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OPINION

Watching the Watchmen

After over 20 years and several aborted attempts to film it, the unfilmable comic book phenomenon Watchmen finally makes it to the screen. And what a film it turned out to be.

Capturing the essence of a 12 issue comic story was never going to be easy, especially one written by a talent as great as Alan Moore, but Zack Snyder and his crew have achieved what many people thought impossible. This film delivers a complex, adult story that retains the core themes of the original material, whilst adapting it to a 162 minute motion picture. The visual style of the comic created by Dave Gibbons is apparent in every scene, with some shots almost exact duplicates of the original comic panel. The colour palette of the film also reflects John Higgins original (or more accurately his recently recoloured version) of the comic. What has changed from the source material has been changed to benefit the film and those 162 minutes fly past. Dave Gibbons receives a sole credit as co-creator and it is unfortunate that Alan Moore did not want his name to appear on this film as it is his world and the characters he created with Dave that helps makes this such an mature and well crafted work.

The film retains the 1980’s setting of the comic, its dark, fearful, nuclear shadowed essence and opens in an alternative 1985, with the murder of the Comedian, part of the original Minutemen heroes and now a retired Watchman. What follows is an amazing title sequence that retells the history of this alternative universe to a Bob Dylan soundtrack.

The story then follows fellow retired Watchman Rorschach as he sets out to uncover a plot to kill superheroes or Masks, as they are referred to. His investigation leads him to warn his fellow heroes, including the god-like Dr Manhattan, Ozymandias and his old partner Nite Owl, that someone is killing off heroes. As his investigation progresses, Rorschach begins to uncover a disturbing conspiracy that could lead to catastrophic events in the future.

The cast performances are superb throughout, the highlight being Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach as he brings the complex nature of this character to life and unlike a certain Dark Knight, gives the character a voice that contains all the hurt and pain he has had to endure in his life. Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian, also deserves credit for his portrayal of this pivotal character.

This film took me back to those days back in 1986 when I first read this series, where the threat of nuclear Armageddon was a reality and how this complex year long story showed me that comics could be as valuable and intelligent as any other art form. The film is the best adaptation of Watchmen it could ever hope to be and I recommend it highly to anyone looking for a complex, adult story well told – the comic book movie has finally come of age.

cast & credits

Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman – Billy Crudup

Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias – Matthew Goode

Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre – Carla Gugino

Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre II – Malin Akerman

Rorschach – Jackie Earle Haley

Edward Blake/Comedian – Jeffery Dean Morgan

Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl – Patrick Wilson

Moloch the Mystic – Matt Frewer

with John McLaughlin Gary Houston

Warner Bros. and Paramount present a film directed by Zack Snyder.

Written by David Hayter and Alex Tse, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Running time: 162 minutes. Rated 18