How do you film an unfilmable film? In the case of Watchmen you do it by trying your damnest to bring every page with all 9 frames to life. And it did indeed do just that. Visually it is a compliment to artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. Did you know they were not the same people? Trivia nugget!
It's a beautiful film. Just from a stand back and be given an sensory overload point it gets top marks. Much like The Dark Knight did before it, Watchmen does a cinematic feat of being able to have a film that filmed in dark environments while simultaneously shining a light into those very shadows.
The comics themselves have alway been more about morality than Superhero's. And yes I know virtually all Superhero's are morality plays dressed in Spandex but the Superhero factor is really second fiddle in here. You won't see them doing a lot of "Super-Heroy" things in the same way we see, Batman or Spiderman dish out. They happen, but again they are speaking more to the characters psyche than any archtype.
What I have always liked best about Watchmen and what makes it, in my opinion, unfilmable is is ambiguity. I honestly can't go into much detail without completely ruining the plot line but I can say that neither good nor evil wins the day. In fact, it is rather good at making the point for both needing to exist to make either one actually mean anything.
It also posits that we all have both good and evil in us. The worst have some good and the best have some evil. Hence that catch phrase. Which by the way is a derivation of the Latin Quis custodiet ipsos custodes or Who Watches The Watchmen from the Roman poet Juvenal. It implies just what is at the heart of the movie. So we have hero's who watch out for us. Who's watching them? What's more, would being absolutely good be better than being absolutely evil?
To the acting.
Jackie Earle Haley, welcome back! First Little Children (which is gut wrenchingly good, btw) and now this. As Rorschach he is wonderful. Hard character to play. As his name implies his character is all about Absolutism...in a movie that is all about Ambiguity. He does a fine job of being the touchstone used to throw everything else into shades of gray and making us ask, "What if what is the absolute right thing to do is the absolute wrong thing as well?"
Billy Crudup is Dr Manhattan as well as the good doctor's earlier incarnation. The giant blue penis is a might bit disconcerting if not forwarned, but it's not a cheap stunt so never fear, Movie Watcher.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is The Comedian. He's freakin nuts. He's also not a huge role as far as screen time goes. It's a testiment to him that I found myself wishing for an entire movie about the heroic anti-hero.
Matthew Goode and Patrick Wilson did stand up jobs as Ozymandias and Nite Owl II however I think they were a bit over shadowed by the above folks.
Much like Malin Akerman who was not only the least appealing to me in terms of acting but she was also completely upstaged by Carla Gugino as the first Silk Spectre who also happened to be her mother. She was the only clunk note for me acting wise. It's unfortunate that she is such a central part of the movie.
As to the plotline and the length of the movie. It's long people. It seemed like it dragged in place to me but not to my mother or daughter, neither of whom have read the comics. I think that is what makes Watchmen such a difficult transition to the screen. 2 and half hours is both too long and not long enough. Rather fitting now that I think about the central themes of the comics.
That said, I strongly recommend seeing it. It's a good film, maybe not a great one, but well worth spending the two and a half hours on. And the soundtrack is 100% bangin.
Oh and then, go read the comics ;)
