves as our eyes into this insane, violent, hyper-sexualized world - an interesting everyman with a perverse twist.
Some strong character work gets stifled by a combination of odd directorial choices and production snafus.
Crudup's performance as the mostly-computer-generated Manhattan is wonderfully understated, with Crudup playing the omniscient superman as sad and alone. Regrettably, the CG is not good enough to carry his performance. His CG Manhattan is depressingly non-emotive.
Even when the poor rendering is not sticking out like a sore thumb, serious scenes are often spoiled by Snyder's insistence of keeping Manhattan's electric-blue genitalia dangling in the frame. Expect to hear some audience giggling.
"Watchmen" is violent, explicit, intelligent, and exhausting. It's not for everybody, and fanboys will almost undoubtedly find something to complain about. Nonetheless, this is a generally well-created adaptation of one of the most daunting works of fiction in the past 25 years.
It falls short of greatness, but will probably not leave many moviegoers wondering what all the fuss was all about.
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