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'Watchmen' Pursues Too Many Complexities

Warner Bros.

Bily Crudup plays Dr. Manhattan, a former scientist who's been tranformed into a superhero, in "Watchmen," based on the Alan Moore graphic novel.

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By KEVIN WALKER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 5, 2009

Anyone who has attempted to bring comic book writer Alan Moore's work to the screen has encountered difficulties. Moore himself now routinely asks that his name not be included on the credits for films based on his work.

Moore is right to be concerned about big screen adaptations. "From Hell" missed the mark just a bit. "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" couldn't have found the mark with GPS-equipped cell phones and Pocahantas leading the way.

Perhaps the blueprint for adapting Moore's work was provided with "V For Vendetta," which managed to capture the spirit and essential story of the graphic novel, if not all the little details Moore fans so admire.

Director Zach Snyder ("300") and writers David Hayter and Alex Tse follow this path, making "Watchmen" (created by Moore and artist Dave Gibbons) the best adaptation of Moore's work since "V For Vendetta." Unfortunately, they attempt to cram too much of the dense, complex story into the film, making for long patches in the second half that drag and some revelations that seem to come out of nowhere.

That said, fans of the book will thrill to see these characters brought to life. The look of the film is stunning, and the largely unknown cast does a remarkable job.

The film begins in 1985, and Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is attacked in his high-rise apartment in New York City. We soon learn Blake is the superhero known as The Comedian.

Through a series of flashbacks shown during the credits that follow, we learn superheroes have been around since the 1940s until outlawed by President Richard Nixon in the 1970s. Snyder cleverly weaves the heroes into a new version of American history. A lesbian superhero alters a very famous post-World War II photo. Superheroes help the United States win the Vietnam War. There's a superhero on the moon when the astronauts arrive. Nixon is so popular he is still president in 1985.

This is one of the themes running through the film: the notion that random chance and a person's actions can have a strong effect on the future.

The credits are also the first, and most clever, use of famous cultural moments throughout the movie, particularly from the 1980s. We see quite a bit of Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon, of course, but Ted Koppel and Lee Iacocca also play a role. There's also nice use of "99 Luft Balloons" (the German version) and Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule The World," the latter as background lobby music.

As the movie unfolds, we learn The Comedian was part of a super team disbanded by Nixon. Soon, one of those former teammates - a hero named Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) - begins hunting Blake's killer, convinced someone is hunting masked vigilantes. He attempts to contact and warn his former partners.

Among them are Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), a lonely man in a midlife crisis; Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), a scientist transformed into a godlike being who can manipulate everything at the molecular level; Silk Spectre II, daughter of the original Silk Spectre from the 1940s and Dr. Manhattan's girlfriend (not an easy thing to be); and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), the world's smartest man who has revealed his identity and made a fortune on his fame.

Each hero's story intertwines. The most riveting moments involve Rorschach and The Comedian, though often you want to turn away. Snyder takes the movie into the novel's darkest places, with scenes of intense gore and violence.

In (often naked and very blue) Dr. Manhattan, the film has its philosophic center. He experiences life differently than everyone else, and soon feels a distance from and a disdain for humanity, much like Rorschach and The Comedian. The Comedian responds by treating life as a joke and Rorschach punishes the wicked like a demented Batman, but Manhattan eventually finds the beauty in humanity.

Whether that realization comes too early or too late, that - like much in this movie - is left for you to decide.

Although the ideas are interesting and every frame of the film beautiful, the movie falls strangely flat during its final hour and many of the story's revelations come without enough of a set up to pack the emotional wallop the film aims to capture. But it makes a nice companion to the book.

(By the way, fans should know the "Tales of the Black Freighter" story in the book is not in the movie, but will be released as an animated short on DVD).

MOVIE REVIEW

Watchmen **

MOVIE BOARD RATING: R; strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language

STARS: Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman

DIRECTOR: Zack Snyder

LOCATION: See movie times, Page 9, for local showtimes.

PLOT SUMMARY: When an aging superhero is killed, his former costumed partners begin an investigation that uncovers a terrifying plot to bring about world peace.

RUNNING TIME: 163 minutes

ON THE WEB: watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com

Movies are rated on a scale of zero to four stars.

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