Watchmen

Rating: 8/10 (6 March 2009)

Let me say this before I begin. Alan Moore's graphic novel was monumental and spectacular. I am a fan of the graphic novel myself, so don't take me wrong when I say that I believed it was possible for Zach Snyder to overtake Alan Moore's original work. Now, did he? Not quite. Let's see why (this is intended for people who have previously read Watchmen) :
The Story- Oh, the plot. This is where fan boys and Watchmen geeks start feeling antsy. It's true that many small scenes and alternate story lines were removed in order to correctly adjust to the feel of the movie. The Tales of the Black Freighter, mainly, was the most unfortunate loss in this process, but with a movie length already in arm's reach of three hours, it's understandable why this aspect of Watchmen was taken out. Besides, it will be featured on a spin-off DVD. Aside from that, the details from that book that were removed were, in retrospect, too minor to cause a significant disturbance to the movie. There simply isn't enough lost content for fan boys to be up in arms. So yes, I'll say it: Snyder removed what he deemed was "unnecessary" to the core of the plot, and he pulled it off! In fact, while I was watching the film I hardly noticed the deleted content at all. It was only until I began pondering the movie after I had seen it when I realized that certain scenes had been left out at all. The movie was so intensely captivating that the thought never crossed my mind the whole while that my eyes were glued to the screen. It's amazing how much of the film ended up looking exactly alike to the novel. The ending, however, had some major revisions! Oh, the HORROR! Come on. They took out the giant, psychic, alien squid. Big deal. Can you honestly say that after reading the graphic novel ending, you weren't thinking, "What the hell? Really?" Eventually, the idea of alien squids settled in our minds, and we convinced ourselves that it created a satisfactory ending. Well, guess what? You can still achieve the same effect with the ending Snyder concocted. The idea of using Dr. Manhattan's power instead of alien squids is a bit less far-fetched and much more comforting to our common sense. Honestly, it's not as major a change as critics make it out to be. Don't call me a heretic, but I may just have liked Snyder's ending little more
The Characters/Actors- Well here's something I didn't expect. After being blown away by Heath Ledger's joker in Dark Knight, what can you expect from actors in a super hero movie? I didn't expect much from Matthew Goode or Malin Akerman. But I was wrong. Matthew Goode, though tweaking the appearance of the original Ozymandias, performed wonderfully. His acting was a bit out of place in a few scenes, but nothing that might make it anything worse than awkward. Goode's build may not match that of a ridiculously muscular superhuman, but it is not a noticeable of a defect. He was a little feminine though well, I won't go there. Crudup was fine, but his normal human voice was far too soft to personify an immortal like Dr. Manhattan. Oh, and thanks for the big, blue penis. Appreciate that. Very faithful to the novel. On a different note, Patrick Wilson and Haley were absolutely stunning; it's impossible to use words to describe how well they fit their characters, so I won't try. The only weakness, maybe, was Malin Akerman's performance. MAYBE. She exceeded my expectations, no doubt. She was good enough, but not great. The Comedian was portrayed just as well as anyone else by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Overall, it was a strong, well-put together cast. Oh, and Nixon's ridiculously enlarged nose was actually accurate, just in case you were wondering
Visual Effects- Damn. I mean, how do you top the stuff Snyder throws at his audience, especially with the budget he had? Effects were simply spectacular; no doubt about it. This is perhaps the strongest aspect of the movie. I expected nothing less (however, I did cringe slightly in a couple scenes involving Archy and Dr. Manhattan, in which the CGI did not seem very realistic). GORE! Be forewarned! BLOOD, GUTS, GORE! There, I warned you. Aside from the occasional glowing penis, the most shocking parts came from the most satisfyingly violent scenes. The fighting was magnificent! Nostalgia took over during the hand-to-hand combat scenes as I was reminded of martial arts fights immortalized in The Matrix. Then fascination took over as I watched the scenes explode with action and enter a whole new level of awesomeness.
So, overall? I proudly award Watchmen with a well-deserved 9/10. For being an "un-filmable" graphic novel, Snyder certain created a good movie. I still am reeling over the entire thing. Whoa, what just happened!? Watchmen happened. Snyder, his cast, his crew, and all you loyal fans made it happen. They truly made the Watchmen come to life. Bravo! So next time you hear a grumpy critic rave about how Watchmen fell short or read a harsh criticism of the movie, you know they've caught Alan Moore-ism. Yes, with a nasty attitude like Alan Moore's that refuses to even give the Watchmen movie a chance to live up to the novel, it stands no chance in the mind of the public. While I respect Moore's point of view, I still disapprove of his intolerant attitude. Why is it impossible to create a film adaptation of a graphic novel and not miss out on the big picture? I believe once Watchmen spreads and grows exponentially in popularity, then the Alan Moore's of the world will truly be the ones missing out.