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Watchmen (2009)

Director: Zack Snyder

Time Out rating

Average user rating

77 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

The most celebrated graphic novel ever written, ‘Watchmen’ takes place in an alternate 1985 teetering on the brink of nuclear Armageddon, as a group of retired superheroes reunite to track down mysterious masked assassin. The graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons was a self-reflexive comment on the entire genre and explored the fine boundary between the masked vigilante, the dirty civil servant and the dictatorial fascist. It has long been thought unfilmable: a direct translation, it was argued, would be overlong, punishingly bleak, bewilderingly convoluted and wildly uncommercial.

Which is exactly the film '300' director Zack Snyder has delivered. With the exception of an altered (and, it must be said, slightly improved) denouement, Snyder and his screenwriters have changed almost nothing from the original text. Costumes, sets, visual effects, the framing of shots and sequences, all the choicest lines of dialogue, even the music selections come directly from the novel. With all of these decisions taken out of the director's hands, what's left for Snyder to do?

Snyder's biggest impact is felt in the action sequences, which are also the film's weakest scenes: overstylised, repetitive and pornographically violent. Violence is the major theme of Moore’s book: it’s questionable efficacy in solving global problems, the conflicted, animalistic thrill of crushing one’s enemies. Snyder rides roughshod over such subtleties: 'Watchmen' may be the nastiest blockbuster ever devised. It luxuriates in snapping bones and literal explosions of gore. It's here that the gulf between comic and movie becomes most clear: Gibbons's drawings were often shocking, but they served a purpose. Snyder employs violence for the rush, and while this approach is sometimes brutally effective, it's also deeply crass.

The casting throws up mixed results: Patrick Wilson is agreeably vulnerable as Nite Owl, while Jackie Earl Haley makes for a supremely effective, unsettling Rorschach. But these two seasoned professionals stand out in a cast chosen for their physical similarity to Gibbons's drawings. Thankless female figurehead Silk Spectre demands an actress of real grace and vulnerability: Malin Akerman’s bland, soap-opera performance barely scratches the surface, while Matthew Goode's vacuous portrayal of the power-hungry Ozymandias suggests annoyed playboy rather than World's Smartest Man. But they can hardly be blamed: Snyder repeatedly fluffs the film's emotional peaks, blundering through on his way to another action setpiece.

But, try as he might, Snyder can't sabotage the sheer majesty of the source material. The breadth and grandeur of Moore’s globe-spanning narrative still astounds, and to see Gibbons’s iconic images writ vast and messy across the screen packs an undeniable sentimental punch. Like the book, there’s an impressive visual and narrative density here, cramming a bewildering amount of information into already overloaded scenes. The characters may be undermined by Snyder’s glib, hasty approach, but they still resonate, as do the overriding themes of power, corruption and human frailty.

But 'Watchmen' is still going to be the ultimate tough sell: there will be those who view the film as a bewildering mishmash of underexplored themes, thinly sketched characters and noisy, excessive violence. They're probably right: any work of popular art which demands prior knowledge must be deemed a failure. And yet, there’s something admirable about the entire enterprise: its ungainly size, its unrelenting weirdness, its willful, challenging intensity. Neophytes should probably steer clear, but for longterm fans of the source work this will be a hugely pleasurable, if ultimately unenlightening experience.

Author: Tom Huddleston 2009-02-26 12:03:53

Time Out London Issue 2011, 5 – 11 March, 2009

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User reviews of this film

Serious film critic said...

Posted on Mar 15 2009 18:18 Never has a film divided critics and fans in recent yrs as much as this-its either fantastic or the worst thing you will ever witness on the big screen. I personally believe if you have an open mind and enjoy comic books you will enjoy it, even if you havent read the original novel. Is it a classic? I will let the critics of the future decide on that one, only time will tell, but its certainly original, being the first 18 certified graphic novel with 'extreme' content. Is this the first of many? Will we see anything similar in the near future? Whether thats a good thing or bad only time will tell. Not one for the kids or easily offended!

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KC said...

Posted on Mar 15 2009 11:03 Walked out of this film after 10mins,couldn't stand the wooden acting & that guy wiv the weird stocking on his face just made me want 2 slap him,his voice just finnished it off 4 me. Avoid this crap at all costs.

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Jenni said...

Posted on Mar 14 2009 00:02 Waste of money!!! Far too long, acting on a par with that seen in Hollyoaks. 3 hours of total, boring tripe! I'm struggling to remember what the movie was actually about. I did want to leave pretty much from the beginning, but that was until it became much better sport to take the p*ss out the movie! The part where Dr Manhattan (why is his blue willy out in every scene I ask???) starts to create the set from Total Recall when he's on Mars!
Sorry, but this just was totally lost on me and pretty much the entire cinema of people we shared this terrible experience with.
The only way to truly describe it is to say that it is far worse than when I sat through the Moulin Rouge when that cr*p came out.
Apologies, but I feel I have been robbed!!

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hannah said...

Posted on Mar 12 2009 19:24 This was such a weird and strange movie, i have never seen anything lie it. i fell asleep through most of it what the heck was it about????? please do not waste your money, its ridiculosly confusing and looooong. DONT WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Kinglouie said...

Posted on Mar 12 2009 09:14 Very close to the GN, kept me glued & my wife who as never heard of Watchmen let alone read the GN. Dark, witty & in your face when necessary. A job well done.

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Bobby said...

Posted on Mar 12 2009 01:52 still cant spell, thats why i read comics!

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Bobby said...

Posted on Mar 12 2009 01:50 Amazing! you can see hwere the dosh went..got under the skin of the book. problem is i guess he should have bought somethign new to the table, the format of the comic grouded it in the mediums banality..he should have che chosen an equally staid format..less men flying about on wires...and more sober punches..that said, amazing talent

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Martin said...

Posted on Mar 11 2009 17:22 By mistake I agreed last week to be dragged by a female friend to watch 'Confessions of a shopaholic' - and instantly branded it the most nauseating sack of kack I'd ever sat through - until ... WATCHMEN!
Bring back ' confessions ' - i'd have chewed off my feet to swap screens and be back watching an hour and a half of girlie cr**!
Don't waste your money - you'll have better entertainment sitting in your car staring out of the windscreen in the car part ..plus you'll have two and a half hours to come up with pseudobabble like the pretentious garbage various Watchmen aficionados have posted here. The Nand'os beofre the film was more exciting, more intellectually stimulating and more likely to set my pulse racing.

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david hanger said...

Posted on Mar 11 2009 14:53 I don'y know what cinema you went to, but nobody left the packed out one here in Brighton. why can't folk just enjoy the film instaed of going and ripping it apart. i am not a follower of the comics, but i was very impressed with the whole feeling of the film. As a gay man i was also turned on by the Computer Generated Dr. Manhatten and i am sure my fellow puffs would agree too....people see different things in a film...just enjoy and don't take things so seriously.....i loved the film cause it left me leaving the cinema thinking about stuff. to give a film a no star rating is sad and over the top, so get a life i say!!!!!!

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david hanger said...

Posted on Mar 11 2009 14:53 I don'y know what cinema you went to, but nobody left the packed out one here in Brighton. why can't folk just enjoy the film instaed of going and ripping it apart. i am not a follower of the comics, but i was very impressed with the whole feeling of the film. As a gay man i was also turned on by the Computer Generated Dr. Manhatten and i am sure my fellow puffs would agree too....people see different things in a film...just enjoy and don't take things so seriously.....i loved the film cause it left me leaving the cinema thinking about stuff. to give a film a no star rating is sad and over the top, so get a life i say!!!!!!

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SmackedUpToddler said...

Posted on Mar 11 2009 13:13 Frank, do you call every sarcastic joke? nice work on picking out the joke though, you must be a hit with all the guys at war hammer club. and i bet all that pussy you get must be too much to handle sometimes.
Frank wets the bed.

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jhood2782 said...

Posted on Mar 10 2009 21:12 I wanted to see this more than x-men 1,2,or,3 more than the new wolverine coming out and T4 put together. I did think the fight scenes were awesome, but come on please give me something that resembles a plot or makes me wonder what will be next. BOGUS MOVIE****

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jhood2782 said...

Posted on Mar 10 2009 21:12 I wanted to see this more than x-men 1,2,or,3 more than the new wolverine coming out and T4 put together. I did think the fight scenes were awesome, but come on please give me something that resembles a plot or makes me wonder what will be next. BOGUS MOVIE****

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lilly brown said...

Posted on Mar 10 2009 00:20 Julie 1 v Usman 0
Usman I'm sure you knew your wife would not like this movie so she has every right to complain - and you also knew you would not enjoy the movie - you really don't have to spend money on our account.

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clip tie said...

Posted on Mar 10 2009 00:08 My favourite line in this movie, when Rorschach is banged up with scores of cons he has put away - he is threatened by a midget and his two hired thugs, "I'm not in here with you, you're in here with me!" The 21st C antihero, Rorschach, a do gooding psycho - and Carla Gugino is hot. The story line is feeble but this is still a hell of a visual and audio treat - go for it.

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