Tuesday 17 March 2009

Watchmen Review

Watchmen was released into UK cinemas on Friday 6th March and having utilised the first Orange Wednesday since its release to go and see the film last week I thought it would only be right to force my opinion of it on other people, after all isn’t that what reviews are all about – journalists masquerading their opinions as world truths?

The graphic novel is, and always will be, loved by fanboys the world over, giving director Zack Snyder the unenviable task of converting into film material described by its embittered co-creator, Alan Moore, as “inherently unfilmable”. Being a lover of the book himself surely influenced Snyder’s initial decision to take the film on in the first place, but also his decision to remain so true to the original work. That is, after all, exactly what the film does, in a similar fashion to Snyder’s 300 which held true to Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same title. It may be seen as the easy way out; stick slavishly close to the fanboys’ ‘precious’ and they won’t demand your balls on a platter immediately after storming out of the cinema two minutes into the film. But, in the case of Watchmen sticking close to the original material is the bravest step any director could take. When taking into account the weighty content of the Watchmen novel, any director that has managed to remain steadfast and not bowed to the pressure applied by glutinous studios to produce a film that is actually worthy of carrying the novel’s title to screen has to be applauded.

If you add to this the fact that Snyder has altered the material with a little help from his friends, namely screen writers David Hayter and Alex Tse, you can really see that the chap has got his wits about him. The ending of the novel is somewhat unbelievable, and remember that this is in a novel including a blue ‘man’ who can appear wherever he wants, whenever he wants, whatever size he wants, complete with blue cock for all to see. Changing the ending of the story ever so slightly prevents the less open minded movie goer from alienation and further bum-numbing with the film already notching up a 2 hours 42 minutes running time. Forcing in the original ending would have required an additional story line and character development running along the many already on the go and would have, in turn, required a pause button of some sort.

Watchmen comes at you with an 18 rating held aloft so that you know it is not a kiddie’s comic-book vehicle. The fight scenes are brutal to the point of eliciting synchronised grimaces from the cinema audience as numerous baddies suffer compound fracture after compound fracture and other, more violent injuries and/or deaths. But it is not just the violence in the film which makes it unfit for young eyes, the sexual content of the book is also transformed to the screen so seamlessly that you realise the bars separating the windows in the graphic novel are seams which the film does not have to put up with, placing into your head an idea about why almost every graphic novel and comic book produced or in production is steadily making its way to the screen, if it hasn’t done so already.

In the film Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson) and Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) give us an essential ingredient; genuine human characters, warts and all, who magnify how crazy the other pieces of the puzzle are. Dr Manhattan (Billy Crudup) displays superbly in bold, blue letters how alien a being with infinite knowledge and power would be made to feel by a race born with a major inferiority complex. Ozymandias (Mathew Goode) puts us all to shame with his knowledge, physical prowess and wealth all while remaining a homo sapien. However, it is Rorschach and The Comedian, portrayed excellently by Jackie Earle Hayley and Jeffrey Dean Morgan respectively, who stand out from the crowd. They share an uncompromising, no-nonsense approach to cleaning up a world that they, in their own individual ways, realise is full to the brim with evil. Rorschach sees it and is disgusted, turning inwards and becoming a hateful loner that you can’t help but love. Whereas The Comedian, whose brutal murder is the catalyst for the story, simply laughs at how sick and twisted the world is. Rorschach says of The Comedian: ‘He saw the true face of the twentieth century and chose to become a reflection, a parody of it’. In short, Rorschach and The Comedian make Batman look like a joker.

We are brought into their worlds to see if we can sample them and come out the other side still seeing good and evil as absolutes, and if we can, do we remain on the right side of the fence?

The most engaging aspects of Watchmen are the moral dilemmas it imposes on us – Should a child molester merely be sent to prison? Does war make it okay to kill anything that tries to kill you, even if that includes children? Should you really help people who do nothing but try to destroy themselves? Each small quandary makes you question your very own integrity. But the real dilemma is saved for the end. It is very hard to watch the film without putting yourself into the shoes, knee-high boots, blue-skinned bare feet, etc. of the heroes. In the event of impending global catastrophe would you do what NEEDED to be done?

The film does what many thought it would never do; it works. The stylised camera work Zack Snyder was inevitably going to bring with him fits perfectly with the brutal action sequences that cannot jump off of a page as well as they can a screen. The soundtrack is strange but excellent; sometimes acting as comic relief from what should be a horrific sight – e.g. Vietcong exploding – making us think about whether or not we should be laughing at what our eyes are seeing, but at other times supplying heightened drama to scenes where our focus is in no doubt.

Watchmen picks up where The Dark Knight left off, bringing the genre of the comic-book movie kicking and screaming into adulthood. It is simultaneously an action movie that pulls no punches and a psychodrama that will change your idea of heroism forever.

9/10

1 comment:

Jegsbox said...

Joell, you crazy comic loving mother fluffer! I have to say I have enjoyed your review of The Watchmen despite the fact that not being a fan of this genre I find the 'blue man' thing a bit far fetched. He isn't a smurf is he, an omnipotent smurf? I look forward to watching the film to see whether or not your 9/10 rating is justified.