Had the chance to see Watchmen over the weekend. The movie based on the Alan Moore novel that came out in the 80’s that was deemed “unfilmable” by its creator. Alan Moore believed that there were things done in the graphic novel that could not be replicated in cinema. In fact, official comments show that Alan Moore has stated he will not be seeing the movie. Let me tell you, he is missing out on a great triumph.
It is no secret from anyone who has read this blog in the past that I have been anticipating this release for quite some time now so getting to see the film alone was a release for me. Zack Snyder took what he did with 300 and applied the same formula to Watchmen with equal if not greater results in many ways. He preserved the story, characters and art from the novel while changing and improving things along the way in order to translate it to film properly. I could talk about the movie for a while but I am going to touch on just two things that really stood out to me from the film and made it the success it is.
For one thing, the characters and actors who portrayed them were fantastic. Everyone was believable and stayed strong through the whole film. In my opinion there were no weak points in the cast although a few stood out from the rest, namely Jackie Earle Hailey who played Rorschach. His performance throughout the film was a perfect three dimensional adaption of the very colorful character it was based on from the novel. His final scene at the end of the film took two frames from the book and turned it into one of the greatest emotional moments of the movie.
The other thing I wanted to comment on was the alteration of the ending from the graphic novel. In the graphic novel the story ends with the character Ozymandias releasing a genetically created squid monster on the world causing everyone to cease their feuds with each other and band together against a common foe. Zack Snyder took what could have been an extremely perplexing end and turned into a great tie in that pulled everything from the film together into a surprising and revealing climax that not only made sense but looked better visually.
There were of course several things in the movie I would like to have seen different and even a few questions I wish I could ask Zack Snyder but overall I give the movie my approval as not only a fanboy but a cinesnob too.
