Watchmen: Five reasons why you should love it

It’s Thursday and now all of the weekend buzzing over Zack Snyder’s newest movie,” The Watchmen” (an adaptation of the Hugo Award-winning graphic novel), has finally subsided. Now that those who were as rampant and excited to see it as me have probably already the topic seems like a safe subject to write on without fear of completely spoiling it for those that would be angry at me for doing so. For those that are unsure if you should see the movie either because you’ve never read the comic or you’ve read the comic and are unsure if it stays true to its roots (and you’re afraid you’ll be more angry than entertained) here are a few reasons (in no particular order) why you should in fact pay your dues and go see it:

I shouldn’t have to say this but WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Billy Crudup as Rorschach, The Comedian, and Dr. Manhattan –
Zack Snyder, in picking actors for this movie, had a tough choice: How do you cast someone in a role that they will most likely forever be remembered for? Like being cast as Superman or Batman, being cast in any super hero role forever dooms you to being remembered for those movies which could mean a great lift in one’s career (such as Christopher Reeve as Superman, who started as an unknown and after the first movie became a massive celebrity) or complete failure in the role (George Clooney, while a fine actor, will be remembered more jokingly as Batman instead of admirably). These three actors performed their jobs amazingly, bringing to life their drawn models with believable personalities and the look and feel that these characters should have had within a movie. Haley and Morgan, as Rorschach and The Comedian respectively, were the epitome of those characters come to life: they embodied and made me believe that they were the perfect choices for these characters and alone would be a good reason to see the movie for fans of the comic. All three characters (Crudup included, who did a great job as Dr. Manhattan, but still falls short of the other two actors and their roles) provide great stories and entertainment not only within the book but on the screen as well. These three characters are pivotal roles within the story and the hardships they face shape the mood of the story. If the actors would have failed at their job the entire movie would have been ruined but instead they all gave stellar performances that had me mesmerized.

The Ending, while different, gets the job done and still has the same ideals behind it –
In order to have it make a bit more sense and to make it a bit more mainstream, the ending was changed from the comic book version of Watchmen to its film adaptation. The ending, while giving a completely different way of crumbling the world and halting the oncoming nuclear war, still gets the job done of uniting the world in fear of a “greater evil” than one another. The ending of the comic made sense to those who understand Ozymandias and his ideals but would have been next to impossible to pull off not only well on screen but to have it make sense with the time allotted for the movie to those who do not have a prior background of reading the original.  With his background in genetic research, Ozymandias blowing up an alien being with a psychic mind is believable and does fit into the storyline but being heralded as “The smartest man in the world” opens up vast ideas for different ways to do that. You have the ability to harness the power of what the world considers to be a god and unleash it upon the world in order to fulfill your goals of sacrificing the few to save the many, why wouldn’t you do that instead of summoning something wholly new that the world does not understand? It also fits because the world knows about Dr. Manhattan and setting up America’s greatest hero to be the world’s downfall would be incredibly more frightening. If the comic had ended this way I wouldn’t have complained at all and while I do understand the importance of the original ending, both of them get the same job done with one being an easier to grasp subject than the other.  Also, if it pisses you off that much, its already been announced that there will be an “Ultimate Edition” version of the movie once it comes out to buy that will have extra scenes, “The Tale of the Black Freighter” (which comes out on DVD/ Blu-Ray the 26th of March), and the original ending all mixed into it. The ultimate edition will come in at over four hours in length (from the theatrical release’s 2 hour and 44 minute mark) and contain all of the extras that didn’t make it to theatres.

The music is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. –
Ok, yes, playing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” during Night-Owl and Silk Spectre’s sex scene is quite cheesy and sometimes the music makes the ideas that are being shown on screen a bit redundant but other than that the musical choices for the movie are very time and theme appropriate. The introduction being Bob Dylan’s “The Times they are a-changing” could quite possibly be one of the best introductory scenes I’ve ever seen. Also, playing “Boogey-Man” while the Comedian threatens the rioting citizens is probably one of the best uses of that song I’ve ever seen in a movie. Yes, the music does get a bit loud at times and can almost snap you out of the daze the movie puts you in but it never gets to the point that its obnoxious or annoying.

Matthew Goode does a better job than anyone is giving him credit for –
I don’t quite know what people were expecting out of this. You have a character that is the smartest man in the world, a bit of a pompous ass, presumably homosexual, has a genetically engineered lynx, and who wore a, well, purple half dress as a superhero costume. You can’t exactly make this guy out to be a badass (and the comic doesn’t at all) even though he very well should be. This guy can dodge bullets, kill the Comedian, and set up mastermind plots without anyone suspecting a single thing and get away with all of it! The problem is that I guess people were expecting some sort of amazing actor to play this part but that is the exact opposite of what should have happened. Finding someone who is small, looks like he could go toe to toe with Steve Jobs in an elitism contest, and could quite possibly pass for at least a metrosexual if not a full blown homosexual was essential and Matthew Goode pulled this role off. The only problem that I had is that the costume itself (which in the movie seems to look more like body armor straight out of The Dark Knight instead of something regal), obviously did not translate correctly onto the silver screen and looks a little weird (but, come on, so did the original). All things considered Goode’s performance as the genius Adrian Veidt is spot on personality and mannerism-wise and he plays the character as well as anyone else could. He should be commended instead of bashed for his performance since really I don’t think anyone else could have done a better job given what he had to work with.

Zack Snyder, while as usual going a bit over the top, does in fact stay quite true to the film –
When early interviews were coming out with Snyder about the film and he said he was a huge fan and was sticking as close to the comic’s vision as he possibly could I didn’t believe it. Everyone says they are keeping the spirit of the book/comic/cartoon alive and then ninety-percent of the time end up butchering it ( I am Legend, anyone?). Snyder kept true to his word though and many of the things that I thought would never make it into the film (big blue penis and all) surprisingly did. Though a lot of the scenes and characters had to be edited/removed for time’s sake, they still kept or gave cameos to them to let fans of the book know that they weren’t completely scratched off. The pacing of the film follows very closely to the comic, a lot better than I had expected with the cut scenes, and keeps the spirit and the point that the story wanted to make there.

(It’s my opinion that this movie could not have been made better by anyone else. The actors, the music, the director, the effects all came strongly together into one masterpiece that does one of the greatest graphic novels ever written justice. Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore should be proud of this adaptation and all of the critics and fans of the original who are tearing this movie apart should appreciate it for what it is: not exactly the same as the original but the closest and best thing we’ll ever get to a movie adaptation of it. No one can expect perfection in any movie, much less one that so many people are so passionately obcessed with.)