Coming out of the theater last Saturday night after viewing the film adaptation of Watchmen, my wife was pretty much silent. It wasn't until we finally made it to the car that she expressed her utter disgust of the movie, calling it perhaps the worst thing she's had to sit through all year. She likened her experience to my squirming and eye-rolling during Sex and the City. I wasn't surprised by her reaction--this is pretty much what I thought a non comic book fan like her would think after leaving the theater.
I'm a fan of the graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. I'm not one of these guys that revers it like it's the ultimate benchmark of literature, but I enjoyed how it humanized the whole superhero genre and put a spin on it to ask the question about what is acceptable sacrifice for the greater good. In the context of the Cold War, Watchmen stands as a great historical record of the feelings we had during that time in the 80's when nuclear missiles were endlessly amassing and leading to what seemed like inevitable global destruction. But as a comic book fan, perhaps this is the only reason why I thought Zack Snyder's adaptation was entertaining. Trying to look at it from someone who isn't a comic book fan nor even familiar with the original graphic novel, this movie was probably a bit of a bore. Throw in a glowing blue man with his manhood literally hanging out for all to see, and this was probably a laughable film.
The biggest problem with Snyder's movie adaptation is that he seemed too afraid to stray from the source material. Much was written before the movie was even made as to whether anyone could stay honest to the original story, and I think either Zack Snyder let this fear control his film too much or that he's just not that creative of a director. Granted, the graphic novel has given him a storyboard guide as to how to frame every scene, and I could understand how one would be tempted to use it as a literal guide, but I don't think everything translates to the big screen well. Alan Moore's Watchmen was told over a span of months, with each chapter confined to a single issue of a comic book. Snyder seems to try his best to preserve every element of the comic book limited series, but the result is a film that lacks in forward momentum and flow. Scenes seemed to be cobbled together with no real artistry at all. If this was a mini-series on television, this would have worked well. In a continuous three hour movie, not so much. I can't say that I was bored with the movie, but I could understand where someone who didn't know the story already would have been checking his/her watch in places. About the only element he did change (the infamous alien squid), actually worked in the film and probably made the movie better. Too bad he didn't take a few more creative chances.
The music selections were similarly disjointed. The use of "99 Luftballoons" was nice to try and set a mood and draw the audience into that 80's vibe using a song about nuclear holocaust. Clever, too, was a subtle Muzak version of Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" in the lobby of Veidt Industries. Unfortunately, not enough 80's music was utilized to set the tone. In fact, given how it seems so long since the Cold War ended and how hard it is to really remember what it felt like thinking that the USSR could launch their nuclear warheads at us at any minute, it was a huge waste that the music soundtrack didn't contribute more to jar my memory. Instead, we got the now almost cliched use of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence" during a Vietnam vet funeral and some other 60's era music that's been so overplayed in movies that it almost has my eyes rolling when I hear them now. And don't get me started about Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" during a gratuitous sex scene that was way too explicit compared to a bit more subtle approach used in the comic book.
As far as the casting choices, I thought everyone looked fine in their roles, although their acting was for the most part a tad generic. The exception was Jackie Earl Haley who matched up perfectly with Rorschach. He was about as spot on as an actor embodying a comic book character as Christopher Reeve was when he donned the red cape for Superman. Adding to it was that wonderful mask that seemed to constantly change as if to relay his ever shifting mood and thoughts. Hurm...
Having said all that, this was an entertaining movie. Action sequences, especially the opening scene depicting the murder of the Comedian, were great, and I was glad to see Zack Snyder tone down the slo-mo bit that was used to excess in 300. The main themes were all there. The story and characters were intact. Unfortunately, I think such a respected graphic novel as this deserved an equal amount of artistic interpretation instead of the essentially literal translation we got from book to screen.
3 comments:
So you're telling me I need to wait for video? I haven't ever read the graphic novel, so I think based on your review and others that that is what I'll do.
This is interesting as the majority of the score of rabid comic fans I work with and know felt Snyder didn't stay TRUE ENOUGH to the source material. One guy I work with is so distraught it wasn't made into a trilogy to catch every single comic frame I want to put him on suicide watch. I myself, having read the comic in it's original mini series format in 85 and many times since in graphic novel form, felt that it was about as perfect as could be hoped for. The original story is presented in book form not only in comic panels but reams of dossiers, police reports, fictitious biography exceprts, and a myriad other forms of full pages of written word. Where I felt Snyder succeeded was taking the creative chance to blur over so much story and backfill and give us exactly what we needed to get through the film. He was creative enough to not make us sit and listen to a therapists voice over as he goes into great detail about Rorschach's mental health. Instead we get it all through his actions and interactions. I also felt the acting was great and was happy that they cast people who looked so much like the comic characters instead of getting Will Smith or Tom Cruise to play the leads. I thought the music added a great bridge for people who haven't read the source material to understand in so many flashbacks just what time period they were watching. The reason he picked such cliched songs is exactly becuase they are. You hear Sounds Of Silence and see a military funeral, you know it's the late 60's, without having a military dossier page of battle reports to read. But I will agree that anyone who hasn't read the book, and possibly many times, is likely to not get any of it. My wife was a fidgeting the entire movie and when I asked her what she thought afterwards she said it was so confusing she had no clue what she'd just watched but it was pretty to stare at. So, as was always feared, this movie seemed to let down both the geeks and non-geeks alike. That's all right though, I'm going to see it again with some friends who haven't seen it yet tomorrow. I cna't help myself,it's just so pretty to stare at.
Considering you paid money to see Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem in the theater, I definitely think Watchmen is worth the price of admission. Whether or not you'd enjoy it more if you read the graphic novel, well, I think it would be easier to follow if you knew the plot going into it.
In regards to Wander's comments, I still think some use of more 80's music would have created a better mood. The nuclear arms race of the 80's between the United States and the Soviet Union was central to the whole story, and I don't think that was well established in the movie (at least to those that never read the graphic novel). Mixing it up with all those 60's tunes just confused me. My wife was probably in the same place as yours. All she remembers from the movie was a blue penis, Silk Spectre was pretty, and a lot of people got beat up.
And I'm glad they didn't do a page-for-page translation of the graphic novel. I think it would have been way too tedious to make this into a trilogy of films. Instead, I think Watchmen would have been much better adapted to a serialized form of live action, like a mini-series on HBO.
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