Watchmen Film

In the field of graphic novels, certain names come up frequently. Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Alan Moore. These men have defined the genre for decades, often testing the limits of the medium. Alan Moore gave us such acclaimed works as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta, and The Watchmen. Two of these have already been adapted as films. The last, perhaps Moore's most famous work, is finally being realized.

The film opens March 6, just little more than a month away, but it has been in production for more than two decades. 20th Century Fox secured rights to make the film back in 1986. Moore declined to write the screenplay, and funding for the film became sparse (compared to the funds such a project required). The film was deemed unfilmable by 20th Century. Thus, the most celebrated graphic novel of all time had a film adaptation assigned to the dreaded Development Hell.

Paramount and Warner Bros. negotiated to produce the film. It was quite a mess, but somehow production moved forward, and the film is now a reality. Zack Snyder was picked to direct the film, after wowing Warner Bros. with his adaption of 300, another acclaimed graphic novel.

The subject matter of the graphical is dark and gritty. Many compare graphic novels to comic books, but the similarities stop at the surface. A graphic novel is much longer and typically much more serious. Moore's Watchmen deals with a dystopian world, an alternate vision of our reality where the US and Soviet Union are on the brink of nuclear war. Superheroes exist, but they have been outlawed for years. The few who remain live out their days either in retirement, or as government operatives.

Like the graphic novel, the film follows a band of these outlawed heroes as they come out of retirement. They uncover a plot to discredit and murder several government-sponsered heroes, but Rorschach, a vigilante superhero who continued to work under outlaw, discovers a far more sinister plot.

Each character offers a unique glimpse into the human psyche. Jackie Earle Haley plays Rorschach, and nearly lost it trying to capture the character. Rorschach sees the world in very cut-and-dry terms. Black and white. Good and bad. That's it. Haley kept trying to understand humanity in light of Rorschach's worldview. In the end, the actor wondered whether people simply make excuses for their bad decisions and behavior. An intriguing concept. Perhaps that's what Moore intended when he created the character.

Watchmen puts a new spin on the superhero world. Instead of loved by many, and hated by some, the heroes of the film are either hated or not even acknowledged. Struggling to survive and to do what's right makes these characters seem even more human than their counterparts in comic books. Creator Alan Moore expressed his disgust over the V for Vendetta film; thus, he wants no involvement in Watchmen.

Moore's other major works, V for Vendetta and League of Extraodinary Gentlemen, were made into films, and both garnered the author's disapproval. But they were both adaptations. Any time a popular work, be it novel, comic book, video game, or graphic novel, comes to big screen, changes must be made to accomodate the medium. This almost always means certain things are lost, dropped, merged, changed, or made into secondary characters. But an adaptation can still carry the source material's intention.

While League of Extraodinary Gentlemen did stray far from its source material in plot and in some terms of character personality, it did keep the concept of bringing multiple Victorian-era fiction characters together for a singular adventure. V for Vendetta characterized the titular character as a freedom fighter, while Moore's graphic novel depicts him more as an anarchist. But Vendetta kept the spirit: resistance to tyranny. Moore may have disliked both, perhaps even justifiably so, but both did succeed in their own respects.

And Watchmen is not V for Vendetta. This is the most celebrated graphic novel of all time. Since it has been on the production table for more than two decades, greater care will be taken. Surely some things will be changed, others dropped, etc, but the final product will not disappoint. If anything, it will create further interest in the source.

While it is an adaption, Watchmen promises to give us a truly unique experience in superhero films. Imagine The Dark Knight on steroids, in a world where Nixon is still President. Although the creator has sworn off the film, it will still capture his vision and testify to his work's long-standing critical approval.