So close yet so distant

Rating: 6/10 (5 March 2009)

As ambitious as it can be, Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" may have faithfully transplanted its source material to the big screen with all due reverence, but the overlong and overstuffed result of an intense fascination for accurate cinematic replication strips the narrative of emotional depth to mitigate the inherent shortcomings bound to constantly recur in the cinematic version of the highly lauded (and supposedly "unfilmable") graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Snyder's craftsmanship handsomely portrays the progression of the American society in relation to its captivation of costume-clad superheroes as exemplified by its nostalgia-tripping opening credit sequence, yet this same technical proficiency for highly stylized aesthetic, of which the director has a marked penchant for, never translates into an impelling force.
The stilted consequence of Snyder's overwhelming mechanisms, however, largely benefits from a premier source material that functions as a deconstruction of the superhero mythos that, through its elaborate narrative techniques, provocatively reflects on the resolute inclination of mankind to topsy-turviness. In an alternate 1985, the antagonism between the US and USSR is running at an all-time high, and Richard Nixon, serving his fifth term as the US president while basking in his dubious victory in Vietnam, has declared all superhero activities illegal. Now reduced to a vigilante, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) discovers that the Comedian (James Dean Morgan), a former superhero and colleague, has been murdered, which eventually rejoins him with other former superheroes including Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre II (Malin Ackerman) and Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), as they learn of a binding conspiracy that spells catastrophic results.
Snyder's intricate sequence of events is a favorable, albeit patchy, estimate of the graphic novel's multi-parallel narrative structure that upholds dread for the inevitable self-destruction both for its corrupted protagonists and the world at large. Yet despite the almost verbatim adaptation, it's a cinematic abridgment that overall feels lethargic, highlighted to a detrimental effect by a protracted running time that jams as much material as theatrically possible. In part, it's because of its dispassionate characters that, save for Haley's monomaniacal turn as the inkblot-stained mask-wearing Rorschach, never conveys a sense of attachment; and in part, it's because of the sporadic slo-mo-induced action scenes that are less visually dynamic than in the director's previous works. It's ultimately a fanboy-pleasing replica that serves nothing else except perhaps to further provide more groundwork to the argument that the source is better than the adaptation.