Master Jimmy (Watchmen)
Watchmen
Directed by Zack Snyder
Screenplay by David Hayter and Alex Tse
Based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Well, I finally saw Watchmen, and on opening night, no less. I had to, as all of the hype practically commanded me to do so. But as early as I was, it seems that I may have been one of the last people in America to see the damned thing. Watchmen has been completed for quite some time now, you see, and Zack Snyder was so unbelievably titillated with the result that he showed it to everyone on the planet with a press pass, and their consensus was largely the same. For the most part, people said it was the closest comic book to movie adaptation they had ever seen. I guess they must have missed Sin City and The Maxx.
For me, Watchmen was but one in a series of violent childhood plateaus, each one outdoing the next, and all by the greatest spoken critic of comic book movie media—Alan Moore. In the eighties, he taught me many of the things movie audiences are just learning now, the least of which is the obvious fact that comic books can be things targeted at a mature audience. They have been mischaracterized for quite some time, and I admit (with no small measure of guilt) that at the formative age of twelve I benefited greatly from that mischaracterization. Without it, there was so way my parents would ever have allowed me to own this hellishly violent “maxi-series”, and almost since its inception, people have been discussing adapting Watchmen into a feature film. As if movie audiences could have possibly been prepared for this thing all those years ago.
Respect for the comic book medium has been a long, hard road—one which was trail blazed by this gem. If you’re one to measure a work by the awards it’s earned, Watchmen has no shortage of them. Now, having seen the film after geeking-out hardcore about it for well over two decades, here is he most accurate statement I can make. My favorite graphic novel of all time certainly did not become my favorite film of all time.
I guess that was inevitable. Anyone who cherishes a written work for that long a time is bound to have their own iron-clad set of ideas about how that work should be presented, regardless of the fact that computer-generated effects can effectively duplicate a comic panel. So yes, the sets were accurate and the actors did well in their roles. And yes, all of the major plot points were there and all of the events went down much the way they did in the original story. But in all their efforts to duplicate the scenes to the slightest detail, the order and context of the dialogue was completely out-of-whack.
Imagine Jack Nicholson’s performance in The Shining for a moment. Jack Torrence approaches his wife with a sinister gleam in his eye and all the wolfish intent of a true homicidal predator. But instead of saying, I’m not gonna hurt ya, I’m just gonna bash your brains in, he says, I’m coming to kill you now. The scene’s the same, the acting the same, and nothing of the plot has been altered, but something is truly and unequivocally WRONG and it’s not particularly nit-picky to say so. But we must forgive, right? Watchmen is, after all, twelve issues of densely-packed story. So while a comic writer might take his time sculpting a fine point through a set of circumstances and rest easy that no one missed it, a screenplay writer might find it more expedient to simply have a character state the point and move on. Or worse, to state the point bluntly after it had already been made by plot and circumstance, the effect of which feels like a sledgehammer. This happens a couple of times.
Don’t mistake me as I’m not trying to level undue criticism on the crew of this film. These statements are meant merely as observations on the limitations of film to cover something as unwieldy and monolithic as Watchmen. It can’t really be fully covered by one film, and there’s no way it can be two films. It’s perfect state of being is twelve comic books. Regardless, Watchmen is as good a comic book movie as you’re ever likely to see. The source material is just so damned good that even in a truncated, distorted form it’s still a joy to watch. Also, the film has things to offer that you won’t find in the comic. For example, one of the Watchmen, Rorschach, appeared in each comic panel with a new inkblot pattern—the effect of which invites each reader to see things in their own individual way. When watching the film you get to see those inkblots in a constantly-shifting state, a different yet equally mesmerizing experience. Much of the film is like this—proving that although Zack Snyder certainly had his own unique way of interpreting Watchmen, for the most part that interpretation is entertaining enough to call this film a resounding success even as it attempts the impossible.
Review by Master Jimmy