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It’s strange entering a movie theater, having no idea
what to expect from the film about to be seen. The ads for
“Watchmen” promised a visually stunning superhero movie,
and while it certainly delivers in that respect, I never
imagined that it would also be such a complex, thought-provoking
morality play, one that takes plenty of time to develop
the characters into people we can actually invest in. ***
I suppose I could have known this ahead of time had
I read the original graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave
Gibbons, but to tell the truth, I didn’t even know of its
existence until the summer of 2008. No matter--the film
is a work of art unto itself, not merely in terms of its
look, but also in terms of its attention to character and
its willingness to tackle weighty political and social issues.
The tradeoff is a plot that’s often very difficult to follow,
mostly because there’s a lot of story being told. ***
It’s a story that takes place in New York City in 1985.
Not the actual 1985, mind you, but a 1985 in an alternate
reality, one in which Richard Nixon has just been elected
for a fifth term as President. Even though superheroes are
commonplace, they’re all mere human beings, which is to
say that they have no actual superpowers. At a time when
the United States and the Soviet Union are engaged in a
heated nuclear battle, superheroes, also known as Watchmen,
are seen more as vigilantes, and it isn’t long before their
actions are outlawed. ***
Despite having disappeared from the public eye, it
seems there’s a conspiracy against the Watchmen, who are
now being murdered one by one. Kick starting the story is
the murder of Edward Blake, a.k.a., The Comedian (Jeffrey
Dean Morgan); this reunites the remaining Watchmen, who
take it upon themselves to solve the mystery of his death.
***
Most of the film is built around in-depth character
analyses, which gradually help to explain why these people
are the way they are. The Comedian, for example, is so named
because, from his perspective, life is all one big joke.
Having been commissioned by the American government to assist
in certain operations, he’s cynical and world-weary, pretty
much to the point of hostility. ***
It would be too much to say that we’re made to care
for him; we see him do some pretty reprehensible things,
none of which I’ll describe. We are, however, made to understand
where he’s coming from. At a certain point, he finds that
he’s no longer laughing at how much of a joke life is. ***
There are many other characters. There’s Laurie Juspeczyk,
a.k.a., Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), whose troubled
mother, the original Silk Spectre (Carla Gugino), had ...
an encounter with The Comedian many years ago. ***
There’s Daniel Dreiberg/Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson),
a technically savvy retired superhero, whose “basement”
is an abandoned subway station filled with various machines.
***
There’s Walter Kovacs/Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley),
the only Watchman to continue his pursuit of vigilante justice.
Appropriately, his cloth mask is decorated with inkblots
that continuously shift around, and as is the case with
a real Rorschach test, he sees only what he wants to see
in the world around him. ***
There’s Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), the
only Watchman who has publicly revealed his identity. It’s
said on a few occasions that he’s the world’s smartest man.
***
The most fascinating character is Dr. Manhattan (Billy
Crudup), the only Watchman who has actual superpowers. His
story is definitely one for the comic books; he began life
as mild-mannered nuclear scientist Dr. Jon Osterman, but
as the result of a lab accident, his body and mind were
transformed, allowing him to exist beyond mortal notions
of space and time. His voice is distinctly human, but his
body is a glowing-blue spectacle made of light and energy.
***
Even though he uses his abilities to assist the American
government in its efforts against the Soviet Union, it’s
obvious that he has drifted apart from the rest of humanity.
It’s easy to see why--joining with the very fabric of the
universe must make life as we know it seem awfully insignificant.
He makes this point on the surface of Mars, where he unearths
a towering sphere of crystalline gears, all of which rotate
in very clock-like patterns. ***
And yet, there’s the sense that some part of him, however
small, is still human. Consider the fact that, even though
he appears mostly in the nude, he always dresses in a suit
for important events, like press interviews. How is it that
a being from another plane of existence would have even
a modicum of humility? ***
As we near the end of the film, an ethical dilemma
is presented, challenging the audience as well as the characters.
What it basically boils down to is: Is there a point at
which peace comes at too high a cost? You be the judge.
All I can say is that it’s a fitting question for a film
this well crafted, not merely on a technical level, but
on a narrative level, as well. It’s an ambitious superhero
fable that surges with action, drama, and humor, at times
brutally violent, at times contemplative, always staying
fresh and exciting. ***
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