The Watchmen

I was one of the geeks who went to the midnight premier of The Watchmen. If you ever wanted to hack someone’s computer, that night would have been perfect– every nerd in the city was at the movie theater. I read the graphic novel when I was nine, in 1989. My best friend Lucas loaned me his copy and as was tradition I wrote my favorite line from the book on the inside cover. Before me Lucas had written ‘This city is afraid of me. I’ve seen it’s true face.” I think I tried to write a profoundly Buddhist Dr. Manhattan line. What I like most about the graphic novel is captured well in the movie: a story of superheroes that are human– they make mistakes, take sides, have mental disorders, are rapists, psychopaths and ordinary guys.

The first scene, set in the mid eighties, is of a late middle-aged man sitting in his recliner. A masked assassin breaks in and, after a valiant effort by the victim, tosses him through the pane glass window to his death tens of stories below. It turns out the victim is an aged hero called The Comedian. Vigilante Rorschach discovers the crime scene and puts together a conspiracy theory: someone is killing The Watchmen, a group of heroes that fought crime together à la The Justice League or The Avengers.

The film focuses on each member of the Watchmen in turn, filling the viewer in on each hero’s past by way of flashbacks and dramatic monologues. As is the case in the graphic novel, the movie shows the events of each time period believably, be it the Golden Age (read: original) Watchmen, the team’s Viet Nam and cold war era rosters or the vigilante Watchmen during the capitalist cultural revolution. We learn how each Watchman joins and how each ultimately quits the crime fighting gig, including inevitably Rorschach. Dr. Manhattan’s scenes drive the nuclear arms race storyline as he moves back and forth through time to tell us of his origins. Eventually the ‘someone’s killing Watchmen’ subplot unravels and the heroes are pitted against each other. The final Watchman’s death is the coup de gras of the work, the final unexpected blow in a work that delivers unexpected blows more reliably than a drunken boxer. If you haven’t read the graphic novel you won’t miss the giant squids who were replaced in the movie with a more logical plot device. Superfans will complain that the final confrontation’s meaning changes without the squids in the plot.

The movie adheres rather well to the graphic novel storyline, contrary to the indignant over reaction of superfans. As with any adaptation to the screen some of the story had to be compressed or altered for time and ease of understanding. A story simply has to be more action based in a movie, where a graphic novel is more dialog driven. The movie in this case does a very good job of driving the action while ensuring nothing the characters say seems cheesy or overly comic like, a transgression Spider-Man and Superman are guilty of. The Dr. Manhattan television interview ambush, for example, is spliced with Night Owl II and Silk Spectre II’s alter egos fighting would be muggers, signaling the first major crest in action. The scene is action packed, moves the story, and reveals a great deal of plot.

Above all the movie is cinematic. Each scene is detail rich– watch for messages on walls and billboards behind the action. As near as possible, the detailed panels of the graphic novel have been well translated to the screen. For example, where the novel uses black and white photos during the Golden era scenes, in the film these scenes are flashbulbs set to sepia toned flashbacks of the heroes in their yester-years. Even the soundtrack is crafted to reflect the tone and era of each scene– Viet Nam opens with “Ride of the Valkyries” playing in an homage to Apocalypse Now. And you’ll never hear Nat King Cole’s Unforgetable without thinking of the Comedian’s death scene.

The costumes don’t come off as corny as other campy comic film franchises (the pre-Dark Knight Batman series comes to mind). Overall it’s easy to see each hero as a human, with the obvious exception of Dr. Manhattan, the scientist-turned-nuclear-powered-demigod played by Billy Crudup, the only actor of note in the film. The Comedian’s 30’s era uniform is pure Robin Hood: The Broadway Musical costuming, but during ‘Nam he dons fatigues and combat gear. Masks are necessary in that each hero is a celebrity. If Micheal Jackson can get away with wearing a mask in public The Night Owl should be able to. The heroes’ secret identities is one of the central plot devices, so masks are essential for the story to work and thus not as obtrusive as in other hero stories.

A warning to parents, there is full frontal male nudity– Dr. Manhattan’s glowing blue pipe is shown throughout the movie. If you were a nuclear powered superbeing you’d freeball, too. The screenplay is written by David Hayter, who wrote the X-Men screenplay and is the voice of Snake in the Metal Gear Solid video games.