Who Watches The Watchmen?

Rating: 7/10 (26 August 2009)

This is a good film, that could have been greater.
Snyder is known to make faithful film adaptations of eclectic comics, but in this one, he falls a little short; he was lost in the details, and when that happens, you usually lose the bigger picture.
It reflects on the rhythm of his movie; sometime it is so hashed-out it could have been edited by Uwe Boll. There are film noir excerpts, told in the first person by Rorschach and third-person viewpoints and flashbacks, which gives the film the feeling of too many hands at work.
The aspect that distracted me most was the use of obvious musical scores without any relevance here and there in the movie. If I can accept Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changing" in the opening credits while past history is showcased, I had troubles with the same old, same old hippie classics like "All Along The Watchtower" and "The Sound of Silence" (the later one being played at the funerals of a guy for which few had any sympathy to this point), which had no relevance whatsoever in a film which takes place in the 80s, apart from being well-known hits that would make people in the viewing room go "Hey! Cool!" and "Alright!" when they hear it. The use of Apocalypse Now's Ride of the Valkyries during the Vietnam part was especially pathetic.
Yet during other parts, like in Dr. Manhattan's story, the music (in this case, Phillip Glass') merged with what was on screen with complete osmosis, creating a little masterpiece that could have had a life of its own. You get a impression of godlike omni-potency, and yet also of hopeless solitude when experiencing it. The best part of the movie IMO, and the only one who measures up to 300's lavish style.
The actors give acceptable performances, the best ones being delivered by Haley and Morgan in interpreting Rorschach and the Comedian, respectively. Gugino's tiny appearance lit up the screen as a very credible 40s pin-up, and Akerman was a treat for the eyes, although about any Hollywood starlet could have done as good given the thin character.
The camera work is good, but is being hampered by Snyder's strict observance of the original novel's layouts; As much as it worked in 300, the passage here from paper to film is more debatable.
Too much have been written about Dr. Manhattan's genitalia, a most hypocrite reaction when compared to the explicit violence and gore that pockmarks the film -and which is absent from the novel, BTW. Well, it's about as erotic as your average secondary school biology manual. Half of the inhabitants of the Earth's got a penis, people. Don't make such a fuss about it. Beside, we see much more of Akerman's zones than Dr. Manhattan's CGI ones, anyway (which isn't unpleasant).
The history (which I won't recapitulate here) is, of course, of the first order, but suffers from the lack of rhythm that comes from the difference between the medias.
In the end, Watchmen is a movie that will make its audience think, much more than 300; it isn't just a dumb summer flick filled with explosions, but a philosophical movie draped in capes and masks.