Before I
sat down to see Watchmen for the first time this week
I had known for about a month that I was going to get to see
it early, and the anticipation built more and more every
single day. I couldn't wait to experience it and then
run home so that I could type up a sure-to-be glowing review
that would inspire all of you to catch midnight showings
everywhere. It was going to be great.
But, as fate would have it, people started seeing the movie
even earlier then me and the feedback wasn't great.
Some called it muddled, the cast's performances were
remarked as uneven and many (not just fanboys) disapproved
of the new ending. At first I thought that maybe the
expectations had just simply been set to high, but there
were other critics that felt director Zack Snyder had been
too faithful to Alan Moore's revered graphic novel.
All of this, of course and somewhat unfortunately, took the
wind out of my sails and heading into the theater I was more
anxious to get it over with than anything else.
Bummer, right?
At the time it was, but once things got underway I quickly
realized that those people are crazy. Watchmen
is absolutely brilliant.
Let's start with the cast. Jackie Earle Haley is great
as Rorschach, Billy Crudup captures the essence of Dr.
Manhattan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan is the asshole that I
always imagined the Comedian would be in real life. As
for the others, they're not bad at all. They work with
what they have, which is a bunch of dialogue from a graphic
novel that wasn't suppose to be read out loud in the first
place. I suppose any cast could be made better in some
way, but everyone here looks the part and puts forth the
effort necessary. Kudos to them.
In regards to the actual story and how it plays out on the
screen, I thought it flowed great. For two hours and
45 minutes I sat entranced and never once tempted to glance
at my watch. Yes, some of that was because I wanted to
see every iconic image brought to life in front of me, but
mostly I was lost in the story. The jist of Watchmen
is all there, and it's great.
And that brings me to the point I'd like to make very clear,
Snyder did exactly what Peter Jackson did with Lord Of
The Rings. He made creative choices to take what
could easily have been a forever-long movie and made it into
something that's eventually going to be four hours (if you
count the Director's Cut and Tales of The Black Freighter),
and that doesn't even mention the fact that it's rated a
hard R for gore and violence,
set in a Cold War-themed alternate reality with Nixon as
President and features a giant naked blue guy - penis and
all - in pretty much the whole movie. Who really
thought this thing would ever really get made? It's
pure crazy, and that's why I think it's silly to bicker
about the details of minor subplots being cut and the ending
being changed. Watchmen actually got made, and
it's good!
SPOILERS
As I said, the ending is different. No longer does a
squid show up and kill a zillion people. Instead it's
made to look like Dr. Manhattan gets angry at the world and
goes on a killing spree just because he can, which then
causes everyone to band together, leave nuclear war behind
and - here's the new, interesting point - become God FEARING
people. Even the character of Dan Dreiberg says it
when asked if he thinks they'll get to the point of nuclear
war: "Not as long as they think Dr. Manhattan is watching."
This makes so much more sense. Is it as cool and
bizarre? No, but why does it need to be? This,
again, is more logical and fits in better with the story.
Ok, looking back on this I can see that I've rambled on for
quite a while. Sorry. I just feel that everyone
put the film up on a pedestal and then felt like it was
their duty to knock it down. I found it not only to be
faithful enough to what Alan Moore originally did, but it
entertained the hell out of me. I can't wait to see it
again, another time at the IMAX and then repeatedly when
Snyder's definitive edition hits DVD.
So, midnight showings, get your tickets now!
- John Laird
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