Watchmen

Rating: 7/10 (16 March 2019)

Watchmen is a 2009 film Directed by Zack Snyder, based upon the extremely popular and influential comic book series and later graphic novel: Watchmen by Alan Moore. Watchmen gives a revisionist look at the comic book superhero, while also dealing with dark themes of human nature and morality. The source material, Watchmen, was deemed by many to be un-filmable, not only due to the production issues that plagued the project, but also due to the non-linear telling of the narrative. The film had been in production for twenty years, going through different drafts and scripts. Eventually Zack Snyder was brought on board and he attempted to remain faithful to the book as he could. There were two director cuts release, but I will only be reviewing the theatrical cut.
The film revolves around a now separated superhero team called the Watchmen, in a parallel universe set in the 1980's. The six former members of the team were The Comedian, Dr. Manhattan, Silk Spectre, Nite Owl, Ozymandias and Rorschach. Following the death of one of its members Rorschach, begins an investigation to find the killer. However the other members are more preoccupied with a bigger problem, threat of nuclear war.
Snyder gives the film a distinct style, drawing on a grey tinted colour pallet, giving the film a Neo-Noir style. Technically the film is visually stimulating with interesting images and frames. The soundtrack for the film captures the mood almost perfectly for each scene, with the exception of the cover of Hallelujah played in the film.
Unlike most superhero comics, Watchmen does not focus on action too much. Snyder decided to rectify this, adding in fight scenes and more gruesome violence. While I am not particularly against violence in films, but I found that the addition of these scenes did little for narration purposes, did not make the film any more enjoyable and detracted from the overall experience. It also prevented a lower age rating and wider appeal. Another artistic liberty Snyder took was to give all the watchmen superhero strength.
Consequentially the film becomes less real, and you never fear for the Watchmen as much as you probably should. It is interesting to compare this choice to Christopher Nolan's Batman films, where Nolan tried to make the characters as humanly realistic as possible. Nolan's Batman films also have their fair share of violence, which show the harsh reality of the world of Batman. The violence in these films while often very physiologically jarring, was extremely effective and added to the narrative. In Watchmen they are exploitive and often pointless.
The films ending also had to be made bigger than that of its comic book counterpart. Unfortunately the ending is not very satisfying, and at a nearly two and half hour run time, is disappointing in its abruptness and somewhat stupidity. Finally the film also contains a strange and awkward sex scene, which somewhat takes away from the overall feel of the film.
The actors give a normal performance in their roles, but nothing outstanding. Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian probably gave the best performances in the film, with both characters displayed as unhinged, violent, sociopaths. Billy Crudup gives a mediocre performance as Dr. Manhattan, with a voice that sounds abnormal and uninterested. While this suits the character, it does not work overall and sounds like bad acting. The character himself is all powerful being able to manipulate and control all matter. It is then frustrating to see the character murder people rather than just, make their weapons disappear or teleport these people to a different location. In the film Dr. Manhattan displays the ability to do so. While he does experience a crisis of humanity, with all matter being the same to him, the film does not explain why he would fight these people then. Presumably if all matter is the same than it would not be easier to disarm these people rather than straight up blow them up? He is also shown to have lost his humanity from the moment he received his superpowers. He is left underdeveloped, or perhaps more unexplained in this film. The film also contains a terrible Richard Nixon look-alike, but that does not really effect the film overall.
The film is by no means a terrible film. The plot is interesting up to a point, and like I previously mentioned the visuals are very distinct and iconic. The film contains a good sound track and overall average acting. It possess interesting themes and messages, and is a must see for any fan of superhero films. The film negative qualities include mainly its unfulfilling plot, an average script and some underdevelopment.
For me, the film is a 6.5/7 out of Ten.