Watchmen

The first highly anticipated film of 2009 has arrived. Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore (who refused to have his name attached to the credits) and Dave Gibbons, "Watchmen" tells the story of a costumed league of heroes who long ago disbanded. When one of their own, the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), is murdered the former heroes reluctantly find each other once more.
Set in 1985 (when the graphic novel was written), "Watchmen" presupposes a world in which President Nixon (Robert Wisden) called these heroes into service to win the Vietnam War in 1971. Thanks mainly to the Comedian and the only Watchman with powers, Dr. Manhattan (a giant blue man who looks a lot like Billy Crudup from "Almost Famous"), the war was brought to a quick finish. By '85 with term limits abolished, Nixon is early into his fifth term. Costumed heroes have been outlawed, but tensions still run high with the Soviet Union. So high in fact that it seems that only Dr. Manhattan can prevent an all out nuclear war. His ability to control matter, time, and space is almost godlike, but his inability to connect with humanity makes him question whether or not he even wants to try to save the world from destruction.
Meanwhile, the outcast former Watchmen are all trying to make the best of their existences. Adrian Veidt, or Ozymandias (Matthew Goode, "Brideshead Revisited"), revealed his identity to the world, and he is currently a multi-billionaire with his own vision of the future. Dan "Nite Owl II" Dreiberg ("Hard Candy's" Patrick Wilson) and Laurie "Silk Spectre II" Jupiter (Malin Akerman) haven't seen each other since the old days, both having tried to live normal lives. With someone potentially wanting them dead on the loose however, they're brought back together and there are definitely some unresolved feelings. Then there is Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), the most hardened member of the group and the only one who has never stopped fighting injustice at every turn, whether the world wanted him to or not.
With many characters, flashbacks, and pieces to a number of puzzles, the graphic novel was considered unfilmable by many, even directors who have been attached to the project over the past 24 years. Zack Snyder has tackled this project with gusto, but with mixed results. I have not read "Watchmen," but I got the same feeling I did while watching Snyder's "300." I felt as though I'd just read an abridged version. Snyder seems to care so much about remaining faithful to the source material that he is often unable to translate it well to film. Still, it works a bit better than "300" did. Atmospherically he pulls the job off nicely, and the story and characters are developed well for the most part. Some sequences just produce cringes, however. If I ever hear any version of "Hallelujah" used in a movie or a TV series ever again, my head might just explode. I'll love Jeff Buckley's version (not the one used here) of it until the day I die, but keep any and all versions of it off the big screen. Snyder should have spent more time employing the score by Tyler Bates, which sounds right at home for a sci-fi film set in the mid-eighties.
The biggest problem is the dialogue. Adapted by David Hayter and Alex Tse, "Watchmen" is full of lines that might work written inside of a bubble but just hit the ears like fingernails on a chalkboard. The actors do their best, with Haley's Rorschach coming off particularly well. The suspect dialogue however often took me out of the movie and made a potentially great movie merely an interesting one that is very hit and miss.
As someone who hasn't read the source material, "Watchmen" is a bloated film at 2 hours and 43 minutes, yet I still felt like there were some missing pieces. It's well-produced and occasionally stunning, but it's also something of a mess. 6.5/10.

As I haven't been here much lately I'll leave you with a few trailers for some films I'm really looking forward to.

"Sunshine Cleaning" (March 20)



"Adventureland" (April 3)



"Observe and Report" (April 10)