Good As Could Be Expected

Rating: 7/10 (8 March 2009)

Watchmen is often referred to as the "unadaptable comic." Zack Snyder effectively proved his critics wrong with this; this adaptation (excepting the omission of the Tales of The Black Freighter and other impossibilities) is almost slavishly faithful to the comic until its very end.
First the bad: sometimes, Snyder's faithfulness may not have been the best idea: the movie takes the majority of its dialogue from the book, and the endless scenes of exposition tend to either get lost in translation or just bore. The action scenes don't disappoint, but they often interrupt the mood and pacing of the movie; they seem to have been thrown in merely to satisfy the blood- hungry viewer. Malin Akerman is sexy but wooden as Silk Spectre; as many reviewers have noted, she seems to be the weak link in the cast. Matthew Goode as Ozymandias, the world's smartest man, is simply annoying; he has a barely detectable accent that grated on my nerves, and, instead of seeming intelligent, he just seems like a smirking douche. While most of the movie is good, at times it just seems to drag on: at 2 hours and 40 minutes it's no task for the faint of heart, and it fails to keep even the most faithful eyes focused the whole time.
However, when the movie does glue your eyes to the screen, it uses a hot glue gun. The very opening of the movie is brilliant; over the credits, a montage shows the rise and fall of "The Minutemen," a superhero team, and the alternate world they created. Jackie Earle Haley's Rorschach is reminiscent of Heath Ledger's Joker, capturing a truly skewed worldview in a way that the viewer can't help but be attracted to: this is one instance where lifting material directly from the comic book (almost all of Rorschach's lines) was a great decision. Patrick Wilson satisfies as the impotent, schlubby Dan Dreiberg (Nite Owl), and Billy Crudup's performance as Dr. Manhattan, a man who, in a nuclear accident, becomes like a god, is fascinating- his voice toneless and almost ethereal, you can hear his gradual detachment and alienation from the human world. The cinematography and effects are amazing- the film is simply beautiful, no other way to put it.
So there you have it. Zack Snyder deserves respect for taking on this Goliath of a project; his love for the subject is obvious in every frame of the film, and though his dedication occasionally causes the film to plod, the good moment of the film make it clear that it was worth it. Though it has its fair share of flaws, this movie is at least definitely worth watching.