Watchmen Ultimately Gives Way To Its Own Hype

Watchmen Review (Movie)

When it was announced Zack Synder, he of the relentlessly agressive Dawn of the Dead and 300, was directing the contemplative Watchmen there was understandable concern.

Would Synder brings his love for action and visual razzle-dazzle to a graphic novel in which the characters largely stand around discussing life philosophies?

Well, for about the first hour and a half of Watchmen, this doesn’t really feel like a problem.

Yes the opening fight between the Comedian and his assailant is prolongued, but it doesn’t feel gratuitous.

Indeed for its first 90 minutes Watchmen is largely a success. It’s opening sequence showing the timeline of superheroes is a creative triumph, as if the filmmakers finally could breath free of the strain of remaining loyal to Alan Moore’s source material, if only for a moment.

And as we are introduced to the out-of-work superheroes of the Watchmen universe trying to uncover a murder mystery, the right-wing Rorschach, the god-like Dr. Manhattan, the everyday schlub Dan, all seems if not perfect, at least good enough.

The look is wisely semi-realistic, Synder is not foolish enough to slavisly recreate the color scheme from the graphic novel in a Sin City style. The visuals are impressive for their faithfulness to the comic as well as for creating a sense of mood and place.

But for me the turning point came when Laurie and Dan are cornered in an alley by the ubiquituous thugs-looking-to-fight so common to the superhero-genre.

This occurs in the graphic novel as well, but in the novel Laurie and Dan simply beat the thugs up. There is no indication they’ve killed them.

But in the movie, Laurie and Dan mess these thugs up, graphically. Bones pop out of arms. Knives are stabbed. People definitely die.

Watchmen was not above arguably exploitive violence, but it didn’t revel in it. It was more utilizing its grotesque violence as a means to further the mood of corruption and filth, as elaborated on by Rorschach’s perpetual narration.

Synder revels in the violence. It’s put in slow-motion. Every slap, stab, and bone being broken is performed with relish.

Indeed relish is one of the larger problems of the movie.

What made Watchmen revolutionary was its application of a gritty realism to the superhero genre. Its heroes were not grandiose, they didn’t make awe-inspiring entrances. They weren’t “badass” in a genre film sense.

But in his reverence for the graphic novel and the hype surrounding the film Snyder and his team have made Watchmen‘s heroes practically the archetypes they were created to subvert.

When Laurie first descends the steps in costume it’s shot like the arrival of a queen. The score (an otherwise excellent one by Tyler Bates) swells. This runs totally contrary to the entire reason Watchmen was so unique.

Also worth noting are the song choices. When Bates’ gripping score is omitted in favor of songs, they are often of the embarassingly obvious quality (unforgivable is the choice to play “Hallejuh” while Dan and Laurie triumphantly fornicate in his airship).

So while Watchmen is perfectly watchable (no pun intended) it’s often frustrating. You get the sense the film has begun to believe its own hype, its scenes exploited for maximum grandiosity instead of the minimalist realism employed by Moore.

Synder is a director who knows how to make a rock-em-sock-em action film, and his instincts towards stylization and violence are a poor fit for Watchmen. It just took a little time for him to show his true colors, which is why the first half of Watchmen is largely effective.

It’s not a knock on Synder, who deserves credit for accomplishing a lot in terms of look and mood with Watchmen but fails to connect with it on a moral and artistically philosophical level.

And so it’s left for me to sadly report that while I may have to see Watchmen again this weekend due to prior commitments, I approach the task not with the glee of deconstructing a masterwork, but the frustration of knowing the film is deeply flawed and seemingly unaware of it.

A sidenote on the Comedian

The opening title sequence has him killing JFK, a clever stroke that shows some understanding of the character.

A sidenote on the sex scene

The sex scene between Dan and Laurie is so hopelessly oversexed, so torn between the campy song choice (Hallejuh) and the over-erotic mood lighting (very reminiscent of Leonidas’ sex scene in 300) it almost single-handedly makes the film impossible to take seriously.

What would probably be more fun

Slowly re-reading the novel.

-Dan Benamor