Watchmen: Deconstructing the Film in Reference to the Graphic Novel

Watchmen is visually brilliant but flawed in certain ways. Nevertheless, this eye-poppingly faithful adaptation is carefully crafted as a lavish cult movie. It spins a comic deemed unfilmable into a blockbuster for the specific admirers of the superhero genre and the fan base of the groundbreaking book from writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons. Grappling with the graphic novel's multi-layered storyline, this dystopian film utilizes a deeply dark heart unmasking the world's harsh realities.

Watchmen is no doubt a love letter to those who have been waiting for the film for the last two decades. The success of the acclaimed 1980's graphic novel about moral relativity, the futility of life, the violent nature of man, and the deconstruction of the concepts of humanity and heroism have pushed this film into monumental anticipation. Director Zack Snyder brings the superhero-noir murder mystery to life through the aesthetic pleasure of reproducing the key scenes with storyboard-like fidelity. As a deconstructionist superhero flick, it generally works in making fans thrilled with its visual experimentation, radical mythology, psychologically rich idealism, and grand indulgence.

Overall, the mood and tone of the film is what most fans could hope for. As the cinematic version of the world's most celebrated graphic novel, this sprawling film stays faithful to the book. It trims and reshapes it to its prime essentials. It may not include every nuance in the graphic novel, but it gets to capture the basic requirements of the moving picture medium. However, the overflowing technical energy has resulted to a power lost in terms of characterization and emotional engagement to the story. The technical brilliance upstages the other aspects of the film way too much. The filmmakers lose sight of what could make a film effective more than just the mere visual flair: the film lacks the emotional attachment for the audience to relate to the characters and the world they live in. Yes, the fans familiar to the characters and their alternate universe would find the film rendering generally well on screen. But how about the non-superficial facets of the film? How much energy was put on them? Looks like they couldn't quite measure up to what the film's technical competence provides. Indeed, this proves that a great source material, a respectful translation from graphic novel to film, a big budget, and an overflowing visual power are not enough to make a film live up to the greatest expectations for it.

Having such a complex narrative structure, it's quite understandable that the film is weaved with less back stories and plotting compared to its book source. For cinematic purposes, significant changes are clearly made in the script and what has actually worked out during the course of production. For some, especially to those who are not readily familiar with the original material, it may be a little difficult for them to get the same appeal as compared to the excited fans. And overall, it could be a slightly different experience for anyone who does not know the book - especially since the interaction between the characters and their multi-layered sub-stories remain integral points to understanding the story. And to those who are not literally immersed in the 80's era, the book's astonishing vision considerably has a different effect to those who actually experienced the Cold War period and the 80's.

Though the film captures the look and feel of the novel, it still fails to totally engage its audience because its emotional core is buried deep under its self-gratifying visual style. There is never enough time spent with moments of emotion and suspense to make the audience relate and/or sympathize to what's going on, and perhaps, get totally excited about what's coming up next (especially outside the landscape of the film's visual grandeur).

Watchmen has moments of wonder. Not all of it works, but parts of it do. At some point, the film feels artificially stylized that its soulless aspects hinder it from becoming great. It's bold and bloated, fascinating and flawed, stunning and scattered. For all of the ferocious flashes of spectacular physicality, there are substantially-challenged parts that sometimes feel misapplied, overcranked, or too ramped up already.

Through impressive, computer-enhanced eye candy, the film's pop-art fusion features its blood-stained smiley face well. And amidst its flaws, the film is intense. It is backed up by the fascinating and contemplative story of the book. Its philosophy and take on genre deconstruction keep up with its heavy, adult-themed plot. It has interesting social and political ideas in doing the ultimate sacrifice and making the world fall part and putting it back together again with the Machiavellian ideology in mind. Indeed, it depicts itself as a self-styled parody of the world's "true face" and the "big jokes" of the society.

Visually, this flick is a lavish and exciting screen translation reverential to Moore and Gibbons' landmark work. The film's post-Dark Knight world boasts of keen attention to physical details. The art production design, art direction, and cinematography are quite good. The rich and gorgeous palette and campy costumes are a sight to see. The original comics shines through Snyder's approach to satisfy the fanboys with densely-packed motion picture experience. He puts a grimy and gritty, and yet glossed pop culture feel to the film. He tries to preserve other information by including a short "historical" opening title sequence. It kicks off the visual treat he has become known for since he made the historical 300 in 2007. However, there is a disappointing part to it: he merely yields to his trademark shots in his Spartan opus without bothering to recreate his visionary style (making them look like mere copies of his memorable 300 scenes). For this film, expect copycat shots and elements here and there. And so, despite some powerful scenes, they never fully satisfy.

Snyder's direction merely focuses on style and technique. And the acting, thematic, and emotional aspects of the film suffer. The acting department is filled with talented performers. The billing for the Watchmen superheroes includes: Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Edward Blake/The Comedian, Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman, Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias, Malin Akerman as Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre II, Jackie Earle Haley as Walter Kovacs/Rorschach, Patrick Wilson as Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II, Carla Gugino as Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre, and Stephen McHattie as Hollis Mason/Nite Owl. However, they still render some wooden performances due to the film's certain hollow and disjointed characterizations.

Snyder's visually striking Watchmen deserves credit for what a dozen of other directors have struggled to do for around twenty years. His ambitious adaptation of the famed graphic novel is a visual and psychological feast filled with visceral action and powerful special effects. And against considerable odds, the story's dense and complex mythology remains.