Will You Be Watching The Watchmen?
by Katherine Hochbaum

Attention fanboys and girls: Watchmen has hit the theatres… hard.  All the characters you know and love are finally on the silver screen: Rorschach, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan; they’re all here.  For those of you who aren’t indoctrinated into the club, Watchmen is the latest comic turned blockbuster.  Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, it has been changed into Zack Snyder’s (300, Dawn of the Dead) visually entrancing smash hit.

The story of Watchmen is based around a world very similar to ours except for one very noticeable difference: there are superheroes.  Welcome to a world in which America won the war in Vietnam and Nixon has been elected for a third presidential term. 

The movie opens in New York City, 1985, eight years after a bill has been passed outlawing costumed vigilantes.  The first generation of masked heroes is dead or aging, and their younger counterparts are navigating their lives without cheap heroics.  Most of the crimefighters we meet are retired, and with the exception of Rorschach, those still fighting are working for the government. 

In the middle of the heated political environment of the time, one of those working for the government, Edward Blake aka The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), is murdered.  Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), a vigilante wanted by the police, investigates the circumstances, worried that someone is targeting costumed heroes.  His fears become more reasonable when Ozymandias (Matthew Goode) and Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) are attacked as well.  Eventually, Rorschach’s efforts end up uncovering a massive plot whose consequences will be felt all over the world.

While Watchmen is a long movie (163 min.), it’s also an arresting and visually stunning movie.  Many of the shots, like much of the dialogue, were taken straight from the novel.  Dave Gibbons’ drawings are brought to life with intensity and clarity, making a big impression.  Since Zack Snyder directs, expect some very graphic violence and sex, so warning: definitely not for children.  The performances of Jackie Earle Haley and Jeffrey Dean Morgan were especially refreshing, giving their characters more humanity and humor than their colleagues did.

Overall, though a little patchy in some spots, it was well done.  The movie medium offered a chance to experience Watchmen in a new light, something that a lot of novels could use.  Be forewarned though, die-hard fans: the ending does get changed around a bit.  As Snyder said, “The experience of the graphic novel and the experience of the movie are two different things entirely.  And I’d hope that people would see the movie and go ‘Wow!’ If I haven’t read Watchmen I need to go buy it.  And if I have, I need to read it again.’”  Well, I’m going to.