Watchmen - the film they thought would never happen (From The Argus)

Watchmen - the film they thought would never happen

4:59pm Tuesday 10th March 2009 in Blogs By James Tully - film blog

Watchmen is the film many thought would never happen. There have been previous failed attempts. Both Terry Gilliam and Paul Greengrass couldn;t get the project off the ground. The creator of the book Alan Moore has disowned it (this isnt personal to Watchmen - he has had no input into any adaptations of his work. He is simply not interested). A lawsuit by Fox against Warners almost sent the film back to the archives. But here it finally is.

All this back story has maybe distracted people from the real question 'Is it any good?', or alternatively 'Does it matter if Its any good?'. The hype machine seems to have been whirring away on Watchmen for years. Internet geek fervour is at an all time high. But geek excitement does not always translate into Box Office Success. ( eg - 'Snakes on a Plane') In fact the Watchmen backlash seems to be starting now. There's talk about the director - Zack Snyder, or rather 'Visionary Director Zack Snyder' who after just 2 released films has the hype of a Spielberg or Scorsese. He has been accepted by the geeks for his work on '300'. A great looking but ridiculous film.

There is the talk that the novel is unfilmable. It is a masterpiece of graphic fiction but cannot work on the big screen. It was not designed to be digested in 2hrs 41min. There is that 18 certificate that will prevent all the 15 yr old boys from seeing it. I still remember being 13 and unable to see 'Terminator 2' when it came out - I thought my life was over! There's the length of the film that will prevent cinemas from being able to play it as often as shorter blockbusters.

Personally I am a minor fan of the book. I really enjoyed it but am not precious about it in anyway. Watchmen deals with an alternative 1985 in which Richard Nixon is President and a group of superheros, Watchmen, have been outlawed for agressive crimes against the public. As such we see a superhero movie in which not much really happens. The story concerns itself with how characters have integrated into normal life and an impending nuclear war with the Russians. Based on the graphic novel of the same name, the film is very adult. Not adult in an intelligent, sophisticated way but adult in a juvenile, hyper violent way. The film revels in the havoc and violence spread throughout its 2hr 41min runtime.

Visually the film excels itself, it looks fantastic with great set design, effects and camera work. The script lets it down a bit as it attempts to translate the comic book TOO faithfully to the big screen. Certain comic book conventions do not work on film, yet it hasn't stopped Snyder including them throughout the film. Once you get over how ridiculous the whole affair is you can let yourself go and just enjoy the thing! It is long, too long, and as such there is a lot of narrative to analyse. It's hard to remember exactly what is going on at any point in the film as it is not really clear. At one point a character is revealed to be behind some grand scheme and I wasnt aware of any such scheme. Either badly plotted or skimmed over my head.

Perfomance wise everybody does their job relatively well. No-one blows you away but no-one embarresses themselves either. With such a wooden script it would have been easy to do this. Rorschach is the standout character from the book and he is realised very well. His ever changeing mask is captured brilliantly and he has a vicous streak as the films anti-hero. Not quite as disturbing as he is in the book - the motion to the character gives him a jokey feel which is not embodied anywhere else in the performance.

The script could have done with a sense of humour injection. It takes itself solemnly serious at all times, which is detrimental to the mood of the film. These complaints make it seem like I didnt enjoy the film which is misrepresentatvie. I enjoyed it greatly and would encourage anyone with even a passing interest to see it. Its a brave film which doesnt flinch from the dark side of its heroes. The action set-pieces are spectacular and the soundtrack choices are great. Especially the opening Bob Dylan sequence. Its fascinating to see a superhero film which doesnt focus on the action and instead looks into what makes the characters tick.

7/10