by Catherine Leopold - 2009-05-25

Based on probably the most critically-acclaimed and well-loved graphic novel of all time, Watchmen finally reaches our screens after years of development hell and a revolving door of directors and stars. The book, previously dubbed unfilmable by those who tried and failed to wrangle its sprawling narrative into a viable screenplay, is Alan Moore’s masterpiece – a dystopian thriller set in an alternative past where a scientific accident has created a blue-skinned super-being and America lingers on the brink of nuclear war with Russia.

Moore disowned the project from the start, still smarting from bad experiences with the Hollywood machine, but 300 director Zack Snyder (himself a big Watchmen fan) eventually took the reins and forged ahead regardless, finally bringing us one of the most highly-anticipated films of the year. Starting with a superb opening credits sequence, which stylishly and efficiently deals with much of the background to the story in just a few short tableaux, the film throws us into a grimy, violent world where the masked avengers that were trying to keep the streets safe have been outlawed and the doomsday clock hovers at five minutes to midnight (midnight being the end of the world). It’s not fun and it certainly ain’t pretty; Snyder stays true to the graphic novel’s gory outbursts, earning the film’s 18 certificate and then some. There’s swearing, sex and lots of violence – bones crack, blood is spilt, entrails are spattered and heads are cleaved.

The story is deceptively simple: Rorschach, the only vigilante who didn’t hang up his mask when avengers were banned, discovers that The Comedian, one of a group of so-called ‘superheroes’ named the Watchmen, has been murdered in New York. Sensing a conspiracy, Rorschach sets out to uncover the truth, enlisting the help of his fellow vigilantes, all of whom hung up their capes long ago. It does not become clear who was responsible for The Comedian’s death or why until the very end, but by this time the original jumping-off point for the story has become one of many interconnecting story strands set in this alien, yet familiar, world.

Jackie Earle Haley is outstanding as Rorschach, both with and without his eerie ever-shifting mask. He brings righteous anger, snarky disdain and bruised emotion to a fascinating character who has an absolute idea of what is right and what is wrong, and just the right combination of courage and lunacy to enforce it. Billy Crudup excels as Dr. Manhattan, the blue-hued superman who is rapidly losing sight of what it meant to be human. Crudup’s sympathetic take on the character makes him easier to like than the cold, impersonal version in the graphic novel, and his performance is all the more impressive when you consider that he had to wear white pyjamas covered in dots and lights for most of the shoot.

Patrick Wilson and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are good, although Wilson is hindered by the fact that his character is a bit of a wet lettuce as superheroes go, and Morgan doesn’t get enough screen time to really shine, which is a shame because The Comedian is an intriguing character and Morgan brings just the right mix of cynical humour and callous brutality. Malin Akerman and Matthew Goode are less successful; Akerman looks smoking hot in the costume but struggles with the emotional stuff, while Goode’s whispery delivery and composed stillness render him a little dull when he should be conveying intellectual prowess (he’s supposed to be the world’s smartest man).

Some of the visual effects are stunning, while others are pretty naff, and the film starts well but meanders slightly towards the end – the pace slackens and the 163 minute running time tests the patience. The ending is slightly different from the graphic novel but it is effective and works in terms of what has come before it. Some characters and elements from the graphic novel have been necessarily excised to save time and confusion and while some fans will balk at this, most should concede that this version of Watchmen is as close to the source material as it’s ever going to be.

Snyder’s slavish devotion to Moore’s work is both a help and a hindrance; the rabid fanboys should be satisfied that their precious graphic novel hasn’t been pillaged too much (although some will never forgive the tweaked ending), but a wider audience might not quite get the point of it all. Those with no knowledge of the book might take some time to find their feet because this is not a Spiderman kind of superhero movie; arguably darker in tone than The Dark Knight, this is a superhero movie about people who, for the most part, aren’t really superheroes at all, just regular people who saw something wrong with society and decided to fix it, but discovered that some things might be beyond fixing. As such, it’s an original and refreshing take on the genre, a film that is sometimes hard to watch but, for the most part, entertaining and thought-provoking.