Watchmen Review Starring The Dark Knight
iView Author: papaji (Washington D.C., USA)
Email: angad3386[at]gmail[dot]com
Watchmen Review Starring The Dark Knight‘
Peter Parker wears his cute little spidey costume and transforms from a lovelorn geek to New York City’s savior. Bruce Wayne dons his body-hugging outfit after he realizes that Liam Neeson and that scary bald Japanese dude from Last Samurai were cuckoo. His costume represents fear and vigilante justice. In each case, the costume has its own personality. The person transforms from a weak Clark Kent to the magnificent bullet-stopping S symbol. But what if the costume didn’t stand for anything? What if it did not bestow upon any ideals? What if the costume was purely a means to protect identity, kick ass, and have a lot of fun? What if the men behind the costume were the same except that now they are on serious power trips? That used to be the Watchmen…till they get banned by the government. The Comedian, the most obnoxious of the lot gets killed five minutes into the movie. Rorschach, the masked vigilante sets out to find out who could be targeting one of them. The former Watchmen reunite, follow the trail of events and gets sucked into an unpredictable and unsettling climax.
Of course, the Watchmen are not amoral. Some genuinely care about people, justice and world peace. But they do not and cannot care the way regular people do because of their powers. And Dr Manhattan, that blue God, is a Superman in the truest sense. Bombarded by Kubrick’s nuclear monolith, his consciousness reaches such high levels that he cannot relate to humans anymore. As far as human definitions go, he’s a nihilist. The movie is an amalgamation of the collective conscience of the Watchmen. It shows all their sides, and the humans represent pieces of wood that they play chess with. There’s a clash of superpowers, ideas, ethics, and wills. This movie is the Mahabharat of America and it takes place in the alternate universe of 1985.
Disclaimer: At this point I would like to warn you that although are no spoilers for Watchmen there are a couple of them for The Dark Knight. I know I know…ye baburao…err…papaji ka style hai!!!
Watchmen has been messing with my mind for a while now. It’s become a clich'© to call a story ‘multilayered’ but Watchmen is just that. It’s sad and depressing but the visuals are bright, animated, and colorful. It is impossible not to compare this movie to The Dark Knight – that baap of all superhero movies. It’s the fate that no superhero movie can escape. The Dark Knight (or called TDK from here on) set a yardstick that will be used to measure every decent and deep comic book adaptation from here on. So…is Watchmen better than TDK? Nahi yaar! But it holds its own. Watchmen is darker, bleaker, and juicy as hell. I don’t think I’ll be able to rest until I emanate my feelings in writing and wait for someone to trash or talk about my review and the film. IMDB says that it releases on March 20 in India but I have no idea if there is any hype surrounding it there. You fanboys have been drooling over Dev D and Gulaal for a while now and some of us in North America are still waiting for a release/DVD (and drooling ourselves in anticipation). Are there enough people excited about Watchmen? If not, I hope they will be after reading this review.
It seems like the great writers of the graphic novel, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons love ideas more than people. People are pawns that get used by the powerful who have their own distinct ideas about what’s right for the world and its poor subjects. I have not read any of Moore’s graphic novels, but I have seen V for Vendetta and now, Watchmen. In both movies, Moore presents a dystopian world (for some reason it seems like that’s a prerequisite for any graphic novel). Whether it is a fascist totalitarian regime or in this case, Nixon’s 5th term, people are reduced to tools. Only bulletproof ideas can save (or destroy) worlds. But here Moore and Gibbons take the concept a step further. The 5th of November in this movie is unlike anything you have ever seen. And it’s got nothing to do with collective action or people’s revolution. Even in The Dark Knight, where a crazy clown and an idealistic rich savior battle each other, the real victory is achieved by the people when they decide not to blow each other up. The people end up being the real heroes and Batman takes the heat on himself in return. In Watchmen, however, people practically don’t matter. Nixon has Dr Manhattan and his buddies to suppress any uprising. Imagine an I Robot world where there’s no Will Smith. V would have been helpless here. Christian Bale’s rants would be useless. So in a way Moore and Gibbons are suggesting that this fake democratic, monstrous, and ultra-imperialistic America is better at thought control and fear mongering than any fascist regime could ever hope to be.
Fanboy is the right word to describe Zach Snyder, the lucky director. He has a knack for recreating visuals in their pure form, but without a vision of his own. Let’s look at all the directors who had at some point thought about adapting this piece of art – what fans all over said ‘should not be made into a movie.’ There was Terry Gilliam, Darren Aaronofsky, and Paul Greengrass. If any of them had made this movie, they would have imprinted their signature on it. Snyder avoids that to a large extent. Now since I have not read the novel, I can only tell you that I’ve heard Snyder was able to pretty much copy the novel frame to frame on the big screen. This is still an impressive task given all its amazing visuals and overbearing themes. Comic book fans have no problems with it, although the ending was changed and according to some, it makes better sense than the book’s conclusion. Snyder’s style is best exemplified in the awesome opening credits title sequence. It packs a lot of the background story, super-cool montages, vintage superhero nostalgia, and the most famous Bob Dylan song. Opening credits – they are a changin. The soundtrack in general is pretty impressive. It’s got music from the classic rock era, with notable sequences featuring Simon and Garfunkel and Jimi Hendrix.
Ideologically, Watchmen’s ending is the antithesis to TDK. The Joker here might have been the hero, a people’s champion, because he would hate the kind of control that Nixon’s regime imposes on the general population. Batman’s vision of justice was so entrenched into the ethics of being righteous that he wouldn’t even kill the Joker. He would make sure the Joker gets tried in court…often at the peril of the city at large. That was Batman’s greatest character flaw, and Joker’s greatest strength. Watchmen sort of reverses the whole world of Christopher Nolan and suggests that superheroes could be utilitarian – the architects of the greater good. The greater good – that misused and abused philosophy that has been so often the excuse to exercise mass murder and oppress civil and human rights. Each of the Watchmen has their own ideas of right and wrong shaped largely by their fractional detachment from the human world and personal history. This disconnect from humanity, partially a result of their obvious mental and physical superiority, is shown convincingly through back stories at various points in the movie.
It’s hard to say anything else by not giving away substantial plot points. What is even more impressive about Watchmen, more so than the themes and ideas it fights with and submits to is the screenplay’s structure. Pacing of the story is one department where it outdoes TDK. In The Dark Knight, Jonathan and Christopher Nolan had so much to say that the story seemed rushed…in a hurry to finish up the movie within its Hollywood-standard 2.5 hours. That movie would have been even better had it been around 3 hours. Watchmen, however, is successful in packing everything together and moving forward (or backwards for the flashbacks) without overbearing the viewer. This is where Zach Snyder’s visual senses come into play. I have already mentioned the clever opening sequence where all the information needed to explain the background is conveyed. Even with the crazy visuals, Martian trips, and generous doses of Dr Manhattan’s blue penis, the viewer does not experience a sensory overload. Alan Moore’s genius is visible when you look at the way the story progresses. Flashbacks occur throughout and just when the viewer gets intrigued about a character’s past. The ideologies of the characters are slowly revealed and we discover them ourselves, free to agree or disagree with it. Nothing is unnecessary and all the back stories explain the characters and their philosophies. There is gore that people have complained about but come on…what kind of a Zach Snyder dystopia would if be if there isn’t nasty blood. The action sequences were, however, predictable in style. Snyder does his 300 thing again with the extreme-slow Matrix-esque stylized action that focuses more on being cool than anything else. And that’s why 300 sucked. But that’s a small blip in Watchmen since action is not the focus here. Thanks to Moore’s killer substantive material, and Snyder’s absolute fanboy-like dedication, the movie remains focused on its strengths.
There isn’t much to say about performances. The one that the viewer really connects to is masked for most of the time. Aside from Rorschach who made his presence felt, the other Watchmen and Nixon are strictly okay. It doesn’t matter though, because characters exist primarily to represent divergent moralities and we care more about what they say and do instead of how and how well. In fact, I don’t think there are many memorable dialogues from the film either. The style of the movie derives from a blend of the expected Snyder slo-mo thingie and the cool flashbacks, beautiful story progression, voice-over narration, and perfectly paced ideological discharge. Everybody is SO Serious…but there is comedy. It’s in the most demented form of sarcasm – aimed at the stupidity and helplessness of mankind. If there are any light moments, they come from the small romantic subplot. I remember a friend of mine who saw TDK and said “it was heavy.” Well try this dish. It’s a pure non veg all American dystopian buffet serving delicious chunks of Superheroes Gone Wild. But we voluntarily swallow it up. Because it doesn’t kill you…just makes you stronger, and satiated. Zach Snyder – thanks for not ruining it. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons – sir aap log chaa gaye. Go see Watchemen, it’s solid.
Tags: Alan Moore, Comic Books, Dave Gibbons, fanboy, the dark knight, Watchmen, Zach Snyder
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Watchmen is a pretty unfilmable graphic novel and even though Zach Schnyder’s done his best, if you aren’t familiar with the source material, chances are you won’t get a lot of the movie… Good try for him though… 300 was all pulp and no substance…
well…i guess i am going to read the graphic novel eventually. but after writing this review i went on the wikipedia page for watchmen (don’t go there if you don’t want spoilers) and it seems like the major themes do come across in the film as well…at least they did for me. the reviews in the US have been pretty mixed though.
Awesome review dude!
i have already seen it twice …i liked it a lot but still it falls short ….problem is that its frame to frame GN and its not able to capture the “mutilayered” story of GN ….
@ Tushar — thanks man. That coming from you means a lot cuz i really like your music reviews.
@ Anand — i don’t think anyone expected the movie to surpass the GN. but as you seem to indicate, it’s a pretty good movie by itself.
This is the only time I have seen that genius from Britain, Mr. Alan Moore getting his due.
All the other encroachment by H’wood such as : “League of xtraordinary gentlemen”, “V for Vendetta” and specially “From Hell” never captured the subtlety, the complexity and the amazing vision of a true genius of our time.
But this time Snyder by being overtly faithful to the content has somehow shown the world what a real Alan Moore material is. Although, the last plot change and nite owl-silk spektre love making scene could be cut short but for a fan of graphic novel( or a novel as Watchmen appeared as one of the most imp novel since 1923 in TIME magazine’s top 100 list)by Alan Moore it is really a long-waited treat. Wish someone with Snyder’s sensibilty would direct “From Hell” and someone with same calibre will someday try to take “Swamp Thing”.
@papaji, dude I have heard a lot about the GN from Sid. He says read it and it will change the way you look at comic books. so one day I am gonna do that. Waiting for the film here in India, don’t wanna watch it on DVD/bad print. Your article has made me big on the film too now. Though mooninthegutter did make a ‘cult/underground’ recco for it few weeks back.
I was totally pissed off with this movie…I haven’t read the source of this movie……and that made the movie experience frustrating..even some of the American audience that I have spoken to were perplexed with the content of the movie which was very intense….understanding Dr. Manhattan was the utmost tough task…….though I would appreciate Zack Snyder’s faithful adaptation of the novel, the film was neither entertaining nor thought provoking…only part I enjoyed was the soundtrack, songs (Times are changing, Sound of Silence, Hallelujah etc..)and the trailer of upcoming Pixar’s movie “Up”…..
TDK is overhyped ,IMO the yardstick for superhero movies is The spiderman series esp. Spidy I and II.
guys when is the movie releasing here in India?..any idea??
Papaji, the Wikipedia page on Watchmen (GN) does not do justice to the GN. The GN is one huge melting pot of ideas and themes. One has to reread the GN numerous times to fully understand them. Which is why Morore is against converting them to film. According to him, films cannot do justice to GNs because unlike in the case of a book, you cannot turn back pages and read it again to understand it fully.
Still, the fanboys seem to like it. I will be watching it once it releases in India.
I don’t do comics, and had no idea what the film was about when I went to see it.
But I really, really liked it.
The visuals were so easy on the eye and calming.
Infact, I felt extremley relaxed in this 3hr film.
Yes, there were violent scenes.
Some gory, but I suppose it’s representing the comics.
Yet the characters spoke in such a calm, soothing manner, that I almost nodded off!
T.D.K came to my mind too.
I love the BGM in the ’sunglass in the dark’ scene :-)
Way better than the boring ‘300′!
not seen the movie, nor do I intend, would rather pay respect to the creator. He had this to say to a journalist when he was asked his opinion “i would spit venom on this movie”.
If you have the inclination I recommend read the GN, it would blow your mind.
PS: Alan Moore refused any payment from the studios. And has completely disassociated himself from it.
Alan Moore has taken no payment from the studios and has completely disassociated himself from the movie
@ Dhananjay – yeah i’m sure the GN is way more detailed. but i would expect the Wikipedia page (probably created by dedicated fans of the GN) to have the core ideas and themes from the GN. but as i said before, i’ll read the book soon.
@ Rmn – you should try and watch the movie and judge for yourself. Alan Moore dissociated himself from the project because he didn’t like what Hollywood did to his earlier works not beecause of this particular movie.
The best dialogue of the movie belongs to Rorsach, “You do not understand,it is not me who is stuck in here with you, it is you who is stuck in here with me”
nice review papaji. I sure am waiting for this movie to watch here. I hope it does get released atleast by next weekend without further delay.
Watchmen is a visual and psychological cornucopia — definitely worth watching