Watchmen

Based on the beloved and critically acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore (who shares the current spotlight with Frank Miller as the go-to guy for comic-to-film adaptations), Watchmen is a dark satiric look at society and the super hero genre.

The film is a rather straight forward adaptation of the book, following Rorschach as he enlists the help of fellow heroes to investigate the death of one of their own. As the mystery of the murder unravels for the characters, the audience learns the truth about what it means not only to live the life of a hero (or in the case of Dr. Manhattan, a superhero) but also realize the perverted rationalizations in the name of peace and harmony. Forget Superman, forget Spiderman; these are idealized and kid-friendly versions of the hero genre. In Watchmen, the men and women who protect us are debased, sometimes sadistic, on-the-fringe type folk with enough ego and mental instability to keep any Freudian employed for a lifetime.

The graphic novel is an absolute modern masterpiece and Moore deserves the same accolades prescribed to 20th century literary greats such as Vonnegut, Heller and Camus. Many thought that Watchmen was unfilmable due simply to the complex nature of the novel. It was a similar response to the idea of The Lord of the Rings being adapted which, as it turned out, ended up becoming a huge success. I expect that the producers, given this knowledge, given Snyder's reputation and given the popularity of comic-book movies, decided to go ahead with the endeavor. However, Snyder, known for his lush computer-enhanced visuals, relies too much on appeasing the fans of the book and not paying enough attention to the needs of the film.

The film is relatively easy to follow and shot by Larry Fong (who also takes credit for the cinematography in 300). The problem is that the characters never really come to life. For characters with such three dimensionality, they come off in the film as rather flat. Subplots that weave in and out of the lives of these heroes seem to go nowhere or, when they actually do go somewhere, feel rushed. For a comic book, the scenes make sense; for a movie, they don't seem to add up. And by the end of the film, the climax doesn't seem to have been born of the story leading up to it. Instead we have a film that implies it has great depth but glosses over it entirely, which is ironic, since the novel went into great depth about glossed-over heroes.

Who will watch the Watchmen? Well, fans will probably appreciate seeing their favorite characters come-to-life but I suspect they will not replace Snyder's vision of the Watchmen with Moore's.

*** (out of five)