A completely faithful superhero movie for adults

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2009)

Watchmen is one of the greatest novels I have ever read, certainly one of the greatest Graphic Novels in the history of the genre (personally, I think From Hell may have been the superior work by the author, but that's neither here nor there). From the moment I first read this inspired piece of literature, I imagined the Watchmen Movie. I heard the characters voices, Rorshach staring down the surrounding inmates at Sing-Sing prison, while declaring "None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you. You're all locked up in here with me!" Dr. Manhattan monotonely asking Laurie Jupiter/Juspeczyk "Why should I save a world I no longer have any stake in?" Dan Dreiberg absent-mindedly reminiscing about past battles with ally Rorshach: "Those were great times, huh Rorshach? Whatever happened to them", and the simple and callous reply from his old friend as he walks away: "You quit".
I would hear these voices, but I resigned myself to the fact that Watchmen was, as Alan Moore has said, unfilmable. The superheroes are made up for this one particular story, based on golden and silver-age heroes that most of the Spider-Man/X-Men movie-going crowd has never heard of. The story is awash in brutality, sex, philosophy...and there is no catharsis; no simple solution to humanity's problems at the end. The real enemy is not a purse-snatch or a "serial supervillian" that can be defeated through superior fighting skill, but rather the ever-growing spectre of nuclear destruction. The enemy in Watchmen is the complete and utter destruction of the human race! What role can a costumed vigilante possibly play in such a scenario? And how can this be made into a live-action movie?!?! The brilliant Zack Snyder has answered these questions for me, and turned me into a lifelong fan and admirer for the faithful, classy, stylish, and overall brilliant way he has brought Watchmen to the movie screen. This is a movie with tons of heart, and you can feel the love in each and every scene. Snyder's passion for the source material is evident in each frame, each action scene, each line of dialogue. The characters sound like I imagined they would sound, and they look the way that Dave Gibbons drew them. From the god-like Dr. Manhattan, to the uncompromising (in every sense of the word) Rorshach, to the beautiful Silk Spectre, I may have never seen a truer translation of a graphic novel, at least not since Sin City.
Bravo and congratulations to Zack Snyder for not dumbing down a complex and sophisticated graphic novel to satisfy mainstream audiences. And though the ending, and the main villain's plan was slightly different than in the original graphic novel, the outcome and effect was the same.
Bottom line: This is the best that anyone could have possibly done in creating a Watchmen movie. I would not have changed a thing. Well, other than make the film run 5 hours. But that might be pushing it.