A Book Of Substance Gets A Movie Of Style, And Style Is The Only Thing Truly Present.

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2014)

Without doubt I consider "Watchmen" one of the best American comic books I've ever read. I got round to reading it at the of 17 in 2009, and found that its large amounts of praise in the industry is actually pretty deserving. Alan Moore's dissection of the characters in this alternate Cold War time line has gone on to be both influential and hilariously parodied in the mediums growth. To finally see it hit the screen after hearing that it has been in development since 1986 was a dream come true, yet how well could Zack Snyder pull this off?
"Very well" would be my two cents. Zack's films have always been more heavily focused on visual flair than strong narrative, and although it takes small, yet certain liberties it carries itself well throughout the movies lengthy running time. It would have been amazing to see the book's finale on the big screen, but script writer David Hayter ("X-Men", "X2") does admirable service to the source material. An "Ultimate Cut" also incorporates the story within a story narrative, and runs at an astonishing 215 minutes. Not many comic book movies get such privilege.
In an alternate time line where powerless heroes fought crimes in the 1940's. Nixon won the election in the 1980's thanks to the intervention of the Vietnam war, where an individual with super powers ended it swiftly. This caused worse tensions between the Russians during the Cold War, and causes an act to be passed banning vigilantism. However, a certain paranoid anti-hero believes a conspiracy within the lines that may also involve the fate of his old allies, and could effect the overall fate of the world's situation.
Surprisingly dark and very well acted, the movie without doubt has some very unique set pieces. Rain drenches the city, popular music of the time blares throughout, shadows look menacing and overall every actor delivers solid performances with what they have (The movie does well at avoiding big names). I think my main concern with the movie is that a large amount of information from the book feels missing, or is overshadowed by the visual flairs and I just cannot determine whether they were suitable or not. Of course Alan Moore has been very open with his thoughts upon movie adaptations of his work, I myself hated what has been done with all of them. As of 2015, I think that Zack is a fine filmmaker who has done well working on comic book movies for the last decade. But all in all I find every narrative he has worked with underwhelming compared to his visual style, and as I said earlier I'm just at this bizarre crossroads the more I analyse and reflect back on them. I would have preferred a preference on story given this particular source material, but talents such as Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky, Arnold Schwarzenegger and even Robin Williams had been approach throughout the years and somewhat had difficulty breaking down elements of the story and trying to make it work.
Final Verdict: The opening with the incredible rendition of Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable", is a stunningly well choreographed introduction I never tire of seeing. "Watchmen" was the best superhero film of the year, and although it didn't make large amounts of money on the original box office run, it has gained a large cult following and hopefully introduced more people to a stellar book I recommend reading. 8/10. I do not think that the book is "Un-filmable", and given that Hollywood seems to be rebooting everything much sooner these days, who knows what the future holds for adapting "Watchmen"?