The original 12-issue comic book series “Watchmen” was first printed in 1986 and 1987. Now, over 20 years later, one of the most long-awaited movie adaptations of a book has finally been made, and critics reactions are widely varied. In truth, the movie was great in many ways, but lacking in a few ways as well.

The setting of the film (and of the book) is an alternate past, where there were many costumed vigilantes fighting crime in the streets around and after World War II. However, a law was passed in the 1970s that outlawed vigilantism, and so the heroes were forced into retirement. Then, in 1985, the United States found itself on the brink of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. It is also in 1985 that one of the more famous retired vigilantes is murdered. Fearing the death was the beginning of a conspiracy, a few of the retired vigilantes return to work illegally, trying to see if the death of one could mean the death of many to come. These heroes coming out of retirement were known, before their group was made illegal, as the Watchmen.

The big controversy that surrounded “Watchmen” was its total alienation from its original writer, Alan Moore. Alan Moore (who wrote the original comic book) is notorious for hating the movie adaptations of his books. Other movies that have been based on his comic books include “V for Vendetta,” “From Hell” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentleman.” They all received immense disapproval from him, and although he was willing to sell the movies rights to Watchmen, he has had his name removed completely from the credits. According to IMDb, the movie is credited solely to the comic book’s artist, Dave Gibbons. This makes perfect sense, since the movie does more credit to Gibbon’s work than to Moore’s.

Visually, “Watchmen” was beautiful. Its dark color scheme and bleak tone match the source material perfectly, and many of the shots match the book panel for panel. The sets, character costumes and action scenes all do great justice to the book, and this is something that the fans were very nervous about in the time leading up to the film’s release. Zack Snyder, who also directed “300,” had a fine attention to even the smallest detail, and he also did a wonderful job casting. All of the actors looked like their comic book counterparts, but none so much as Jackie Earle Hayley, who played Rorschach. He did an excellent job portraying the film’s sociopathic, uncompromising masked hero, whose disturbing tendencies give the late Heath Ledger’s Joker a run for his money.

Another standout was Patrick Wilson, who played The Night Owl II. His character is an awkward, middle aged man who is deeply self-conscious and misses his old vigilante work very much; the acting of this role is spot on.

It is the story itself which has suffered most in transition between book and film. Many of the events in the plot are the same in the film as in the book, but there are a few major things that were changed, most notably (and without spoiling it), the ending. These changes greatly impact how the story as a whole affects the viewers. In the book, you have no idea who the villain is until the end, and then when the revelation comes, it is truly shocking, but in the film, you have a hunch the whole time, so you aren’t that surprised at the end. Also, many aspects of the story lost some of their depth in the film, taking away from of the story’s emotional appeal in favor of visual appeal and action.
Many of the movie’s flaws may only be noticeable to those who have read the book. However, there are some aspects of the movie that might seem a bit over the top and corny to those who haven’t read the book, so it works both ways.

Fans of the comic book will love the accuracy to the book’s look and feel, and people who have never read the book will enjoy a dark and satiric look at the superhero genre and indeed our world as it could have been. The movie is quite dark, and has several scenes of gory violence, as well as sexual content. For diehard comic book fans, as well as those who are mature enough to enjoy this movie’s underlying message without giggling at the occasional nudity, “Watchmen” is a definite must-see. For everyone else, there are the watered down, weak and generic super hero movies like “Fantastic Four,” which might have nice action scenes, but won’t make you think the way “Watchmen” will.

My Review:
4 Stars (out of a 5 star scale).

JOSH FOSBENNER
Staff Writer