Watchmen is a miraculous achievement. Sure it's not perfect, but somehow Zack Snyder was able to adapt Alan Moore's comic to film and make it function as both a standalone movie and as an adaptation. Snyder is known for directing melodramatic, garish spectacle while Moore is known for writing grounded works that question the infallibility of superheroes and their impact on society. Having Snyder adapt Moore's seminal work seems in hindsight as wrongly mismatched as making a R-rated Care Bears movie or letting Fox make a Fantastic Four movie. Yet some how everything turned out great for the most part.
On its own merits, Watchmen is a good movie. Jackie Earl Hayley manages to make Rorschach both simultaneously repulsive yet sympathetic. Ditto for Patrick Wilson who is the best actor for playing loser heroes since Tobey Macguire. The music and art direction add an otherworldly feel. The montages effectively establish the backstory without eating up too much screentime, especially with the opening scene that establishes the world and tone. Granted, the fidelity to source material can make the movie unstructured, yet it always feels engaging at every turn.
However, as an adaptation, it still works for the most part. Unfortunately, some elements that are lost in translation like how the comic explicitly shows that superhero comics lead to real people taking up costumes and causing a dystopia. Yet, the film still gets most of the comic's themes from like the ideological clash between Rorschach and Ozymandias, the lack of clear-cut heroes and villains, and the destabilization presence of disproportionately powered individuals like Dr. Manhattan. It's not a perfect adaptation, but it still works.
A Fascinating and Miraculous Movie
Watchmen is a miraculous achievement. Sure it's not perfect, but somehow Zack Snyder was able to adapt Alan Moore's comic to film and make it function as both a standalone movie and as an adaptation. Snyder is known for directing melodramatic, garish spectacle while Moore is known for writing grounded works that question the infallibility of superheroes and their impact on society. Having Snyder adapt Moore's seminal work seems in hindsight as wrongly mismatched as making a R-rated Care Bears movie or letting Fox make a Fantastic Four movie. Yet some how everything turned out great for the most part.
On its own merits, Watchmen is a good movie. Jackie Earl Hayley manages to make Rorschach both simultaneously repulsive yet sympathetic. Ditto for Patrick Wilson who is the best actor for playing loser heroes since Tobey Macguire. The music and art direction add an otherworldly feel. The montages effectively establish the backstory without eating up too much screentime, especially with the opening scene that establishes the world and tone. Granted, the fidelity to source material can make the movie unstructured, yet it always feels engaging at every turn.
However, as an adaptation, it still works for the most part. Unfortunately, some elements that are lost in translation like how the comic explicitly shows that superhero comics lead to real people taking up costumes and causing a dystopia. Yet, the film still gets most of the comic's themes from like the ideological clash between Rorschach and Ozymandias, the lack of clear-cut heroes and villains, and the destabilization presence of disproportionately powered individuals like Dr. Manhattan. It's not a perfect adaptation, but it still works.