Visual Dazzle Not Enough to Elevate the Revered Graphic Novel

Rating: 6/10 (10 March 2009)

I should preface my review by admitting I have never read Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' 1987 graphic novel upon which this movie is based, and from my understanding, quite faithfully, at least until the end. Without such context, much less the fan-boy enthusiasm, this 2009 comic-book extravaganza is hamstrung by the limitations of conventional film-making despite a marathon 155-minute running time. The story is quite dense and multi-layered at first exposure, and while the alternate universe presented has strong entertainment value, there is less of a case for the frequent use of gratuitous violence to punctuate the nihilism of the story. Director Zack Snyder is an inspired choice to lead the character-driven mayhem given the visual invention he brought to the Battle of Thermopylae in 2007's "300". His sharp eye for detail is evident throughout this elaborate production, but the movie has problems with pacing and more critically, a palpable absence of soul that would have made it more directly comparable to Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight".
Set in an alternate-reality 1985 with Richard Nixon in his fifth term, the story has the Cold War moving into high gear with the Soviets willing to test our country's resolve with the potential of a nuclear strike. The opening credits effectively trace the semi-familiar history that brings the plot to this point with golden-era, costumed crime-fighters giving way to the next generation of superheroes in the 1970's. Snyder goes as far as recreating the Zapruder video of the Kennedy assassination with the smoking gun held by the morally bankrupt Comedian, one of the Watchmen who moved from WWII-era pop icon to reviled vigilante three decades later. Looking like the dark side of DC Comics' Justice League of America, the Watchmen had long disbanded by the time the Comedian is murdered in his apartment. This sparks at least some of the confederation to reunite albeit with trepidation. They turn out to be a motley group of psychological misfits beginning with Laurie Jupiter, a.k.a. Silk Spectre II, hesitant about wearing her latex suit again to fight for justice like her now-alcoholic mother, and Nite Owl, a fallen man reduced to impotence by retirement.
More interesting are Dr. Manhattan, blue-skinned and nude with the power of a god thanks to a Hulk-like paranormal lab accident; and Ozymandias, now known as Adrian Viedt, the world's smartest man and a billionaire captain of industry. However, the most intriguing Watchman is the appropriately named Rorschach, who wears a face mask with constantly shifting ink blots. A true loner in the tradition of Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver", he expresses a visceral loathing for mankind's dissoluteness that manifests itself into the film's goriest scenes. All the characters feel disconnected from humanity, and their warped perspectives drive the story. While Snyder pulls few punches in his depiction of them, the primary problem with the film is that he can't seem to pull it all together to make a dark-hearted adventure that can soar. Except for a clever use of Bob Dylan's "The Times, They Are A-Changin'" over the opening credits, Snyder's use of period music simply feels intrusive and out-of-sync without adding any texture to the film.
Much of the comic-book-level dialogue also feels stilted, and unfortunately, few in the cast seem to know how to deliver it with conviction. The best of the bunch are Billy Crudup as the eerily becalming Dr. Manhattan and Jackie Earle Haley constantly seething with Eastwood-level rage as Rorschach. Jeffrey Dean Morgan registers with conviction in just a few scenes as the Comedian. However, their contributions are offset by the miscalculated performances of a too-bland Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl, Matthew Goode looking overly metrosexual as Ozymandia, and Malin Ackerman who plays Laurie in a petulant manner that trivializes her character's ambivalence about being a superhero. Granted there are good set-pieces like the bravura fight scene right at the beginning. Unfortunately, saddled with some surprisingly substandard CGI, the final scenes wring dramatically flat given the build-up to them, and they dampen my appetite for a sequel with the survivors. Even with all its flaws, the film boasts a visual audacity that is hard to pass up, especially if your appetite has been whetted by the novel. Clearly, Snyder has put greater priority in maintaining fidelity to the source material rather than making a movie that could resonate for the rest of us.