I caught Watchmen today and was absolutely stunned. I consider it to be without doubt the finest comic book film ever made, bar none, and one of the best movies I’ve seen in several years. Like The Dark Knight and Lord of the Rings, Watchmen is a film that transcends labels and demonstrates convincingly that action and “genre” pictures must taken as seriously as legitimate art as any other type of movie.
I’ll admit right now that I’m a lapsed comics fanboy. Although I haven’t purchased any books to speak of in the last decade or so I’ve still got many crates of comics in my closed, lovingly stored in individual poly bags with acid free cardboard backing. I first read the Watchmen graphic novel series in the late 80’s. Every since I’ve considered it the comics version of the Holy Bible, the geeks “Greatest Story Ever Told.” Over the years rumors continually popped up of a film adaption but nothing ever came of it. But when I saw the first trailer for the actual film some months back my hopes ran very high, and the finished product doesn’t disappoint.
Watchmen is a triumph on every level. It’s an incredible bit of visual storytelling for starters. The look is fantastic and the alternate version of Earth is tremendously effective. Many movies give us fictional presidents and nameless leaders, but the inclusion of so many real world historical figures from the 50’s thru the 80’s lends a surreal yet utterly compelling degree of tension and gravitas to the film. The eerie portrays of Nixon, Warhol and Iacocca were particularly effective in blurring the lines between fantasy fiction and reality, adding an extra degree of dreamlike, cognitive dissonance. Events of the film are thought provoking on many levels. When Osterman intervenes, effectively winning the war in Vietnam, the history we know is spun off it’s axis and we get four terms of Richard Nixon!
The film is also among the most atmospheric movies I’ve ever seen. Each scene seems to add layers of pathos to the story of world completely devoid of hope where every bit of idealism has been extinguished. The alternate 80’s seems to be holding its breath, fearing what what is to come yet utterly resigned to it. Every action seems to lead the world inexorably closer to its doom, and it seems even God/Manhattan is powerless to alter the worlds fated destrucion. The writing is spot on, from the film noire narration by Kovacs to eerie alt-history montage that opens the film. The characters are brilliantly developed; they’re fragile and flawed but real, reacting the way we might to a depressing and frightening world that’s circling the drain.
I can’t emphasis how they hit the jackpot with casting. Initially Keanu Reeves lobbied for a role ( 
Yikes! No way, dOOd!), as did Watchmen-fan John Cusack and Ron Pearleman. While the latter two are fine actors I think the strong ensemble of lesser known yet gifted actors made the story much more believable and compelling. It would be distracting to continually think “Neo!” and the characters are sometimes subservient to the world and the story, something that would be difficult with a higher profile cast. Besides, the actors were uniformly brilliant, and I’d be hard pressed to think of even a couple roles that I’d have cast differently. Patrick Wilson (Night Owl), Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach), Billy Crudup (Osterman/Manhattan) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Comedian) were astounding- the latter reminded me uncannily of an older Robert Downey Jr., and I’ll be disappointed if Wilson doesn’t snag an Oscar someday. ******** SPOILER ALERT!!! Skip the remainder of this paragraph if you don’t know the story! ******** The closest thing to a disconnect was Mathew Goode as Ozymandias. His performance was superb but he lacked the physicality that the role required, and it was a bit of a stretch watching him slap Night Owl and Rorschach around like rag dolls.
Watchmen is among the most faithful film adaption of a piece of literature that I’ve ever seen. It hits all the right notes, balancing a deep and abiding respect for the source material while adapting to the requirements of the medium of film. While I haven’t read the original in about 5 years, IIRC the story, there are only about two departures from the book worth noting, one fairly minor and one extremely major. ******** SPOILER ALERT!!! Skip the remainder of this paragraph if you don’t know the story! ******** The minor change, if it is one- I didn’t remember Rorschach being arrested or broken out of jail by Nite Owl & SS. No big deal. But the ending is a drastic departure, and although it doesn’t greatly affect the resolution of the story it was my sole great disappointment. In the original version Ozymandias used the machine to hoax an alien invasion, not frame Doctor Manhattan for the attacks. While Dr. O ultimately makes the same choice he does in the books I find it a bit less plausible that the world would unite under that threat the way they would have to an alien invasion. After all, Osterman is basically invincible, and it’s hard to imagine what strategy could even be contemplated to resist him. The nebulous alien threat from the novels seems more effective, although perhaps it would inject a cartoonish feel to a film with grittier aspirations.
All in all Watchmen is a tour de force, a nearly flawless virtuosic masterpiece of visual storytelling. Obviously I make no attempt to conceal my enthusiasm for this movie- it’s one of the most powerful and compelling films I’ve seen in the last five years. Make no mistake, the bar for comic book films has just been raised several notches. This one’s an Instant Classic! Two thumbs up & four-out-of-four from me, this one’s not to be missed! 
