"Watchmen" topped the box office with $55.7 million in its opening weekend. And while it remains to be seen whether or not the built-in audience for Zack Snyder’s new film will supply the legs required for a box-office bonanza (and whether the flick’s marketing campaign will reach the desirted broad audience), we offer the following review from in-house film critic M. Rephun:
After a wait of many years and an incredible amount of hype, the film interpretation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ celebrated graphic novel, Watchmen, has arrived.
For the uninitiated, the book and film of Watchmen portray an alternate view of American history, in which costumed heroes not only exist, but are accepted as a part of everyday life. However, things become complicated once vigilantes are outlawed, mainly as a result of Richard Nixon assuming a third term in office in the mid 1980s. The film is set in this bleak alternate decade that hovers constantly on the brink of Nuclear War. Like its literary counterpart, the film opens as a member of a team of retired heroes meets his death, indicating a larger conspiracy, and takes its cue from there. It all follows the source material to a T.
This reverence comes at a price, however, as the film retains the novels complex structure, which may leave those unacquainted with the story in the dark. For the rest of us, though, there is a peculiar thrill to seeing a beloved tale and its characters brought to life with such meticulous care. However, it should be noted that Watchmen is not faithful in every respect: it features an altered ending, as well as a level of violence that exceeds even the book it is based on. Some circles have drawn attention to this, criticizing the film as too dark. But when was Watchmen ever warm and fuzzy? Despite the capes and costumes of its heroes (a word used ironically here), Watchmen is not a throwback to glitzy escapism or even super-hero films as we know them. Instead, it plays out like an elegy: an elegy for innocence lost, for a world that heroes have no place in, let alone the power to heal. The tone of the original Watchmen had the same underlying sadness, and the film-makers deserve credit for not shying away from it.
Like its anti-heroes, though, Watchmen does have faults. One of these is a disparity of tone, most glaring in the first half, as it swings from gloomy parable to outright farce (i.e Nixons nose). Thankfully, though, the film seems to gain its footing as it progresses, becoming almost totally bleak.
I say almost, because there are touches of humor that illuminate this dark film: the problem is with most of them we are not meant to laugh. I almost cringed when Rorschach described the city as screaming like an abattoir of retarded children and people in the audience chuckled. Though the film-makers cannot be faulted for the fact that what sounded powerful on paper may come off as campy on screen, these moments came too frequently. Perhaps with better pacing and a more solid script, the seriousness of the story would be better appreciated. It is a bit hard to take characters seriously when it is so obvious they are spouting lines from a book rather than talking in normal human language.
Happily, the rest of the films mistakes are more minor. These include some unfortunate song choices (99 Luftbaloons? Hallelujah?), but the film interpretation of Watchmen is remarkably faithful to its source material. Clocking in at nearly three hours, though, the movie might have benefitted from a tighter narrative structure, rather than desperately trying to cram in every nuance of an already dense book. The segment in which Dreiberg and Silk Spectre extinguish a fire, and the misplaced sex scene that follows, could definitely have been excised from the film.
Faults aside, Watchmen is a quality film with an embarrassment of riches. It looks beautiful, remains faithful to its source material, is intelligent and consistently engaging, and features solid performances throughout, with the exception of Malin Ackerman, who, pretty as she is, is more wooden than a sea captains leg. The occasional missteps Watchmen takes will probably not prevent it from affecting you. The Comedians regretful tears, and Rorschachs brutal roar will haunt your memory long after the end credits have rolled. Disregard the naysayers: armed with a strong stomach and a working knowledge of a comic book mythos, it is more than worth your time to watch the Watchmen.
