Film adaptations of books are usually some of the most financially lucrative films ever made, and yet they are also usually some of the most polarising because they usually fail to make a large portion of people happy. In most adaptations’ filmmakers need to toe a fine line between making the story accessible to newcomers, usually make it more mass marketable than the source material was, and also appease existing fans by remaining faithful to what is being adapted. Which is why it puzzles me so much that Zack Snyder’s 2008 adaptation of Watchmen is so negatively received by newcomers and fans of the graphic novel alike; because it not only makes the source material more accessible than it was in its comic book form, but it does so whilst being one of the most faithful adaptations I’ve ever seen. So as a fan of the film and the graphic novel, I want to dissect what went wrong in translating Watchmen to the big screen.
In this review I’m mostly going to concentrate on comparing the graphic novel and the film, so it may be an idea to check out my review of the graphic novel before reading this review as it’ll give you an idea of where I’m heading going into this review. It’s also worth mentioning that this is a review of the recently released ‘Ultimate Cut’ of the film, which is more in depth and detailed than the Theatrical or Directors Cut, though I will address the differences in versions more later in this review and why that also plays a role in audiences’ perceptions of the film.
Our story opens on the night of October 12th 1985. The United States led by Richard Nixon is currently in the midst of a standoff against the Soviet Union as they both teeter on the brink of instigating World War III, and global nuclear annihilation. Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), more commonly known to humanity as the masked vigilante ‘The Comedian’ who was a member of the now disbanded Watchmen and their predecessors the Minutemen, has been murdered.
Believing there to be a ‘mask killer’ on the prowl, outlaw vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) reaches out to his other former Watchmen teammates to inform them of The Comedian’s death. Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), a man named Jon Osterman who gained superpowers from an accident several decades ago, and billionaire Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode), formerly vigilante Ozymandias, are currently working together to create a sustainable energy source based on Manhattan’s own unique energy emissions. Meanwhile Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman), formerly vigilante Silk Spectre and currently dating Manhattan, reunites with the final Watchmen member, Dan Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson), formerly Nite Owl, so the two can try and find some sense of normalcy amongst the chaos the world is falling into.
Following an assassination attempt on Veidt and Dr. Manhattan leaving Earth, the three remaining former Watchmen Rorschach, Silk Spectre, and Night Owl, must don their costumes once more and investigate who wants the vigilante’s dead, and if there is a connection to the impending nuclear war.
In this review I’m mostly going to concentrate on comparing the graphic novel and the film, so it may be an idea to check out my review of the graphic novel before reading this review as it’ll give you an idea of where I’m heading going into this review. It’s also worth mentioning that this is a review of the recently released ‘Ultimate Cut’ of the film, which is more in depth and detailed than the Theatrical or Directors Cut, though I will address the differences in versions more later in this review and why that also plays a role in audiences’ perceptions of the film.
Our story opens on the night of October 12th 1985. The United States led by Richard Nixon is currently in the midst of a standoff against the Soviet Union as they both teeter on the brink of instigating World War III, and global nuclear annihilation. Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), more commonly known to humanity as the masked vigilante ‘The Comedian’ who was a member of the now disbanded Watchmen and their predecessors the Minutemen, has been murdered.
Believing there to be a ‘mask killer’ on the prowl, outlaw vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) reaches out to his other former Watchmen teammates to inform them of The Comedian’s death. Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), a man named Jon Osterman who gained superpowers from an accident several decades ago, and billionaire Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode), formerly vigilante Ozymandias, are currently working together to create a sustainable energy source based on Manhattan’s own unique energy emissions. Meanwhile Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman), formerly vigilante Silk Spectre and currently dating Manhattan, reunites with the final Watchmen member, Dan Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson), formerly Nite Owl, so the two can try and find some sense of normalcy amongst the chaos the world is falling into.
Following an assassination attempt on Veidt and Dr. Manhattan leaving Earth, the three remaining former Watchmen Rorschach, Silk Spectre, and Night Owl, must don their costumes once more and investigate who wants the vigilante’s dead, and if there is a connection to the impending nuclear war.
If you haven’t read my review of the graphic novel, I feel like Watchmen’s story is pretty damn incredible and I think most people would be inclined to agree with that statement because it’s the only graphic novel to be considered among the greatest literary works of the twentieth century by many major and highly respected publications. It doesn’t feel like a comic book or superhero story. Instead, its characters are deeply flawed and often broken people who live in a world that is falling apart at the seams. It’s a great deconstruction of the superhero genre, as well as having some fantastic sociological and philosophical insights on the human condition. So, when I say that the film adaptation changes almost nothing, that’s a good thing, right? Well…sort of.
So allow me to address the differences between the various versions of the film. The theatrical cut of the film is two hours and forty-three minutes long, and most of the actual story progression happens in the final hour or so. Much of the film is spent detailing who these people are, how they know each other, what came before them, and how their presence has changed the history we know to be real. All of this is then tied up in the final hour or so where things actually start to get moving and all of the pieces that the film has been juggling up to that point start to fall into place. For a film that’s a pretty bold move, to assume that the audience is going to stick around for the length of an entire film before things actually start to become clear to them. If you then opt for the Directors Cut of the film, which is only available on Blu-Ray, you get an extra twenty minutes of footage. This cut content is largely non-essential to the main characters, but flesh out their world a little more, or some of the key side characters such as Hollis Mason (Stephen McHattie), the original Nite Owl. You then finally get the Ultimate Cut, only available on Blu-Ray & 4K HDR, which comes in at 215 minutes, adding an extra half an hour to the film. The majority of this extra runtime is dedicated to an animated side story that plays out in the comics, ‘Tales of the Black Freighter’. This story acts as a counterpoint to many of the events happening throughout the narrative, and ultimately as a way to provide more depth to Adrian’s story without giving away his plans too early on.
No matter which version you watch you’re getting a great story, but personally I would say the Directors Cut is the best version for most people. What it adds is worth the extra twenty minutes to push it just over the three-hour mark as many of these otherwise missing scenes add a lot of depth to the world around our characters. Most of these missing scenes address issues people had with the theatrical cut as well. I’d only recommend the Ultimate Cut to people who are coming from the graphic novel to the film. Whilst the Black Freighter segments are good, because they don’t actively play a role in the main story, I would consider them entirely optional.
In fact, I actually feel like the inclusion of the Black Freighter segments in the Ultimate Cut does in some ways meddle with the climax of the film, which is the only significant alteration to the film from the graphic novel. The ending of the graphic novel sees Adrian/Ozymandias kill half of the population of New York by teleporting in a giant monster that the author of the Black Freighter comics helped create. He does this to unite the U.S and the Soviet’s against a common enemy, a perceived invasion by aliens. I had issue with this because it feels quite out of place with the rest of the grounded feel of the comic, it’s all so based in reality that the sudden appearance of an alien creature killing millions of people just feels a little off the cuff.
The film changes this climax for Adrian using Dr. Manhattan’s energy to create devastating explosions that he detonates in many of the largest cities in the world. This has the same effect of the U.S and Soviet’s uniting to fight a common enemy, this time being Dr. Manhattan who they believe is responsible for the blasts as they carry his energy signature. This also ties in nicely with Manhattan’s storyline of him slowly giving up on humanity as he believes that they cause more harm than they are worth. But this then doesn’t tie in quite so nicely with the Black Freighter storyline because there’s no concrete connection to the comic and Adrian.
So allow me to address the differences between the various versions of the film. The theatrical cut of the film is two hours and forty-three minutes long, and most of the actual story progression happens in the final hour or so. Much of the film is spent detailing who these people are, how they know each other, what came before them, and how their presence has changed the history we know to be real. All of this is then tied up in the final hour or so where things actually start to get moving and all of the pieces that the film has been juggling up to that point start to fall into place. For a film that’s a pretty bold move, to assume that the audience is going to stick around for the length of an entire film before things actually start to become clear to them. If you then opt for the Directors Cut of the film, which is only available on Blu-Ray, you get an extra twenty minutes of footage. This cut content is largely non-essential to the main characters, but flesh out their world a little more, or some of the key side characters such as Hollis Mason (Stephen McHattie), the original Nite Owl. You then finally get the Ultimate Cut, only available on Blu-Ray & 4K HDR, which comes in at 215 minutes, adding an extra half an hour to the film. The majority of this extra runtime is dedicated to an animated side story that plays out in the comics, ‘Tales of the Black Freighter’. This story acts as a counterpoint to many of the events happening throughout the narrative, and ultimately as a way to provide more depth to Adrian’s story without giving away his plans too early on.
No matter which version you watch you’re getting a great story, but personally I would say the Directors Cut is the best version for most people. What it adds is worth the extra twenty minutes to push it just over the three-hour mark as many of these otherwise missing scenes add a lot of depth to the world around our characters. Most of these missing scenes address issues people had with the theatrical cut as well. I’d only recommend the Ultimate Cut to people who are coming from the graphic novel to the film. Whilst the Black Freighter segments are good, because they don’t actively play a role in the main story, I would consider them entirely optional.
In fact, I actually feel like the inclusion of the Black Freighter segments in the Ultimate Cut does in some ways meddle with the climax of the film, which is the only significant alteration to the film from the graphic novel. The ending of the graphic novel sees Adrian/Ozymandias kill half of the population of New York by teleporting in a giant monster that the author of the Black Freighter comics helped create. He does this to unite the U.S and the Soviet’s against a common enemy, a perceived invasion by aliens. I had issue with this because it feels quite out of place with the rest of the grounded feel of the comic, it’s all so based in reality that the sudden appearance of an alien creature killing millions of people just feels a little off the cuff.
The film changes this climax for Adrian using Dr. Manhattan’s energy to create devastating explosions that he detonates in many of the largest cities in the world. This has the same effect of the U.S and Soviet’s uniting to fight a common enemy, this time being Dr. Manhattan who they believe is responsible for the blasts as they carry his energy signature. This also ties in nicely with Manhattan’s storyline of him slowly giving up on humanity as he believes that they cause more harm than they are worth. But this then doesn’t tie in quite so nicely with the Black Freighter storyline because there’s no concrete connection to the comic and Adrian.
This change in the ending is what most fans of the comic take issue with, primarily because it changes the emphasis on violence throughout the entire film. The comic, despite having some gory moments, is mostly devoid of detailed gore because combat is so infrequent. It saves the grand, gory bloodbath for the opening of the final issue where we see the effects of Adrian’s plan. Bodies lying in the streets, bodies piled on top of one another as the streets act like reservoirs of blood.
The film, probably in order to maintain its status as a mature superhero story, opts instead to tone the violence up in the few scenes where it does happen (such as having Manhattan explode his foes into bloody chunks, or have Night Owl punch a man arm so hard the bone breaks through the skin); but then not show us anything particularly distressing for the explosion that ends countless lives. We really only get to witness the aftermath of the explosions where massive craters are left in the ground and entire blocks of New York have been completely vaporised. This does as a result create a strange disconnect with the violence we are shown and can work against what the film stands for.
The performances are perhaps the one area that everybody can agree that the film adaptation absolutely nailed. Almost all the actors look near identical to their comic book counterparts, and the few that don’t aren’t all that far off. I feel like the true standout performances are from Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Eddie Blake/The Comedian, and Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach. Both characters are completely unhinged in very distinct ways and ultimately embody that famous phrase from Harvey Dent in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight “You either die the hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”. Blake is never a real hero, but he is a patriot who will do anything to ensure the United States remains the great nation he believes it is. He rapes, murders, commits war crimes, assassinates presidents, and more, all in the name of Lady Liberty and the Land of the Free. Once he uncovers Adrian’s plan he comes to realise exactly what he has done in the name of justice, and just how right his twisted view of the world was.
Rorschach meanwhile believes in uncompromising justice, no matter the cost. He ultimately gives his life in this pursuit of justice when he is killed by Dr. Manhattan to ensure that Adrian is not revealed as the mastermind behind the bombs and world peace can flourish.
The film, probably in order to maintain its status as a mature superhero story, opts instead to tone the violence up in the few scenes where it does happen (such as having Manhattan explode his foes into bloody chunks, or have Night Owl punch a man arm so hard the bone breaks through the skin); but then not show us anything particularly distressing for the explosion that ends countless lives. We really only get to witness the aftermath of the explosions where massive craters are left in the ground and entire blocks of New York have been completely vaporised. This does as a result create a strange disconnect with the violence we are shown and can work against what the film stands for.
The performances are perhaps the one area that everybody can agree that the film adaptation absolutely nailed. Almost all the actors look near identical to their comic book counterparts, and the few that don’t aren’t all that far off. I feel like the true standout performances are from Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Eddie Blake/The Comedian, and Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach. Both characters are completely unhinged in very distinct ways and ultimately embody that famous phrase from Harvey Dent in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight “You either die the hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”. Blake is never a real hero, but he is a patriot who will do anything to ensure the United States remains the great nation he believes it is. He rapes, murders, commits war crimes, assassinates presidents, and more, all in the name of Lady Liberty and the Land of the Free. Once he uncovers Adrian’s plan he comes to realise exactly what he has done in the name of justice, and just how right his twisted view of the world was.
Rorschach meanwhile believes in uncompromising justice, no matter the cost. He ultimately gives his life in this pursuit of justice when he is killed by Dr. Manhattan to ensure that Adrian is not revealed as the mastermind behind the bombs and world peace can flourish.
Zack Snyder is a director with a very distinct visual style, and this is also a point of contention for many surrounding Watchmen’s adaptation. His unflinching faithfulness to the graphic novel permeates each frame and whilst that certainly makes the fan in me a little giddy, it can at times produce some puzzling shots. Many have complained that the film looks cluttered and lacks focus, and it’s ultimately because it has been created as a live action motion comic. But it also ditches the graphic novel’s distinct colour palette of secondary and tertiary colours in favour of dark moody lighting, greys, and blacks. Being candid, it’s because it’s a live action film, what did you expect? But I do understand the issue people have in so far that Snyder went out of his way to replicate the visuals of the comic panels as much as he could, but at the same time failed to really capture what that comic panel represented.
Personally, I feel like the film looks gorgeous, and whilst some of the editing choices can be a little strange, it’s also refreshing to see a film do whatever it can to be so unlike a conventional film and instead appear to be more like a comic book.
So, just shy of 2000 words, is Watchmen good? No, it’s incredible. It is without a doubt one of the greatest superhero films ever made and should be seen by as many people as possible. But it is not particularly accessible. Due to the way it has been constructed, and the complexity of the narrative, it can be difficult to understand the film on a single viewing and with a film that’s bordering three hours in length (with a relatively slow pace too) it’s unlikely to be something you’re rushing to rewatch quickly once you’re done with it.
If you have an interest in the superhero genre, or even Cold War thrillers then Watchmen is an absolute must as it pushes what was thought possible with those genres in a new direction…one that has since been imitated multiple times admittedly, but I’m always an advocate for seeing where those trends started.
Personally, I feel like the film looks gorgeous, and whilst some of the editing choices can be a little strange, it’s also refreshing to see a film do whatever it can to be so unlike a conventional film and instead appear to be more like a comic book.
So, just shy of 2000 words, is Watchmen good? No, it’s incredible. It is without a doubt one of the greatest superhero films ever made and should be seen by as many people as possible. But it is not particularly accessible. Due to the way it has been constructed, and the complexity of the narrative, it can be difficult to understand the film on a single viewing and with a film that’s bordering three hours in length (with a relatively slow pace too) it’s unlikely to be something you’re rushing to rewatch quickly once you’re done with it.
If you have an interest in the superhero genre, or even Cold War thrillers then Watchmen is an absolute must as it pushes what was thought possible with those genres in a new direction…one that has since been imitated multiple times admittedly, but I’m always an advocate for seeing where those trends started.