Watchmen Review
by Lewis (kreme AT kreme DOT com DOT dontspam)March 10th, 2009
WATCHMEN (2009)
Capsule: A worthy adaptation of a seminal graphic
novel, Watchmen manages to find a balance that should
pleaseboth fans of the comic and people who are new to
thestory. Only the most die hards will be
disappointedat the story changes to fit the movie into
2h40. High +2 (-4 to +4) or 8.5/10.
WATCHMEN manages to stride a fine line with grace, balancing the needs of a movie against a seminal graphic novel that spans several hundred pages. I know Alan Moore is upset by this adaptation (not the movie specifically, but the simple FACT of the movie), and though he may demand I turn in my Alan Fan Club card, I have to say I found some of the changes in the movie were an improvement. In particular, the whole resolution seemed like a much better idea than the original, strategically. More than this, I cannot say.
On the other hand, there were some changes that didnt quite manage to make a lot of sense. In the graphic novel, the world of 1985 is running on electric cars and airships and clean cheap energy. The movie 1985 has no such changes, and yet we still have Holliss sign Specializing in Obsolete Cars. Obsolete is a strange choice of words in a world where petrol is still king. Towards the end there is a death of one of the characters that, with the changes in the movies plot, makes absolutely no sense. Minor quibbles.
Visually the movie is pretty close to perfection, evoking both the grimy apocalyptic feeling of the graphic novel and the spandex-tights of Silver age comics. The action sequences are very well done, without all the over-cutting and super-fast hey, we might have seen something if youd stop cutting editing that is so common to action movies. In several places there are top-notch fight scenes that look more like something out of a 1970s Bruce Lee movie in that the camera simply sits back and lets the action happen, full-frame. The judicious use of slow-motion, again not over done for every punch like some new SFX toy the FX guys got this week, but instead inserted where it will do the most good, is extremely good.
The violence is unlike anything most people will be expecting in a heroes in tights sort of film. This was a grimy, violent, and bloody graphic novel, and the movie does not shy away from that at all. We do not have long intense fight sequences and nary a drop of blood. At times the film is quite gruesome in a way that the graphic novel, with its still images, could never be. This is, somehow, even more effective in this film than in many others. I dont shy away from violent films, but I found myself cringing in my seat several times during WATCHMEN and I think the reason is that you do not expect the superhero movie to be truly violent. And even when it is, over and over, each time its a bit if a shock.
The soundtrack, particularly through the first half of the movie, is absolutely wonderful, with songs chosen that immediately bring you full circle to the time period. Nenas 99 Luftballons intros a discussion on the impending nuclear holocaust; Wagners Flight of the Valkyrie, a la Coppolas Apocalypse Now, over a battle field in Viet Name (the failure of the Tet Offensive); Tears for Fears Everybody Wants to Rule the World softly underplayed during a conversation between some of the worlds top CEOs, including Lee Iacocca; these are but a few examples.
And finally, the place where WATCHMEN really shines is in the casting. Every single actor is spot-on for the role. I admit that I was not so sure about Malin Akerman, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffery Dean Morgan, or Patrick Wilson. And I thought Billy Crudup looke more like Dan than Jon. OK, so I was wrong. They were all convincing, and all drew you in to their characters. If I have any complaint here, and it is a minor one, it is that sometimes Jackie Earle Haleys Kovacs sounded a little too much like Dirty Harry Calahan.
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How do you feel? I'm lonely
What do you think? Cant take it all
Whatcha gonna do? Gonna live my life
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