Great Adaptation

Rating: 9/10 (4 May 2009)

Imagine a story where super heroes are not always the good guys, and where they could be just as vicious and cruel as many of the villains they fight. This story would be very similar to the film Watchmen. Watchmen is a film that deviates from the average super hero story by making its heroes more human and much darker than the average super heroes. Actually, Watchmen seemed to be more of a murder mystery than a super hero movie to me. The murder mystery aspect of the movie makes it extremely interesting to watch and view.
Watchmen starts off when a "hero" by the name of the Comedian is killed. After the murder a masked hero by the name of Rorschach, who wears a mask of constantly shifting ink blots, begins to investigate and comes up with a theory that someone is killing off masked heroes. To not spoil the movie, the rest of the movie consists of Rorschach and the other heroes trying to find out who is trying to kill off the heroes and what is actually going on.
Since Watchmen is essentially a murder mystery with super heroes thrown in, it is somewhat hard to compare it fully to other movies. Watchmen is definitely unique and is in a league of its own, and does a great job at keeping the viewer interested. The story is full of surprises, twists, and suspense.
The Watchmen film does a great job at staying true to the graphic novel that it is based off of. While most film adaptations of novels take many liberties with the stories and characters, Watchmen takes care to stay true, for the most part, to the graphic novel. The only real liberties taken, aside from a plot twist at the end, were to make one or two of the characters' costumes more frightening. This can be seen when comparing the costume worn by the Night Owl between the graphic novel and the movie. Surprisingly, the film still holds many of the dark themes that the graphic novel does. Both stories explore the darker side of humanity and its effects on the heroes. This can easily be seen with what happens to Rorschach, and what events make him become a violent and brutal vigilante. The event is hard to watch and very sad, but the film does a excellent job at portraying it.
The heroes in the movie are not really all that "super," as in only one, Doctor Manhattan, actually has super powers. The rest of the heroes are just regular people who are adept at fighting and dress up in costumes. Doctor Manhattan is the exception to this because he was granted super powers because of a freak science accident. Also, as stated previously, the heroes are not portrayed as having to be "good guys." For example, in one scene the Comedian is in a bar along with Doctor Manhattan in Vietnam, after the Vietnam War is over, when a pregnant Vietnamese girl walks in and tells him that she has his baby. He states, "I'm leaving. I'm going to forget about you and your horrible sweaty little piece of sh*t country." He then proceeds to tell the girl to leave, but she just stays. Then the pregnant girl breaks a bottle and slashes the Comedian across the face in anger. The Comedian immediately pulls out his gun and shoots her until she is dead. Doctor Manhattan, standing right next to him, asks her why he shot the girl who is pregnant with his baby. The Comedian answers, "You watched me. You could have turned the gun into steam, the bullets into mercuryYou really don't give a damn about human beings." This scene shows that the heroes in Watchmen are much darker than what one would normally imagine as a super hero. This gives the movie a much different and darker feel from other movies such as Spiderman and Batman Begins.
Even though the movie is excellent and everything is done and portrayed very well, there are two main complaints that I have. The first is what happens in the ending of the film. Even though the small details of the ending of the graphic novel and movie are very similar, how the events unfold is much different in the two. This difference will only be noticed by fans of the graphic novel, and those who have not read it will not enjoy the film any less. The change seems to have been made because it would be hard to portray what happens in the graphic novel in a film. However, the second and biggest complaint I have lies with Doctor Manhattan. Even though they did a wonderful job on his character in the film version, they seemed to show too much of him. The problem is that Doctor Manhattan is naked throughout most of the story, being that he is almost god-like and does not really have a need for clothes. This results in the movie showing more of him constantly than many would like.
Overall I would say that Watchmen is an excellent movie, and is definitely a must-watch for those who want a new and unique movie. It is also great for fans of the graphic novel due to its faithful adaptation. Aside from the change in the ending and showing off Doctor Manhattan's private area, the movie is excellent. I would recommend this movie for anyone who is a fan of suspenseful movies, super hero movies, or just viewers who want to experience an extremely unique and exciting film.