Because Jeremy Requested It: Watchmen Movie Review (SPOILERS)

Without getting too much into what makes Watchmen the greatest comic miniseries/graphic novel ever written, here is what I think of the movie.

As a stand alone film Watchmen is okay. I think that it does one thing that the sharpest critics of the adaptation demanded, it is a comprehensible story. While writers have been successful thousands of times with alternate historical fiction, getting the movie-viewing public to swallow it is another thing. I think Watchmen does it. That being said, I have to think that there were too many dumbed-down moments, and less focus on the movie explaining itself would have allowed more time to include critical elements onto the screen which that make the comic noteworthy from a literary standpoint.

As background from the comic (if you've ready any part of it, skip this paragraph), Watchmen's current date is 1985, and it covers 40 years in US history. In this alternate timeline, a handful of people started dressing up in costume to combat pedestrian crime in the '40s. Since the bad guys wore masks, they figured on doing the same thing. Principle among these characters in New York were the Minutemen, who included Eddie Blake A.K.A. The Comedian, and sex symbol Sally Jupiter, A.K.A. The Silk Specter. The main story follows the retired successors of this era of heroes, whose costumed adventures were put to an end in 1977 when the Keene Act, a federal law, closed legal loopholes that allowed vigilantes free reign. In 1985, the only active sanctioned adventurers are the Comedian, whose sadistic tendencies have been turned to use in U. S. foreign policy, and Dr. Manhattan. Manhattan, once a research physicist named Jon Osterman, is the only super-powered character in the story. Manhattan's omnipotent presence radically altered world history, winning the Vietnam war and keeping Richard Nixon in office long after his actual two-term tenure. When the Comedian is assassinated, Rorschach, a brutal and psychopathic vigilante, is convinced that someone is eliminating former members of his heroic fraternity. His efforts to discover who and why introduce us to his former partner Dan Dreiberg, the successor to the Minuteman Nite Owl, Laurie Juspeczyk, retired successor to her mother's Silk Specter and the lover and companion of Dr. Manhattan, and Adrian Veidt A.K.A. Ozymandias, a multimillionaire who translated his career as a costumed vigilante into a brand name on everything from cosmetics to cereal. Nobody believes Rorschach's "mask killer" theory, but in time, he's revealed to be somewhat right. The US and Russia are on the verge of nuclear war, and through the conspiracy that Rorschach suspects, someone is making a serious power play.

As the story develops, Snyder must dispense with numerous elements and characters, because the length of a film faithfully adapting Watchmen would have to be at least 6 hours. The role of Malcolm Long, Rorschach's psychiatrist, is greatly reduced, as are those of the newspaper vendor and the comic book reading kid, whose names are both revealed, ironically, to be Bernard. The police detectives investigating the Blake murder are largely removed. Joey, the likable butch lesbian cab driver is also gone. The team who build the villain's ultimate weapon are absent except for a brief scene. Likewise, the technological applications of Dr. Manhattan's powers and knowledge are stripped out. Airships still hover over New York City, but they and the cars are not powered by electric hydrants, and are incorporated instead as a plot element. These changes, while they strip Watchmen of much of its art and humanity, are acceptable.

Liberties taken with so many of the basic facts of the story are not so tolerable. The changes and omissions from the origin of Rorschach are profound. Since nobody smokes in the movie except the Comedian, young Walter Kovacs cannot partially blind a young bully with a lit cigarette. Since Manhattan's technological wonders are gone, there is no explanation of the wonder fabric that becomes Rorscach's "face." Since it's not explained that Walter worked in a women’s' garment factory, the scene of the kidnapper's home is no longer as relevant. And when he murders the kidnapper by cleaving his head instead of giving him a horrible death (and inspiring the torture porn that is the Saw series), Nite Owl II's later comment that the murder of Molock is "too ordinary" for Rorschach makes no sense. Likewise, facts of Walter Kovacs' daily life outside his mask are generally washed over - the omission of his relationship to the newspaper vendor and affiliation with the right-wing tabloid the New Frontiersman damage the over-all plot, particularly the latter in explaining the film's open ending. Rorschach is perhaps the character most shortchanged by the movie, a sad fact given that he is nearly everybody's favorite character.

Both Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan were played emotionally. Although in the graphic novel they do display emotion, it is quite subdued. Rorschach seems to display only rare flashes of uncontrolled rage and disgust. Dr. Manhattan, overcome by the scientific and mathematical nature of the world accompanied by his transposition over time-space, displays only rare and usually mild emotional reactions. Rorschach in particular seems to dance around the screen.Weak attempts to tie the plot together, provide more period canvas for the story, or give certain characters more scenes didn't benefit the movie overall. After Dan Dreiberg visits Adrian Veidt, Rorschach comments that there are only two people left to visit, which is inconsistent given that in the novel, it's Rorschach's investigation that gives the reader opportunity to meet all the characters. In the movie it's Veidt instead of the aged Captain Metropolis who attempts to start a team of heroes in the 1970s, which gravely damages Ozymandias' motivations. Likewise, the actor portraying Veidt is all of 90 lbs. soaking wet, making displays of brute force all but unbelievable. The character only who gets about the same screen time as he does attention in the graphic novel is Richard Nixon, and Dick is blamed for the Keene Act. Poor Sally Jupiter is protrayed as a bitchy alcoholic, far from the sympathetic treatment of the comics. And in a move I can't possibly understand, the watch Jon Osterman goes back into the Intrinsic Field Chamber to get is his own, not girlfriend Janie Slater's, which he repaired.

In short, good cinema, not the best adaptation. See the movie, then read the graphic novel or watch the motion comics on DVD or iTunes.