Watchmen

Who watches The Watchmen?

DETAILS:
Released - 6 March 2009
Certificate - 18
Running Time - 162 min
Director - Zack Snyder
Screenwriters - David Hayter and Alex Tse
Producers - Wesley Coller, Herb Gains, Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin, Deborah Snyder, Thomas Tull
Cinematography- Larry Fong
Editing - William Hoy
Music - Tyler Bates
Theatrical distributor - Paramount
Country - USA
SYNOPSIS:
In this dark alternative to 1985 the world is gradually being brought to its knees. Democracy in particular remains in constant jeopardy as the cold war is still in full flight and war hungry Nixon remains president of the United States. Furthermore, illegal vigilantes consisting of the scantily clad ‘Silk Spectre' (Malin Akerman), blue ‘Dr Manhattan’ (Billy Crudup), camp ‘Ozymandias’ (Matthew Goode), shady ‘Rorschach’ (Jackie Earle Haley) and technical whiz ‘Nite Owl’ (Dan Dreiberg) are forced to reunite due to the suspicious death of their former associate ‘The Comedian ‘(Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and a conspiracy threatening the future of mankind.

REVIEW:
The studio politics which surround Watchmen are almost as complex as the source material itself. Having already suffered at the hands of Terry Gilliam and Paul Greengrass, who both famously abandoned the project deeming it impossible to make, the project was left on the scrapheap for many years before it was picked up by self proclaimed ‘fanboy’ Zack Snyder. His previous work may have received a great deal of critical backlash but the fact he has risen to a challenge that was beneath Gilliam and Greengrass is a laudable achievement in itself.

And as the opening credits role it does feel as if Snyder has managed to actualise the impossible. His beautifully shot opening montage skims through an entire back story of superheroes and effectively crams in all the essential information you need to contextualise the period in a matter of minutes. As his vibrant visuals leap off the screen to Bob Dylan’s "The Times They Are a-Changin", you feel as if you could be in for something special.

But despite the fact Snyder may be able to produce such fantastic imagery, he is unable to back it up with any substance. As events unfold the film itself feels like an extended montage of breathtaking images glossed over with pop culture references and some brief political context without actually delving beyond the surface.

This is not an adaptation of the comic book but more of a tribute to its brilliance. Instead of developing his own screen narrative to give the film its own cinematic identity, Snyder has simply tried to cram far too much of the original story in as possible which has resulted in a rather disjointed and over long picture.

Constantly switching between the development of several characters, those unfamiliar with the source material will often feel bored, confused and alienated. It is the compelling story of Rorschach, brilliantly captured by Jackie Earle Haley, which keeps the film together. Whenever his film noir narrative is left behind to concentrate on the pointless latex eye candy that is Silk Spectre or the sombre and far from engaging Dr. Manhattan the film loses its momentum.

Similarly the fight scenes are just as unimaginative as every single one annoyingly unfolds in the same way. Primarily used as a device to prevent people from nodding off, the punch -ups themselves become more boring than the actual ‘talking bits’ as it were. With every punch and kick perfectly landing in exactly the right place whilst Snyder adds pointless slo-mo to drag these set pieces out for as long as possible, the results are tedious. If it were not for CGI, visual effects and a team of people below him Zack Snyder would not have a career as he is unable to direct drama, tension, characters or storyline.

Therefore fans of the comic book will either feel grateful for watching a film as faithful as this or let down for it’s dumbing down of the original story. Whereas those who are not familiar with the book will wonder what on earth all the fuss is all about as what is widely considered the Citizen Kane of the comic book world has not been given its due.

TO SUM UP:
Watchmen looks impressive but it has nothing profound to say in the long run. A rather plain film that does have its compelling moments through Rorschach's character this was a missed opportunity that will severely divide its fan base. What was originally a satire and a deconstruction of the comic book superhero has now become a stereotypical, albeit fairly entertaining and watchable, product of the genre