Watchmen - Overview

I'm not totally sure why this movie was made. I mean, I know "why" but why? To meet, it felt like Zach Snyder was basically just trying to impress everyone with his reverence for the material while never actually delving into why the material is so treasured and respected in the first place. It was like an excercise in faithfulness. They sort of missed a golden opportunity to comment on the growing number of superhero movies, this movie easily could have done for superhero movies what the original Watchmen did for superhero comics. By focusing too much on the literal adaptation they missed the opportunity to translate. What works well in a comic won't always work well in a movie.

Theres a reason why movies like Dark Knight and Iron Man worked, because they take the fundamental essence of a character and retool it to work in a different format. And this is why the Watchmen, for so long, as been called "unfilmable". Not because of the hassle of getting it greenlit or getting a studio to pony up the cash but because you're working with revered source material thats so intrinsically important to its medium, that transposing it from said medium makes it seems cheap somehow. An adaptation for adaptations sake.

The comic works because it uses familiar Archetypes while removing the constraints of the continuity. We can all see the parallels between someone like Rorshach and perhaps Batman or the Punisher. Where the movie fails is that these movie characters depend too heavily on their comic book cousins while never fully exploring the archetypes establish by modern cinema. Granted Night Owl II's costume is obviously influenced by Batman Begins, but the character inhabiting that costume could hardly be compared to Christian Bale's Batman. Thats not to say Patrick Wilson wasn't great as Daniel Dreiberg it just sort of felt, i dunno, flat?

I know, it seems like i'm either nitpicking or tearing it apart but i'm not. I loved the movie. It was a bit better than I expected and I'm perfectly happy with any changes that were made for the translation to a new medium. I think there were even a couple improvements.
The ending has been discussed quite a bit on the ol' internets, and truthfully, I think the ending in the movie is better. I think Alan Moore has a tendency to sort of prolong things. I'm not sure that its necessarily masturbatorial on his part, and its not really filler, but yea, it can definately be condensed.

That said, if they stuck to Alan Moore's original ending, then that would have added, i dunno, 25 mins to the movies plot? Not to mention obliterating the already clunky pacing by shifting to perspectives and characters that we're entirely unfamiliar with. I think the ending in the movie was brilliant and it showcased what the medium of cinema can do, and was probably the best example of translation, as opposed to literal interpretation that the movie provided. It condensed the essence of the comics ending and even provided better closure by making Dr. Manhattan the publics bad-guy it forced him out of the picture and let humanity out of its stranglehold of idol worship. It removed the superman from the publics perception and made him not necessarily human, but certainly not the god that so many wanted him to be. Despite the fact that Rorshach bites it, its kind of sweet knowing that the mask of bullshit was sort of lifted off of humanity by Veidt's machinations and ultimate endgame. It forced our world to take responsibility for itself and realize that no Superman is ever going to provide them the real protection they need if they can't even help themselves.

All in all, I liked it. Definately. The pacing was a little too fast for my taste and I'm looking forward to the ultimate crazy-ass directors cut and hopefully Snyder will let the story breathe a little more and not feel so pressured to jam in all the fan-service. I'm also glad I saw it on IMAX. I'll gladly pay the extra money to watch any movie on a gigantic fucking screen with the sound blaring in my face.
I'll probably have more to say regarding the film after I inevitably see it again, or after I let it gestate a bit. It was really worth seeing, and I hope I develop a greater fondness for it as time moves on. Its not the comic, but it is definately a fitting companion piece and honestly, thats all anyone could ask for.