Hmm...So many ways to start this review. I could start by talking about it's long and torturous creation process, which went through directors such as Terry Gilliam, Paul Greengrass, and Darren Aronofsky(who was on the project twice). Or I could mention the director Zack Snyder, who has been given the monumental task of appealing to fanboys, with a track record of just Dawn of the Dead and 300. Or maybe the comic itself, a complicated mix of post apocalypticism, heroes who aren't heroes(I think it was Snyder, I may be wrong, that said that this world is one where "Superman hates people, Batman can't get up, and the villain is the one who wants peace.") and subtle messages, beautifully written and drawn up by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. But I think I'll just talk about all the ways I could start this review(Wait a moment..)
Snyder, however, doesn't hold back for the kiddy vote. He doesn't reveal in the violence of a man's dog having his head split in half, but he's not afraid to show it. He doesn't however, show complete faith in the source material. He is faithful, taking out parts not fully needed to the story, (like the kid and newspaper stand owner, however they do get a cameo.) He feels the need to hollywoodise some, though maybe not all, of the scenes, giving this overbearing sense that he can't let the film breathe on it's own. Doing this sucks all the subtlety and, while the film looks beautiful, it lacks substance. This is what I was afraid of.
Now I usually I don't like to spoil movies, but here, I feel I need to. So if you haven't seen the movie our read the book, please skip to the next paragraph. I feel, and I'm alone on this, that the ending is completely compromised in the movie. So there's no squid, instead there's just a bomb, so there's no difference, right? But for me, the reason I call this novel a masterpiece(and I do call it a masterpiece.) is the image of dead bodies strewn around New York, bodies lying on the streets, pouring out of windows, it's amazing, and absolutely horrifying to look at. The way that Moore builds up tension by focusing on the side characters we meet in the novel, to see them come together at the same place, all to disappear in a flash of light, replaced by bodies and blood, It's amazing, especially because it is so much worse then what has come before. However, when I saw the bomb explode, and it's after-effects, I just said "So that's it? Thanks Zack Snyder." so the world gets compacted like a car in a trash yard, it isn't as bad as what was there before it.
The ensemble here works effectively though. Jackie Earle Haley, as Rorschach, is incredible. So is Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Patrick Wilson. They all nail their characters. The other three, Billy Crudup(who has the hardest role by far), Malin Akerman, and Matthew Goode are all serviceable. They aren't brilliant, but they play their characters well.
What I want to see though, is the Paul Greengrass version of Watchmen. I think he works in Hollywood but in a very unHollywood style, and would love to see what he would do with this material.
This was a disappointment.
Verdict: On one hand, this is a very faithful adaptation of a great novel with fantastic performances. One the other hand, Zack Snyder makes this a very Hollywood affair, the wrong way to go with something as complex and deep as Watchmen.
3/5
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