Watchmen: Extended Edition

Watchmen is an excellent film by Zack Snyder that shares significant amounts of the feel of the source material in Watchmen comic books. Being a reader of this graphic novel by Alan Moore, Watchmen I was pleasantly surprised by how many scenes were captured on the big screen which are very much identical to the graphic novel. Adapting a graphic novel of this sort is not an easy task, therefore the direction seen in the mannerisms of this film owes a lot to Snyder. Parallel to this there is also a focus on detail when it comes to the presentation of some of the scenes of the film as well as their darker tonality and how some key scenes from the graphic novel are captured on the screen.

The conversations are cut and clear and even many lines are borrowed from the graphic novel and they are equally serious and as profound as the original work. I specifically like the handling of morality in the characters which are both realistic and overly sized. Thus, the psychopaths are the most interesting; Rorschach and, to some extent, The Comedian. Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach gives a sociopathically psychotic performance in the role which is spine-chilling captivating and memorable. There is no one better to portray the character of The Comedian, a real anti-hero main character whose nihilism is a dark comedy, portrayed by Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

Many regard for the work that has been put into soundtracks which correlate beautifully with each sequence of the movie. From the first scenes with the song “The Times They Are a-Changin’” to the saloon scenes with “Man of Constant Sorrow” and final scenes with “Keep On the Sunny Side”, the music elegant emphasizes the themes of the degeneration of time in the story.

Nevertheless, there are certain elements I did not enjoy so much enough in the film.
The third act of the movie seems to be less integrated compared to the rest of the movie. Whereas the build-up has a lot of tension and truly encloses the reader into the story, the payoff, especially altered from the want in the graphic novel is just not as strong. On the flip side, there are a few scenes that can be termed as a filler simply because they were not necessary.

While true that Watchmen could hardly be called perfect, it becomes clear that visually and dramatically, for the most part, the show is a success. All in all, it is a grand movie that stays mostly faithful to the original material, but it is not flawless. Rorschach and The Comedian are fantastic, Snyder is always an interesting director to watch, and the music is well chosen so that even though it’s not perfect and has a few problems, it is a good, imposing adaptation.