Watchmen - 2009 - Zach Snyder

"From the visionary director of 300." The problem with the tag line on the Watchmen poster is that, thus far in his career, Zach Snyder is not a visionary. I know that what Snyder did with the book is likely the most faithful adaptation possible under the constraints of a feature film but, I do not think that makes for the best film possible. In choosing to use the good will that he banked with 300 to make this version of Watchmen, Snyder made an attempt at being all things to all people knowing that it would fail on some level. I commend Snyder on making an interesting film that stays close to the source material and hopefully creates a new round of interest in the graphic novel. The problem with this version is it plays it too safe. There are two extremes for Watchmen adaptations that I would have preferred to see made. On the one hand there is the idea of the twelve hour, HBO mini-series that would have allow for a full realization of everything in the book or there could have been an adaptation that took the tone and spirit of the book and coloured it with an auteur's vision. Hearing about Paul Greengrass wanting to take the story and update it to modern day, replacing the cold war with the war on terror sound like a horrible idea but it would have been undeniably unique.

Watchmen is an entertaining and thought provoking film but there are a few problems. Malin Akerman takes the least fleshed out character in the book and finds a way to bring even less to the role. We are also subjected to one of the more awkward sex scenes ever captured on film. Also the giant naked blue man will be distracting to the uninitiated. In the comic you are giving more context to Dr. Manhattan's unique view of the world.

Jackie Earle Haley was born to play Rorschach and Billy Crudup brings the prefect level of non-emotion to Dr. Manhattan. The one element of the film that feels like a Zach Snyder touch is the use of slow motion in the action scenes and he uses it well. As far as changes from the book are concerned, most are small and have only a minor impact on the story with a couple of exceptions. The way Dr. Manhattan kills people is considerably messier in the film than in the book and the ending has been changed. Without going into any detail, the book's ending works much better for a few reasons but it could not have been fit into the film without adding another half hour or more running time.

I would recommend not reading the book before seeing the film if you have a choice. Both are worth while and if you only going to do one, read the book but, a lot of little changes and omissions as well as small details that were included in the film can be distracting if you are aware of them. Ideally if you watch the movie, read the book and them watch the movie a second time you could get everything that the film has to offer. I enjoyed the theatrical release, despite the flaws, and am now looking foreword to the director's cut that should be out on DVD in the fall.