The following contains spoilers from the book, which translates in spoilers from the movie, because damn, it is almost frame by frame faithful....
First of all, thanks to the divine Ms. Michelle for venturing into geekland with me. She kept her dignity, her composure, her critical eye opened until the Comedian jumped out of Archie into the crowd and she said something in the lines of Mother@#*%@$... and became an instant fangirl. Girly girls that we are.
Seriously, it was good to tag along with Michelle. She didn’t have an idea of what was in store and I needed the fresh perspective of someone not familiar with the source. Me? I’ve got too much baggage.
I’ve read the Graphic novel quite a few times, dissected it at least twice for an essay and a blue book exam. It lived with me on my days working at the Warehouse, as Dr. Manhattan’s other worldly glow was my only companion in that Troll Cave. I love these characters and of course, they found a place where ever I might wonder.
WATCHMEN traveled with me to New York and never saw the light of day while I lived and worked there. After all, I worked at a Library and was never short of books. However, it is 2001 and as America and the world clung to one and other trying to find an explanation to what happened on September 11- in the midst if ash and chaos- as people around me said it was unreal, I thought it happened once, sorta. As time progressed and humanity showed both it’s best and it’s worst, there were an unsurmountable amount of conspiracy theories... Wackos here and there called for an inside job... As they spoke and both Right and Left carried it all into action, as it all degenerated in sophisticated violence and fear, I found myself wondering about Adrian Veidt’s “dream” and it’s very real waking moment. You know when he asks Dr. Manhattan whether or not things will change and Doc, pragmatist being that he is answers they never really do.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I’m closest to a WATCHMEN purist that I care to be. I usually hate purists, since they suck the life off adaptations, but in this case we are talking about a turning point in Literature. The text is sacred by it’s own merit and because without Moore, there wouldn’t be Gaiman. When I heard about a movie, it was both excitement and dread. The consecutive promo shots and trailers were either hit or miss (I wanted rounder belly in Nite Owl, found Silk Spectre sans the silky tunic too ludicrous and definitely wanted Dr. Manhattan to sound like God on the Sinai) However, the final trailer won me over. There was something about the choice of music and visual, seeing the Comedian smile with the joy of a nihilist in a Vietnam jungle, Dr. Manhattan willing himself from the void and Rorschach’s voice tinged with madness that calmed my agitation.
Still I had to see it, and I have. Since I am trying to put this into perspective without reaching the 10,000 word mark, I’ll say the best way to tackle it is as a fan of the original media. Yes, you have all heard about the wonderful special effects and you have invested quite a great amount of time in arguments either loving or hating Zack Snyder’s use of slow mo, so I will not even touch that.
After all, at the heart of a story, no matter how much they razzle and dazzle, both the true fan and the new comer will rely on characters as their starting point. The way I see WATCHMEN as a narrative is the same way I looked forward to grasp it as a movie, dichotomy between certain characters and perfect symmetry through the whole cast.
The main pair are the two guys that are most out there: Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan.
It’s hard to get across pixels, but Billy Crudup did it. He plays Dr. Manhattan as an entity that deliberately removes every human element about himself, finding the experience quite liberating. His voice is not the rolling thunder that I imagined, but soft and paced, coldly detached. It’s beautiful and scary to process.
When it comes to gritty realism, however, Jackie Earl Haley takes it and runs away with it. While Crudup’s Manhattan observes events in a non linear form, with the advantage of a god like approach, Haley’s Rorschach is in deep shit most of the time, witnessing things that will certainly disturb our precious suburban sleep, should we encounter them. He has the audience at bay. I mean honestly, I don’t think there will be single person that could identify with his Rorschach, in order to do so, we would need to cease and desist several aspects of what defines us rational beings. Even for a marvelous piece of fiction, that is too high a price to pay. At given moments though, he will reach out and let you understand. I must confess that in one of his interviews with the Psychiatrist, my eyes watered and my nose sorta flared up a little bit. I frigging choked. I walked out of the theater saying man, the academy did it once, could they do it back to back? I mean nominate someone playing a comic book character? That is how good he is, how convincing. There is not enough Rorschach. The character I read in the book as a strict psychiatric case, projected in the movie as the guy who had to carry the burden of dealing with humanity first hand.
The second pair is Silk Spectre and Night Owl II. Did I get what I expected out of Patrick Wilson and Malin Ackerman?
This is the couple that will ground the film to reality for many in the audience, specially for the uninitiated. Alternate universes, government sanctioned super heroes, the lifetime Commander in Chief Status of honest Dick???, it is easy to swallow once you rest your bewildered eyes on the resident nerd and the delicate, lonesome, beautiful woman. I mean they are just like you and me. Nah- not really- God help we never find ourselves in their situation.
The pathos of this characters is that unlike every working stiff around them, they had a taste of glory and had to live with the fact that is no longer meant to be. Theirs is the delivery of emotional content, as they try to make sense of the world while desperately trying to connect to one and other. Theirs is the dilemma between doing what is right versus acting within the dictate of what is permissible. Dan fits Wilson like a glove. I mean, the quiet intellect, the frustration, that fear of doing what is right. Ackerman came across a little stiff, like the character is a tad too big for her. Nevertheless, she is the one with less dialogue and that kinda compensates the flaw. Maybe it is just a reader’s prejudice, as I saw Silk Specter as arm. candy until that little Deus ex Machina revelation that turned her into the reason why Manhattan decides to give humanity a chance. In the movie, as in the book, that is her most convincing scene.
Finally, solid strength vs. the cerebral being : Ozymandias and the Comedian.
Edward Blake’s death is the force that sets this story into motion. Although we get but glimpses of his personality through flashbacks, Jeffrey Dean Morgan gives him the intricate character status he deserves. Both physically and verbally abusive, cynical beyond repair, and all together aggressively self assured, Morgan’s Comedian is the means to the ultimate end. In this fictional time not to be confused (ahem) with prior or recent Republican Reigns, he stands for all that America was/ is? strongly disliked for: expansionism at gun point, hostile internal politics and even scarier plots abroad. Quite the animal, however, he does carry a certain intuition about the workings of the world that makes him as honest as he is raw. His most brilliant scene is one that show cases both the brutality and quiet understanding the Comedian is capable of... If you had read the book, you know what transpires with the Vietnamese girl and how the Comedian snaps out of a trip of extreme cruelty to recognize that Manhattan is starting to disconnect from humanity and grimly sees the consequences of it all. I swear this is the very last time I refer to Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Bardem and Downey’s love child. He just earned my respect.
Matthew Goode as Ozymandias plays his part straight out of the field manual for Comic Book Villains, or at least he does it on the third act, which was the weakest in his execution of an otherwise worthy interpretation.
I liked him better when he plays the business man/ dreamer who kinda likes to channels Bowie once in a while. In the world of WATCHMEN politics, idealists are far more dangerous than the hardcore realists that bleed or better yet, make others die in behalf of their agenda.
Unlike The Comedian who saw his role as that of protecting the certain elements (ermmm.... the better half?) from others not as “Red white and Blue”as himself, Veidt would rather eliminate the threat completely, making all pay. What if it meant using key points of the planets inhabited surface as his tabula rasa? His is the end, that justifies all means.
However when they are face to face in Antarctica and he wears the mask... that is, as I said, the weakest point. I read Veidt in the book as the man who paves the road to hell with good intentions. Goode chose to play him megalomaniacal. His “dislike” for violence is in reality, a thinly disguised contempt for humanity, as seen through the eyes of one who counts himself as superior. He is more tyrant than “paternal” in his perceived role towards the world. It didn’t help that I didn’t see a bit of remorse, a shadow of doubt as the book illustrates. Michelle said it was there, but I wanted that “Tales of the Black Freighter” feeling, the realization that you just traveled on the corpses of your friends to your ultimate destruction. ( I know, it’s another 40 minutes to be included in the extended version and then I will be happy). That’s the only thing that bothered me, he never asked THE QUESTION, I couldn’t care for the squid.
I guess most importantly, did I get my symmetry? Was there an anchor to hold this magnificent piece together? Let’s forget about the visuals wether it be CGI, digitalized magic or plain good old make up. Cinematography is superb, sometimes conjuring impossible landscapes right out of Dali’s canvas. I’m here for the story. And it is amazing, how they drove the nail right through the heart of Moore’s impressive drama. You know how they say that Stan Lee cut through the bullshit and wrote the golden rule of Super Heroes in a simple phrase?- “With great power comes great responsibility”. Well Moore took in into the next line... with great responsibility comes the realization that at a given time we are only human.
Whoever commits the mistake of believing this is a super hero movie must take in account the common thread that flows through each character. The realization that they are helpless. Empowered, yes, nevertheless just flesh and blood and the weight of the world is a heavy burden. Even for Dr. Manhattan God-like in his power, that need to interfere in human affairs leads (in Snyder Squid less vision) to an unexpected outcome. This movie is the mirror of that perfect deconstructive tale I read once almost ten years ago. It will probably not be a box office success. It might not even bring about the praise recently held by The Dark Knight, because at heart is a tale of despair, meaning less, purposeless and beautiful enough for those who dare look into the abyss and put up with it looking back into them.
The quote:
Rorschach [to prisoners]
"I'm not locked in here with you! You're locked in here with ME! "
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