Watchmen Movie

There are two things to consider when looking at how everyone’s favourite naked blue superman has been interpreted for the screen. One, there’s Billy Crudup’s voice performance and motion-capture work. Two, there’s the team of animators responsible for actually drawing Dr. Manhattan.

First off – Billy Crudup is an interesting choice. Definitely not the first name I would have thought of, but definitely not a bad pick. Crudup’s a talented guy and I think he’s got exactly what it takes to tackle the good doctor.

Manhattan, for the uninitiated, is a unique character in that he’s the only hero with any real superpowers – and boy does he have power. Basically the guy can do whatever he wants – the only problem is that he’s become so powerful that he’s lost touch with humanity. As a result, he’s a little lonely. If I had to pick three words to describe Dr. Manhattan, I’d go with cold, distant, and sad. 

Now I know Crudup can do cold (see Dedication), and I know Crudup can do distant (see Almost Famous), but I’ve yet to really see him do sad. I’ve seen him angst-ridden, depressed, brooding, and miserable, but not sad in the purest sense of the word. You know, not angry, not frustrated, just the “I’m so sad I need to get away to Mars to clear my head for a bit” kind of sad.

But I’m not too worried, because this is where the animators come in. From what I’ve seen, it looks like they’ve nailed the patented subtly-sad Dr. Manhattan face. In the publicity stills the poor doctor looks just as upset as he does in the comic. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know Crudup did a lot of motion-capture work, so he totally deserves credit for the sad-face, but I think the animators also deserve a round of applause. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a CGI face quite so expressive… except maybe for WALL-E, but he’s a robot so he doesn’t count.

I have only one minor issue with how they’ve handled Dr. Manhattan, and that’s his voice. In the graphic novel, it’s implied through distinctly-coloured speech bubbles that Dr. Manhattan speaks with an altered voice – it’s one more thing that separates him from the rest of us lowly humans. In the film, however, they’re using Crudup’s voice au natural. Not a major change, but it does make Dr. Manhattan seem more human, which is sort of the exact opposite of how he should be portrayed…

But again I’m being picky.

In any event, at least they’ve finally released the Dr. Manhattan costume I’ve always wanted.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 at 5:13 PM and is filed under Casting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.