Watchmen
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WATCHMEN - film review
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The production design of Watchmen |
The movie is set against the backdrop of an impending nuclear confrontation between the USA and the USSR in an alternative 1985 timeline. Richard Nixon is the President of the United States, self-proclaimed superheroes have kept the piece for forty years and the balance of world power is help by one man – Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup). To fight crime, multiple generations of “heroes” have taken to the streets as masked protectors going by such names as ‘Minutemen’ and, in more recent times, ‘Watchmen’.
The plot of Watchmen is incredibly detailed. Based on Alan Moore’s 1987 graphic novel, Alex Tse’s script used the source material, as well as David Hayter’s 2001 treatment, as the framework for the movie. The story opens with the death of Eddie Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), otherwise known as ‘The Comedian’, a man who started as a masked hero fighting crime on the streets of New York as part of the Minutemen but, over the years, veered into more questionable territory as a mercenary fighting for the US government. Blake’s death rouses the suspicion of Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), a former member of the Watchmen. Rorschach begins writing a journal to help him assemble the clues of Blake’s murder and comes to believe someone may be trying to assassinate former members of their team. Rorschach begins surveillance on Dan Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson) and Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman), former Watchmen known as Night Owl II and Silk Spectre II. Throughout the First Act of the film, the audience learn that this group played a prominent role in helping fight crime throughout the 1970s, but the escalation of the Cold War in the 1980s caused concern among the American public about masked crime-fighters roaming the streets. After the Watchmen were disbanded, Dr. Manhattan and Eddie Blake became sanctioned government killers, Rorschach became a vigilante, Night Owl II and Silk Spectre II retired and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode) revealed himself to the world as Adrian Veidt, the smartest man in the world!
Watchmen does not have a linear plot structure, so the viewer needs to keep close attention to each scene, especially with Billy Crudup’s Dr. Manhattan. Told through flashbacks, Manhattan was a scientist known as John Osterman, who was subject to a horrific accident that resulted in his complete dematerialisation. At first, Osterman is thought dead. It becomes clear, however, that Osterman has transcended his human form and transformed into a being capable of controlling matter in any universal environment. His unique abilities provide scope for the story to move fluidly along the timeline from the late 1930s to the mid-1980s and even into outer space on Mars, where his alter-ego - Dr. Manhattan - exiles himself for a part of the movie. Rorschach’s narrative is similarly non-linear, as his story is told through the ongoing journal entries he starts from the night that Eddie Blake is killed. Despite being mentally unhinged, ironically, of all the Watchmen, Rorschach is the most in touch with real-world events and his detective efforts lead his former crime-fighting colleagues to reunite in an effort to uncover the truth of who is trying to kill them and manipulate world geo-politics.
The performances of the lead actors are excellent and capture the their characters in a way that make them feel more accessible than superheroes such as Superman or the X-Men. Apart from Dr. Manhattan, none of the Watchmen even possess super powers. They are more in the Batman camp, having trained to punch, kick, throw, shoot and, ultimately, out-think their way through the criminals they come up against. Patrick Wilson as Dreiberg, Billy Crudup as Manhattan and Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach all share screen time evenly, but it is Haley’s seething performance that is the most memorable. Haley manages to achieve a balance in his performance that makes him seem reasonable when he’s interacting with the Watchmen, justified in his actions and, at the end, sympathetic; longing for a release from the horrors of the world.
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Zack Snyder’s direction of Watchmen is assured and confident. Snyder doesn’t force the story too quickly and the movie’s 162 minute running time is never a problem. There are a number of set-pieces but the director doesn’t overplay them. Events unfold in the manner that would be expected as if the story were taking place in the real world. Many of Snyder’s usual collaborators are part of the behind-the-scenes team including director of photography Larry Fong. Fong had his work cut out for him with this movie as there’s so many green screen and post-production effects elements that lighting a scene would have been incredibly difficult; especially with Dr. Manhattan, who provides his own blue luminescent light source as a result of his accident. Snyder also brought his 300 film editor – William Hoy – on board for Watchmen to help craft together the intricate story that unfolds throughout the course of the movie. Hoy had previously worked on a number of large scale effects-heavy productions including I,Robot and the two Fantastic Four films, so was well equipped to handle to task of assembling Snyder’s vision.
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Bringing Dr.Manhattan to life |
Production Posters
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