Watchmen, the original and the film adaptation

It was only recently that I read the first comic book (or, to be politically correct, graphic novel) of my life. And, according to a lot of people more experienced in the field than myself, I started at the top with Watchmen. Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen tells the tale of a group of costumed heroes (and at least one actual superhero with actual superpowers) living within an alternate 1985 where Nixon is in his fifth term and the planet is on the verge of nuclear apocalypse. Yesterday, March 6, the film adaptation was released to widely disparate reviews. I, of course, have an opinion on the matter, but first, my opinions on the graphic novel itself.

The book is honestly quite brilliant, even when compared to more mainstream fiction. Moral questions and political themes permeate the work, which—even on the surface—is extremely dense. This is the sort of book you pick up not for the costumes and crimefighting, but for complex ideas that actually make you think. I know, right?

Questions concerning god are handled flawlessly through the omnipotent and near-omniscient character Dr. Manhattan, who, due to a nuclear accident, gained control of all matter and a supernatural understanding of time and space. Used then as a weapon by the United States in the Cold War, an amazing quote from the book is, “God exists and he’s American.” Manhattan can foresee the future, yet at several points shows genuine surprise at new information. When cornered about this by another character, Manhattan explains, “We’re all puppets; I can just see the strings.” And you thought comic books were all just about blood and spandex.

The final conflict of the novel leaves the reader contemplating the moral justifications and ramifications of saving the planet from self-annihilation through extraordinary sacrifice. I won’t ruin anything for anyone, and hopefully I haven’t already, but the ending is really the most important part of the work (for the record, I think I’d be on Rorschach’s side at the climax). More on that in a moment.

The artistic nature of the book is probably something best left to a more competent comic book expert to comment on, but, to me, Watchmen contained some really beautiful and engaging visuals, like a spherical glass castle floating through clouds above Mars and a couple kissing against the backdrop of a nuclear mushroom cloud and then disintegrating. Fairly epic, no?

Now to the film. First the positives, then the gripes. The film stayed true to many of the visuals and dialogue found in the novel, which was refreshing and enjoyable. There’s almost no better movie-going experience than watching an adaptation of a work you love and saying “I remember that! They did it justice!” The visual effects were unbelievable, rendering Rorschach’s always-shifting inkblot mask and Dr. Manhattan’s alien blue aura in beautiful realism. My favorite part, to be honest, were the opening credits: flashback images covering real and fictional historical events in slow-motion while Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin‘” played hauntingly over them. Ironic, campy, and perfect.

…But the rest of the film was anything but perfect. The director, Zack Snyder, who previously worked on 300, took several creative liberties with the plot and dialogue, which is to be expected when working on a book of this length and density. Elements of the plot were omitted, like the scenes at the newsstand and the metafictional comic book, “The Curse of the Black Freighter,” but I really didn’t mind these—the main plot of the graphic novel filled 3 hours easily.

However, just like Snyder is wont to do, he added gratuitous violence that was never present in the graphic novel (disgusting images of bones breaking right in front of the camera, inserted barbarisms like Rorschach cleaving open a man’s skull, a [justifiable?] murder which was covered completely differently in the book, et cetera), and near-pornography in place of the modest suggested sexuality that the comic included. But, even these issues I was willing to ignore.

There was something, however, that ruined the entire film for me, and I’m sure many more fans of the original comic—the screenwriters essentially took the final 25 pages of Watchmen, threw them out the window, and made up the entire thing. Remember when I stressed the importance of the ending? Exactly. I won’t ruin either ending, the book’s or the movie’s, but suffice it to say they share almost nothing in common. Disappointing, Mr. Snyder. So, here’s the verdict:

• Watchmen graphic novel: 9.0 out of 10
• Watchmen film adaptation: 5.9 out of 10