Watchmen review

Watchmen

Review by Zulfi

                Rorschach announces to his fellow looming inmates (when they threaten him), ‘none of you seem to understand, I am not locked in here with you, you are all locked in here with me.’

 ‘Watchmen’ is a movie which would come once in a life time. It could easily be considered as Zack Snyder’s best feature. He is a master reconstruction artiste as I always consider him as and here he showcases this talent in an exemplary way. You won’t even miss the ‘Gunga Diner’, which is seen in the comic of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. ‘300’ may be the name with which Zack Snyder may be known but if there’s art direction, which is so excellently reproduced from the comics, then it is ‘Watchmen’.

                What helps the movie score so highly and makes it worthwhile is the psychology and the completely ‘sticking out’ plot. It may probably be the first satiric piece of literature on the superheroes’ genre, which was seeped till the bones in the fanboys starting from 50s till the 80’s. Of course, it is still ongoing, but when Alan Moore wrote the novel (1986), it was in peaks.  And the story doesn’t miss in involving the tight and dangerous cold war tension between US and USSR, which permeated whole throughout the world. Through its superheroes it glides over the modern history of America, which constituted the war of Vietnam, nuclear power struggle, peddlers of artistic pornography, and the references of modern billionaires.

                In a highly off the beat tone of any movie’s beginnings and of any times, it starts with the death of a former superhero  in the brewing waters of cold war political turmoil. This action set piece may be one of the best action scenes. Zack Snyder goes on with this scene in a poetic manner. Just when the intellectuals are speculating when the real nuclear war is going to take place, we see the private apartment of a retired but well muscled former vigilante is broken and entered by a mysterious man. The murderer does the act in a clinical way not even breathing a sigh and you could only sit erect in your seat huffing at the haplessness of the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). He is one of the watchmen, which was disbanded as the government discouraged the practice in a political move a few years back. But inherent traits are hard to fade. Rorschach, one of the watchmen is a night worm, who feeds on the pleasure which comes in giving justice by punishing the law offenders at night and he does that at his own valuation. He forms the theory that bumping off of comedian is in fact the beginning of annihilation of Watchmen. He approaches his former associates, NiteOwl (Patrick Wilson), Ozymandias, Dr Manhattan(Billy Crudup) and the latter’s lover Silk Spectre 2(Malin Akerman), who consider it as rubbish at first, but later start reading in between the lines.

                The main attraction of the movie is the colourful art direction of the 1980’s alternate version of America and deep delving into the psychology of each watchmen. Except for NiteOwl, every other character is a type study. NiteOwl is a Mr Goody two shoes, who plays by the book and who is the inventor of gadgets and flying machines. He is a confused lot at the centre of the vigilantes, torn by his morals and his dedication to do good to the world. Ozymandias (Mathew Goode) is the smartest man in the world. His intelligence is inferior to none. His thinking is superior and bifurcates from his colleagues. His strength not only lies in his sinews but also in his confidence as he becomes a self made billionaire after the falling out of the group. Comedian is a morally ambiguous character as he questions if they are fighting for the good side, which is the population. Dr Manhattan probably is the most difficult character to create and flesh out. Resulted as a rebirth of a scientist, he is almost a God and his reasoning is too hard to get in the normal context of the world. How Alan Moore had envisioned this personality might be one of the highlights of comic literature. He acts and thinks with deep reasoning, which will take some years to think out but he does in a fraction of second, which is simply unnerving. In a scene with silk spectre, when asked a question, he emits the answer which is the result of the conversation, which is going to ensue. Along with that perfect aptitude, he has a perfect physical appearance though marred by a blue glow. He is naked because he is above all the use of clothes and the issue called shame. We might snigger at the start, but soon take him very seriously. Silk spectre is a troubled soul requiring a support to forget her mother and related worries. But of course, then there is Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley). The man with the ink blot mask has many dimensions to his character. He represents the courage, which he has despite his physical hindrances. He is the best voice over, I had seen in a movie. His narration gives a different tone. Haley’s voice reverberates and berates the degrading humanity but Rorschach would do anything to resurrect the same.

                Alan Moore revolves their personal stories intertwining them with the nuclear argument between the super powers of those times. You could feel the dread in the public of the impending war and their total reliance of Manhattan to do something and that is when he decides to leave. Manhattan’s exile to Mars, Rorschach’s murky childhood, his pondering over the head of the dog in the inkblot, Ozymandias’ accurate thinking in the event of dodging a bullet, Silk Spectre’s moments in the clock in Mars with her lover are just some of the visual achievements Zack Snyder doesn’t fail in reconstructing. Dave Gibbons could just have been drawing on the screen. Despite having this vibrating visual feel, the movie’s spirit is built in the way Dr Manhattan loses his trust in humanity and regaining it in the most minutest of life’s murky detail, Comedian’s dark take on the world and his relationship with the old silk spectre, Rorschach’s attitude with his fellow inmates, the resurrection of Dr Manhattan and many more. ‘Watchmen’ isn’t just a movie. It is a celebration of telling a story, breaking the barriers while doing it and the same while presenting it on screen. I was happy that when I watched it on the first day seven years back, I had no idea of the comic’s existence and was completely blown away by the novelty of the presentation. Comedian’s destruction and his fall through the shattered glass was something seared forever in my memory and if I get such experience again, it would surely be a great success for me.