Watchmen
So. Much. Anticipation. I started watching the Watchmen 5 years ago, following news of the film and wondering what shape it would take. The short version: I liked it. It was not without its flaws, but I did respect it.
The opening credits are the highlight of the film. As much as you may have heard about them, you still have to see it. They are stunning. While at first the music choices did seem odd to me, a few bars into Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence something struck me and I began to love it because the music did stick out. It made me think about what I was watching, not as a superhero movie, but as a satire of pop culture of the last 40 years. It’s hard to hate on any of the changes from the book, mostly because outside of the “squid controversy” (which didn’t bother me), I didn’t notice them. I did think the story needed a little more adapting to make sense as a film. Some of Rorshach’s voiceover a little too hard boiled, the chronology is sometimes confusing and the characters emotions take a backseat to the action sequences. But the movie did a great job for the first 2 hours convincing me I was not going to be seeing the superhero film I was used to. Until the last act, when the film started to resemble exactly that kind of movie. A fistfight between heroes and villains is not a satisfying ending to a film about ideas. It’s climax fails where The Dark Knight succeeded. But even before the end of the film I spent a little bit of time with this question circling in my head: Will I care about what has happened to any of these characters by the time I leave the theater? Unfortunately, if the film has a central problem, this is it.
I wonder what kind of film Christopher Nolan would have made. Or previously attached directors Darren Aronofsky, Paul Greengrass or even Terry Gilliam. While the version we got was almost certainly the most faithful, and visually stunning, it was likely the least involving emotionally. These characters are supposed to be human, just like us, but seem to be invincible when they put on their costumes. This is not a Spider-Man film about a hero strugging to deal with his superhuman responsibilities. These people have no superpowers or special abilities. What kind of person chooses to put on a costume and fight crime? This is one of the central ideas explored in the book that I felt was mostly overlooked in the film. Sure Nightowl is impotent and Silk Spectre has Mommy issues, but even Peter Parker is a nerdy outside of his suit. Watchmen was supposed to dig deeper into the psychology of these flawed characters and show us why they chose to put on these costumes. Seeing them fight awkwardly and fail instead of with assurance and with superstrength could’ve given the film the humanity it needed to feel closer to the characters. At 2 hours 40 minutes the film is certainly epic, but not always involving. It must be admired from a distance.
