Trying not to sound too intellectual, but that’s the main theme of the film I watched (pun not intended) today. Watchmen is yet again another graphic novel successfully adapted to the silverscreen.
This particular one has a special tang to it. This graphic novel written by the illustrious Alan Moore and illustrated by the marvelous Dave Gibbons is the only graphic novel (GN) that both I and my ex-girlfriend had the guilty pleasure of enjoying. As a sign of my sincere and undying love for her, I gave her my copy as something to remember me by.
It certainly would’ve been grand if we had watched the movie together. We would have gone out the theater debating endlessly about the high- and low-points of the film with the GN as benchmark. And, if we’re in a deadlock, we’d sort it out over coffee and some intimate moments after. Man, that would’ve been something.
Cutting back on memory lane, the film was simply amazing. It's the comicbook come to life. This from a comic fanboy of more than 20 years. Watchmen is the seminal graphic novel that many artists tried to imitate but failed to equal, or even surpass. In my humble opinion, though I am a die-hard Batman fan, Frank Miller’s phenomenal The Dark Knight Returns doesn’t even make a dent on this GN in scope and in magnitude. It is only fitting that this masterpiece of a tale receive so many awards, the least of which is the Hugo Award and included in Time Magazine’s list of 100 Best Novels of all time. Take note that Time considers this piece of work as a ‘novel’.
Seeing the characters I’ve revered move around the silverscreen as they should just excites the fan inside me to Kingdom Come! The film’s action scenes compliments the GN’s dense narrative. But my favorite would be the steamy sex scenes between our anti-heroes. The Silk Specter and the Silhouette comes to mind! Whew, you’re my Tabasco, hot momma! Want some more sauce on those buns?
My peeves? Well, lemme see, as I said earlier, the action scenes were devised to compliment the GN. Zack Snyder understood this, and although it would have been easier to adapt the film page-per-page like ‘300’ and Rodriguez’s adaptation of Sin City, Snyder just included the elements that are filmable. He respects the viewers’ intellect and left to the more meticulous ones the enjoyment on figuring out and extracting the juicy quirks and perks by reading the original material. Read, kiddies! There’s a damn world of wonders in books!
Another one would be the opening credits DIDN’T include Alan Moore’s name. Only Mr. Dave Gibbons was given citation where it’s due. But then again, Alan Moore DID state that he doesn’t want his name to be associated with the film to begin with. In fairness, the opening credits did state “From the Graphic Novel Illustrated by Dave Gibbons.”
And yes, aside from absence of the ‘The Black Freighter’ comic plot that should have ran parallel with the story the ending for me came as a total surprise. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it yet. Though the fan in me disapproves, it makes complete sense to the simpleton of a moviegoer in me. And if the original GN ending was incorporated to this film, it simply would have been a complete cop out. Snyder’s resolution is much more sensible, film-wise that is. So hardliners believing that the original material was sodomized with this new ending, fret not! It makes damn sense, believe me.
As a playful trivia, my remaining comic buddy here, Mr. O, said that the ‘Outer Limits’ TV part in the movie was included in the film as homage to Alan Moore's original draft. Seems Moore wanted to include that piece in his original work in 1985, but DC editor Len Wein at that time disapproved and the idea was shelved and didn’t see print. Snyder’s homage to Moore puts everything in full circle. Everything.
In a nutshell, the movie's entertainment value was okay. Well, it’s not as satisfying as The Dark Knight, but it did try to present to viewers ideas about science, religion (and the absence of it), conspiracies that rock our very society, ideologies on how not to treat women, and moral (and amoral) ambiguity of human beings.
Then again, Watchmen is on its own is unforgiving, unfailing, and unwavering. Ticking at a precise, almost surgical pace, it waits for no one. If you want to get lost in its cold embrace, better catch up or see it again. There’s just no room for idle and inane minds on this trip.
* My Favorite Movie Lines:
“I’m not locked up in here with YOU; you’re locked up in here with ME!” – Rorschach addressing his fellow inmates in prison.
“Human life is a highly overrated phenomenon.” – Dr. Manhattan commenting on the ‘Miracle of Life’.
“Fuck you!” – a New York prostitute cussing Rorschach and giving him the finger after he turned her proposition down (despite after showing him her racks).
“Ohhh, Ahhh, Daniel!” – Laurie Jupiter (Silk Specter 2) as she and Nite Owl 2 copulate in costumes.
“Ohhh, Ahhh, Laurie!” – Daniel Dreiberg (Nite Owl 2) as he and Silk Specter 2 copulate in costumes.
* My favorite ‘epitaph’ (swiped by Adrian Veidt from Percy Bysshe Shelley):
My name is Ozymandias
King of Kings
Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair!
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