I have to start this review, by way of confession, by saying I have never read the Watchmen graphic novel, which may undermine my geek-cred but it’s a fact. My (signed) copy has been sitting on my bookshelf, along with a host of other modern classics, such as On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, waiting to be read, but somehow I just haven’t found the time. So watching the movie for the first time I wasn’t coming to it as a fan, but as someone familiar with some of Alan Moore’s other work, and an understanding of the comic’s iconic place in contemporary culture. I also came to the movie with a little trepidation about Zack Snyder, especially after 300. There is no doubt he holds the original material he works from with great reverence, and is faithful in his reproduction on film, but that faithfulness along with the overuse of CGI did make 300 a rather soulless movie experience and, to a certain extent, that is what I was expecting from Watchmen. Thankfully that was not the case.
Watchmen isn’t an easy movie to watch. It’s definitely not your typical superhero comic book movie. For a start they are not really superheroes because, apart from Dr Manhattan, they have no super powers and they are actually crime fighters, like their DC stablemate Batman. In fact, this is much more of a science-fiction/alternate reality movie than most of the comic book adaptations of late. Moore is also a very political writer, and has a lot more to say about the state of the world than the scribes over at Marvel. With this and V for Vendetta both being Thatcher era comics it’s hardly surprising, but it also makes his writing quite cerebral. Although Marvel’s writers did try to give their superheroes more human foibles, the Watchmen are pretty much portrayed as losers and screwups with very few real redeeming factors, especially after masked heroes were outlawed.
With the story jumping backwards and forwards in time you really do need to pay attention to who’s who, especially without the prior knowledge of the book, but director Snyder eases this by changing the colour palettes. After watching the movie I flicked through the book and again he has been incredibly faithful to the original, and to his credit has actually built real sets and props rather than relying on CGI, which further enhances the movie’s impact and adds more credibility to the alternative reality.
Overall, it is a well-crafted movie with great performances that retains all the sex and violence of the original, along with its interesting political and sociological perspectives, not to mention the philosophising of the modern day Krishna, Dr Manhattan. It is certainly a mirror on the world as it is today, just as Orwell’s 1984 is, and it was that bleakness that made it hard for me to enjoy in the same that I did the escapism of, say, IRONMAN.
For WATCHMEN fans, the DVD/Blu-ray release is going to be a must have with a whole extra disc of special features that look at the science behind the story, as well as plenty of behind the scenes material that, for the most part, is pretty standard for DVDs nowadays. What will really excite the fans are the viral videos. These are the film equivalents of the material between the chapters of the book. Paramount have already released some of these on the Tales of the Black Freighter DVD, including Under the Hood The press release for the WATCHMEN DVD and Blu-ray lists four of them, but on the preview DVD I had there was only one, so the others may only be on Blu-ray: it might be worth checking the packaging first if you want to see them all. Like Under the Hood, 10 Years of Dr Manhattan, a 1970 NBS News Special it is done in a contemporary style that enhances the experience of the movie, which is what DVD and Blu-ray are supposed to do, and it is great to filmmakers taking full advantage of it. It would have been nice to see a special edition that also included the Tales of the Black Freighter DVD, but I imagine that will come later.
WATCHMEN is out on two-disc DVD and Blu-ray (with digital copy) on July 27, from Paramount Home Entertainment and is available from major retailers including Amazon
We have three copies of Watchmen to give away on DVD, courtesy of Paramount. To enter the draw click on the link below.
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Soundtrack and Score Albums on Warner Sunset/Reprise Records.
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