A truly amazing adaption a super hero film with real substance

Rating: 9/10 (13 November 2011)

The Watchmen takes place in a world in which Nixon is still president and the world is verging on all out war. Within this world are a band of former super heroes who are drawn together after the death of one of their own.
I know two years is a little late to write a review but after watching the film again recently I felt I had too as I feel it really is a stellar adaption. The Watchmen is the deconstruction of the super hero genre with plenty of nods to some of the most popular heroes in comic culture, Nite Owl for example has some clear character references to the pre 80's Batman. What it does with these heroes is present a series of questions,mainly what would the world be like with super heroes?
In this world a hero who holds reverence amongst his peers is mysteriously killed. A feat so impressive that it catches the attention of Rorschach, the only hero still donning a mask and who is unequivocally uncompromising when it comes to crime and punishment. Rorschach is my favourite character from The Watchmen universe and is perfectly portrayed by Jackie Earle Haley. He plays the brutal hero to a T. In fact all performances are great. What they bring to the screen is the implications of supers in a real world.
It is these implications that set The Watchmen apart from almost all super hero films ironically I also feel these are also partly to blame for some of negativity towards the film especially amongst the general populace. I think people expected a film with a simple premise, some cool characters and amazing fights. The film does contain these but more time is spent on developing these characters then most superhero flicks, despite having some bad-ass martial arts skills they all posses very human feelings. This is great I couldn't help but empathise with the characters.
The film is presented beautifully with great cinematography and an art style that doesn't stray too far from the source material. The music is good but I feel there are some odd choices that felt a little out of place for example the Jimi Hendrix track during the snow setting.
I know there are many fans of the graphic novel who were displeased with some of the changes made for the movie but after reading the graphic novel I was actually left more impressed by the film, there is so much going on in the book that the film managed to fit as much as it did into two hours is amazing. Some people feel it would have made a great HBO mini series and am inclined to agree as I feel people who haven't read the book would better understand the significance of each character and their actions.
I prefer some of the changes the film made, the biggest and most controversial being the ending. *spoiler*
In the book Ozamandias knows that Dr Manhattan is the only power keeping the world from all out war and the only person who could probably stop him. Manhattan posses godlike powers like time travel and the manipulation of matter. Being the worlds smartest man Ozymandias uses the last remnants of Manhattans humanity against him persuading him to leave earth thus leaving Ozymandias able to exact his master stroke. A common foe in the form of an alien creature engineered by Ozmandias that destroys an entire city.
To be honest I was a little disappointed with this ending in the book. The film instead made Dr Manhattan the common foe by having him seemingly destroy half of city. This made so much more sense and after reflecting on both greatly preferred this ending. After building on the significance of Manhattan throughout both mediums it seemed as the outcome could only really hinge on him alone.
Well it's hard to review a film with so much substance and knowing where to stop I have already wrote a lot so to sum things up I highly recommend this film, great acting and cinematography all round and despite missing some of the great moments from the graphic novel really is one of the strongest adaptions I have ever seen.
9/10