Watchmen 3/5 Starring Billy Crudup, Jackie Earl Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan ‘ Directed by Zack Snyder Rated R
When comic books first began being published, they were condemned as poison: rather than recognizing their potential, the literati snubbed the inked strips as the beginning of the end of imagination. Even today, graphic novels still carry the stigma of being lowbrow art. So when Time included ‘Watchmen’ in their list of 100 greatest novels, the world took note. The only comic on the list proved a compelling deconstruction of the modern hero, challenging notions of justice within the ambiguities of good and evil.
‘Watchmen’ is very much a comic’s comic, celebrating the many potentials of the medium. That creator Alan Moore and many others have deemed the tale unfilmable, then, is no surprise. Since the comic’s debut, filmmakers like imaginist Terry Gilliam and modernist Darren Aronofsky have passed on the ambitious project; almost two decades later the unfilmable has at last been filmed, by none other than Zack Snyder ‘mdash; a director whose Hollywood credentials include a homoerotic Spartan war and a zombie apocalypse.
While Snyder’s ‘300’ lacked any real plot, the movie set a new standard for visual storytelling, imbuing yet unseen stylistic techniques. Likewise, ‘Dawn of the Dead,’ though ridiculous, was at least enjoyably so.
Still, Snyder’s a far cry from the ‘visionary’ that Warner Bros. has deemed him. Luckily for us, though, he’s got some damn good source material to work with, and the translation isn’t half bad. From its very beginning, ‘Watchmen’ sets an ominous precedent with the brutal murder of Edward Blake, the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), transitioning into brilliantly eerie opening credits played to the tune of Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’,’ while a twisted reality of costumed vigilantes swims past.
Seeing as ‘Watchmen’ is mostly a character study, the film’s success hinges largely on its superb cast performances. Morgan’s character, while only physically existing in the first half of the movie, resonates throughout ‘mdash; he manages to imitate Blake’s nihilism while humanizing an otherwise inhumane personality. Jackie Earle Haley’s turn as the merciless Rorschach is similarly a thing of beauty, a dual depiction of both Rorschach and Walter Kovaks that seems uncannily lifted from the inked pages. And above all, Billy Crudup’s Dr. Manhattan steals the show with a god-like swagger that thunders with terrifyingly realism.
Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman) and Dan Drieberg (Patrick Wilson) are the film’s weakest relationship, gruelingly developed by Akerman ‘mdash; who, rather than breathing life into her character like the potent Crudup, remains as one-dimensional as a graphic novel cutout ‘mdash; and Wilson, who delivers a polarizingly over-the-top theatrical performance deviating from the film’s grim tone. ‘ Though his meticulous reproduction largely comes out on top, occasional deviations become jarring. Though literally translating a novel’s enormity is impossible, the scenes Snyder does choose are baffling; for instance, a confrontation between Jupiter and Blake is cut from the print version, while an unnecessary five-minute fight sequence of Spartan proportions is preserved. Likewise, various scenes racked in’ excessive gore distance rather than immerse an already restless audience. The only deviation that doesn’t feel unnatural is ‘Watchmen”s most publicized change: its ending.
Constantly teetering between severity and all-out camp, this comic-book blowout is groundbreaking at times and downright silly at others ‘mdash; and sitting at a bloated runtime of 90 minut
es, its schizophrenia does get distracting. Whether or not the film gains our good graces due to source material or novel cinematography choices is hard to determine. If even devoted fans feel estranged by the film’s climax, we wonder how the average moviegoer will find it in themselves to accept it. One thing is certain: ‘Watchmen’ is an adaptation for the ages; whether or not it will maintain the same cultural relevance as its 2D counterpart remains to be seen.