Watchmen Movie

I often find it difficult to explain the undying popularity of Watchmen to people who haven’t read the graphic novel.

“It’s the single greatest story ever told!” I proclaim. “It’s wicked smart and super political and it enlightens the human condition and the ending always makes me cry.” Surprisingly, people rarely take me seriously.

In more objective terms, Watchmen won the Hugo Award, was the only graphic novel to make Time’s 100 Greatest Novels list, and has been a source of inspiration to countless artists across countless mediums.

I could continue to sing its praises, but I think the following customer review on amazon.com says it best…

“This novel single-handedly rejuvenated my interest in reading and learning.”

Yes, Watchmen is indeed “the most celebrated graphic novel of all time.” But to really understand its rabid cult following, you need to know a little bit about its history…

So in 1939 Superman straps on his tights, saves the day, and the whole world falls in love with superheroes and comic books. And then for the next fifty years not much changes. New characters pop up here and there, the villains become a little more topical, but the story stays the same: bad guys do bad things and the good guys stop them.

And then Watchmen comes around and changes everything.

It changes the kinds of stories that are told, it changes how those stories are told, and it changes the way people think about comic books. Suddenly intellectuals start using terms like “graphic novel” and “burgeoning art form” and overnight everyone becomes very interested in masked avengers.

You see, Watchmen was the first comic book to really treat the issue of superheroes seriously. Prolific writer Alan Moore sat down and tried to answer one simple question: What would the world look like if men and women actually started putting on costumes and fighting crime? The answer turns out to be a terrifyingly dark look at a society struggling with the conflict between nostalgic heroism and new-world threats. Rape, murder, war, and good-old-fashioned heartbreak suddenly become a big part of the superhero world. If you’ve ever wondered how you get from the happy-go-lucky Batman of the 60s TV show to the gritty, dark Batman of Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan, the answer is Watchmen. This was the book that proved that comics weren’t just for kids.

Considering its popularity, it should come as no surprise that people immediately started talking about a movie. For twenty years the project has bounced around Hollywood, at one point or another reaching every big name, including Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Sigourney Weaver, Jude Law and, oddly enough, Robin Williams.

And come March 6^th, we’ll finally get to see the end result.

Now, for as long as people have been trying to get this movie made, a small group of dedicated comic book fans have been arguing that a film adaptation is impossible, blasphemous, and should never see the light of day. Their argument against the film usually sounds something like this: Watchmen was designed as a comic book and the story can’t be told any other way.

Proponents of this theory aren’t entirely wrong. The strength of Watchmen comes from just how densely-layered the story is, and just how much it relies on the unique qualities of the comic book medium. Alan Moore builds an entirely new world for his characters, and artist Dave Gibbons painstakingly draws it with clues and hints hidden on every page. You can read the book a dozen times and you still won’t catch it all. The images are so detailed that there’s information tucked away in every corner. It’s like a more disturbing Where’s Waldo of superhero culture. Part of the fun of Watchmen is being able to hold it in your hands and flip back and forth, staring at one frozen image for minutes on end.

Now, obviously you can’t do this with a film. A movie unfolds at its own pace and you have to keep up, leaving many to believe that all the good stuff in the background of Watchmen will be lost. And what’s more, Watchmen is a long book, and it seems unlikely that every single plot point will fit into a feature-length film. The problem, though, is that ever single point is absolutely intrinsic to the strength of the story.

All this being said, though, I happen to think that the Watchmen movie will be mind-blowingly awesome. Here’s why:

First off, the argument that the story needs to be told in comic book form just doesn’t hold up for me. Obviously there’s a difference between the image on the page and the image on the screen, but that doesn’t mean a Watchmen movie will be inherently bad – it just means it’ll just be different. Based on the interviews I’ve read and the previews I’ve seen, it really looks like director Zack Snyder has pulled out all the stops to recreate every single bit of detail from the comic that he possibly can, and he’s found some pretty neat ways of hiding them throughout the film. And while it may be difficult to pick up all that information on the first run through, that’s what DVDs are for. I look forward to sitting down and watching this bad boy with full commentary and seeing what’s lurking in the background. If anything, it just means that the movie is going to stand up to repeat viewings.

Secondly, while not every single plot point will make it to the screen, you have to look at all the extra stuff you get with a movie: you’ll actually get to hear the soundtrack that’s referenced so frequently throughout the book; you’ll get to see Adrian Veidt’s Antarctic fortress and the crystal palace on Mars; and you’ll get to experience the vision of Dr. Manhattan materializing out of thin air in all his full-frontal glory. Most importantly, you get to see the whole thing acted out by professionals. The bottom line is that no written character can stand up to a good live actor. The cast of Watchmen gets to take the story and turn it into a completely different experience. It’s kind of like seeing Shakespeare performed on stage instead of reading it to yourself.

In any event, Watchmen, an R-rated superhero movie about sexual deviants, consumer culture, and justified violence (all wrapped in a 1980s candy coating), will be one of the most hotly-debated movies of 2009, and over the coming weeks we’ll be discussing it all right here.

Check back in a few days to see what I have to say about the casting choices!

Also be sure to head over to www.watchmenmovie.ca to learn about how you can win passes to a sneak preview!

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 4:21 PM and is filed under History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.