Review of Watchmen
this entry brought to you by the mae shi, "professional"
First, a little background about me and Watchmen. Being an avid comic book reader, I'd of course heard of Watchmen when I was a teen. Alan Moore had written several of my favorite graphic novels up to that point, and in fact, in the late 90s had a bit of a resurgence, coming back after several years of not doing anything with a rather prolific group of books. About nine years ago, I found a copy of a trade paperback Watchmen at a used book store and snatched it up. Problem was, about one third of the way through there was a printing error, leaving me with about twenty pages of the book simply missing, and at the absolute worst place. Not wanting to continue reading the book with a chunk of it missing, I never finished it. So I went into Watchmen the movie being very familiar with the source material, but having no idea what happened in the second half of the film. You couldn't call me a Watchmen geek, but neither was I going into it blind. Still, I am not the guy that could point out any differences between the movie and its source material, other than the fact that I remembered Nite Owl being somewhat more pathetic and flabby in the book. The main criticism of the film was that it seemed to be made specifically to please fanboys, and that everyone else would be confused. Having been right in the middle, I can't say whether I think that's true or not-- the movie got slightly more confusing once I got to the point where I'd left off in the book; on the other hand, I wouldn't say that I was any more confused than I have been watching any other movie with a dense plot that had several different plots moving concurrently. As an example, I thought Michael Clayton was fantastic yet found myself overwhelmed during several points during it, just as I did Watchmen.
With that said, no matter which way you hang on the "sucks/awesome" scale, you've got to hand it to Zack Snyder-- this is a gorgeous, visually striking film that almost has no equal, and no matter how much of it is attempting to duplicate what was already there on the page, this was no small feat, and Snyder handled it expertly and with utter care. I enjoyed the hell out of Synder's previous effort, 300, but it wasn't exactly what you could call subtle. The trailers for Watchmen were as snazzy and whiz-bang as 300 was, and I'd gone into the movie expecting it to be similarly full of pizazz and was surprised how much subtlety there was. Snyder knows exactly when to throw in artistic flourishes such as the Matrix-like slowdown used liberally in 300, and when to use simple, straightforward shots to achieve the desired emotional impact. For as awesome as it is to watch Rorschach light a hairspray torch and let it fly in spectacular slow motion, and as spectacular it was when Silk Spectre dropped down from the ceiling of a burning building, the movie hits its best mark when Dr. Manhattan, an entirely CGI character, looks blankly, even mildly curiously at the screen, not sure of how to comprehend what is happening around him as the camera merely sits there.
What's important to remember about Watchmen is that it's a movie about characters first and foremost. In a way, it couldn't have come out at a better time. Although the plot itself hinges a lot on the fact that it takes place in the 80s, right now there's a resurgence of comic book movies, and they couldn't be more profitable, ubiquitous, or, frankly, of higher quality. Watchmen is a critique and an analysis very much about what kind of person would do something as silly as put on a costume and fight crime. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre are like Clark Kent, if his awkwardness wasn't a put-on. They are these ordinary people who have no idea how to maintain lives as normal civilians, and can only accomplish anything worthwhile when they're in costume. It reminds one of the common civilian life of soldiers home from war-- they miss the chaos of battle, and often wind up depressed because they don't know how to live normal, boring lives. Rorschach is what Batman would be like if he grew up in the slums-- he has every bit as much of a sense of morality as Batman, if skewed-- Rorschach kills, whereas Batman doesn't-- but watching his relationship with his friend Nite Owl is exactly what it would be like being Commissioner Gordon and trying to maintain a professional relationship with Batman. Rorschach is crazy, just as Batman is crazy, and trying to remain professional friends cannot be easy when you're never sure exactly where this guy's mind is. The Comedian, for as much of an exaggeration of everything bad and corrupt in people with the power of "protection" as he is, is a direct correlation with real-life law enforcers who use their jobs as an excuse to abuse the general populace. At the very moment you might think to yourself "Ah come on, The Comedian is just an evil fucker," think of every time you've seen an unapologetically corrupt cop get suspended or fired for abuse of power. All of these character archetypes are pushed into this dark 80's backdrop where the civilization is at an unrest and the Cold War looms ominously in the background-- just as Gotham itself was as much a character in the original Batman movies as the main characters were, so too is the time period of Watchmen.
For as much as I enjoyed the gorgeous, pitch-perfect directing, and felt there were great performances to be had (especially Jackie Earle Haley, who is on fire as Rorschach, and Jeffery Dean Morgan, doing his best Robert-Downey-Jr-As-a-Nihilist as The Comedian, both of whom knock it out of the park, if I do say so), and couldn't bring myself to believe that Dr. Manhattan was a CGI being created from motion-capture technology played by Billy Crudup, there were a couple weak points. Some critics pointed to Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre as a weak spot, but to be honest she didn't bother me at all, and as the movie went by I grew kind of fond of her. The biggest problem is Matthew Goode as Ozymandias. Now, to be fair, he is the character that is the least developed in the book as well as the movie, and out of the Watchmen cast he gets the least amount of screen time. Which is good, because they cast one of the worst actors in the world to play him. It doesn't get in the way until the very end. The book's climax is basically two characters trying to beat up a madman who can't be beaten up while he explains his motivations like a Bond villain, all while standing in a huge empty room, and is handled the exact same way here. If ever I wanted a director to deviate from the source material, I wish it would be done here. The climax feels like a misstep compared to the rest of the grandiose plot and the elaborate, gorgeous action scenes, and it's only worse by Goode's terrible performance. To be fair, the climax isn't awful, and everything that needs to be explained is explained, but I couldn't help but feel a little let down. It's a good thing what happens, plot wise, is essential, and captures the essence of the Cold War paranoia that the book takes place in, but the conclusion to a riveting and complicated film, it's boring.
I don't know if you need to be a Watchmen geek to enjoy Watchmen. I will admit that the plot is thick and convoluted, but then, this is meant to be a Rated R movie in every sense of the term-- not just because of violence (which there is a lot), or nudity (which there is a lot-- if you've ever wanted to know what a penis would look like glowing blue, you're going to see a whole lot of it), but because it's a mature movie meant for mature people. It does happen to involve science fiction and guys in costume, but it is as much as an allegory for today's paranoia vis a vis the paranoia of the Cold War as it is an examination of superheroes, and why we care about superheroes. Perhaps only a geek could care about examining comic book characters and comparing modern day turmoil with that of the 80s, but as a concept, Watchmen readily justifies its existence within the glut of resurging comic book summer action movies. Hopefully, Watchmen, along with the immensely popular The Dark Knight of last summer will inspire other producers to examine the world around us through the lens of characters wearing costumes.
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with love from CRS @ 11:14 AM
Sunday, March 29, 2009
First, a little background about me and Watchmen. Being an avid comic book reader, I'd of course heard of Watchmen when I was a teen. Alan Moore had written several of my favorite graphic novels up to that point, and in fact, in the late 90s had a bit of a resurgence, coming back after several years of not doing anything with a rather prolific group of books. About nine years ago, I found a copy of a trade paperback Watchmen at a used book store and snatched it up. Problem was, about one third of the way through there was a printing error, leaving me with about twenty pages of the book simply missing, and at the absolute worst place. Not wanting to continue reading the book with a chunk of it missing, I never finished it. So I went into Watchmen the movie being very familiar with the source material, but having no idea what happened in the second half of the film. You couldn't call me a Watchmen geek, but neither was I going into it blind. Still, I am not the guy that could point out any differences between the movie and its source material, other than the fact that I remembered Nite Owl being somewhat more pathetic and flabby in the book. The main criticism of the film was that it seemed to be made specifically to please fanboys, and that everyone else would be confused. Having been right in the middle, I can't say whether I think that's true or not-- the movie got slightly more confusing once I got to the point where I'd left off in the book; on the other hand, I wouldn't say that I was any more confused than I have been watching any other movie with a dense plot that had several different plots moving concurrently. As an example, I thought Michael Clayton was fantastic yet found myself overwhelmed during several points during it, just as I did Watchmen.
With that said, no matter which way you hang on the "sucks/awesome" scale, you've got to hand it to Zack Snyder-- this is a gorgeous, visually striking film that almost has no equal, and no matter how much of it is attempting to duplicate what was already there on the page, this was no small feat, and Snyder handled it expertly and with utter care. I enjoyed the hell out of Synder's previous effort, 300, but it wasn't exactly what you could call subtle. The trailers for Watchmen were as snazzy and whiz-bang as 300 was, and I'd gone into the movie expecting it to be similarly full of pizazz and was surprised how much subtlety there was. Snyder knows exactly when to throw in artistic flourishes such as the Matrix-like slowdown used liberally in 300, and when to use simple, straightforward shots to achieve the desired emotional impact. For as awesome as it is to watch Rorschach light a hairspray torch and let it fly in spectacular slow motion, and as spectacular it was when Silk Spectre dropped down from the ceiling of a burning building, the movie hits its best mark when Dr. Manhattan, an entirely CGI character, looks blankly, even mildly curiously at the screen, not sure of how to comprehend what is happening around him as the camera merely sits there.
What's important to remember about Watchmen is that it's a movie about characters first and foremost. In a way, it couldn't have come out at a better time. Although the plot itself hinges a lot on the fact that it takes place in the 80s, right now there's a resurgence of comic book movies, and they couldn't be more profitable, ubiquitous, or, frankly, of higher quality. Watchmen is a critique and an analysis very much about what kind of person would do something as silly as put on a costume and fight crime. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre are like Clark Kent, if his awkwardness wasn't a put-on. They are these ordinary people who have no idea how to maintain lives as normal civilians, and can only accomplish anything worthwhile when they're in costume. It reminds one of the common civilian life of soldiers home from war-- they miss the chaos of battle, and often wind up depressed because they don't know how to live normal, boring lives. Rorschach is what Batman would be like if he grew up in the slums-- he has every bit as much of a sense of morality as Batman, if skewed-- Rorschach kills, whereas Batman doesn't-- but watching his relationship with his friend Nite Owl is exactly what it would be like being Commissioner Gordon and trying to maintain a professional relationship with Batman. Rorschach is crazy, just as Batman is crazy, and trying to remain professional friends cannot be easy when you're never sure exactly where this guy's mind is. The Comedian, for as much of an exaggeration of everything bad and corrupt in people with the power of "protection" as he is, is a direct correlation with real-life law enforcers who use their jobs as an excuse to abuse the general populace. At the very moment you might think to yourself "Ah come on, The Comedian is just an evil fucker," think of every time you've seen an unapologetically corrupt cop get suspended or fired for abuse of power. All of these character archetypes are pushed into this dark 80's backdrop where the civilization is at an unrest and the Cold War looms ominously in the background-- just as Gotham itself was as much a character in the original Batman movies as the main characters were, so too is the time period of Watchmen.
For as much as I enjoyed the gorgeous, pitch-perfect directing, and felt there were great performances to be had (especially Jackie Earle Haley, who is on fire as Rorschach, and Jeffery Dean Morgan, doing his best Robert-Downey-Jr-As-a-Nihilist as The Comedian, both of whom knock it out of the park, if I do say so), and couldn't bring myself to believe that Dr. Manhattan was a CGI being created from motion-capture technology played by Billy Crudup, there were a couple weak points. Some critics pointed to Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre as a weak spot, but to be honest she didn't bother me at all, and as the movie went by I grew kind of fond of her. The biggest problem is Matthew Goode as Ozymandias. Now, to be fair, he is the character that is the least developed in the book as well as the movie, and out of the Watchmen cast he gets the least amount of screen time. Which is good, because they cast one of the worst actors in the world to play him. It doesn't get in the way until the very end. The book's climax is basically two characters trying to beat up a madman who can't be beaten up while he explains his motivations like a Bond villain, all while standing in a huge empty room, and is handled the exact same way here. If ever I wanted a director to deviate from the source material, I wish it would be done here. The climax feels like a misstep compared to the rest of the grandiose plot and the elaborate, gorgeous action scenes, and it's only worse by Goode's terrible performance. To be fair, the climax isn't awful, and everything that needs to be explained is explained, but I couldn't help but feel a little let down. It's a good thing what happens, plot wise, is essential, and captures the essence of the Cold War paranoia that the book takes place in, but the conclusion to a riveting and complicated film, it's boring.
I don't know if you need to be a Watchmen geek to enjoy Watchmen. I will admit that the plot is thick and convoluted, but then, this is meant to be a Rated R movie in every sense of the term-- not just because of violence (which there is a lot), or nudity (which there is a lot-- if you've ever wanted to know what a penis would look like glowing blue, you're going to see a whole lot of it), but because it's a mature movie meant for mature people. It does happen to involve science fiction and guys in costume, but it is as much as an allegory for today's paranoia vis a vis the paranoia of the Cold War as it is an examination of superheroes, and why we care about superheroes. Perhaps only a geek could care about examining comic book characters and comparing modern day turmoil with that of the 80s, but as a concept, Watchmen readily justifies its existence within the glut of resurging comic book summer action movies. Hopefully, Watchmen, along with the immensely popular The Dark Knight of last summer will inspire other producers to examine the world around us through the lens of characters wearing costumes.
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