Hey guys, I’m Mike and I’m prepping for ‘Doomsday Clock.’
The world of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ ‘Watchmen’ is set to collide with the DC universe,
and the upcoming storyline, not to mention ‘Justice League,’ has really got me thinking about Zack Snyder’s ‘Watchmen’ film.
Get this crap off the screen! Who are these guys to say Doomsday approaches?
I say when Doomsday approaches!
Critically it’s barely sitting fresh at 64%, and fans are even more polarized,
but I’ve always had a soft spot for the movie, and I don’t think it deserves the bad rep.
Hear me out, because I want to explore
Why Watchmen is Actually Good
You understand, don't you?
Without condoning, or condemning. I understand.
First and foremost,
It’s Impossibly Faithful
Well, besides the ending, but hear me out:
I don’t wanna get into the twenty years of development hell this movie suffered,
But more than one script has leaked over the years, and believe me, it could have been worse.
An early script by ‘Batman’ writer Sam Hamm opens with the Watchmen foiling a terrorist plot at the Statue of Liberty like they’re G.I. Joe.
There’s no Minutemen,
Adrian’s plan involves travelling through time,
and it ends with Rorshack and the gang teleporting to the real world where the ‘Watchmen’ are fictional characters.
There’s a much better 2004 script by David Hayter, writer of ‘X-Men’ and hero of Shadow Moses.
It’s closer to the mark tonally, and despite stuff like Laurie having superpowers, it’s pretty faithful.
One thing that kills it though?
Hayter’s script was set in modern day, with Afghanistan as the looming threat instead of the USSR.
DESTRUCTION... By nuclear WAR!
‘Watchmen’ is such a product of its time that the ‘80s setting is basically essential,
What happened to the American Dream?
It came true. You're lookin' at it.
but I see where Hayter was coming from.
Period filming is expensive, especially for a dark superhero movie based on characters little Jimmy has never heard of.
I want the toy with erectile dysfunction action!
Yeah... I just need a couple minutes.
That’s why it’s so incredible that the ‘Watchmen’ movie we got was as faithful as it was.
Spending that much money on a nearly word-for-word adaptation of a niche superhero deconstruction was a huge risk,
especially one that’s rated R.
I mean, the reason ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Logan’ were a big deal is because no one expected R-rated superhero movies to make money.
Can you imagine a PG-13 Rorschach?
Noo!
or Dr. Manhattan without that blue CGI donger?
For better or worse, Zack Snyder made the best ‘Watchmen’ movie that $130 million can buy.
It’s cringey at times, and it lacks a lot of heart and energy that a director like Terry Gilliam would have brought to the table,
but it’s a miracle this movie exists, warts and all.
My life is just one big joke!
The changes are reasonable, the cast is excellent and Snyder makes up for his clumsiness with amazing sequences like the opening montage.
Seriously, if there’s two things this man can do, and he can do them at
the same time, it’s rock a pair of sweatpants and film beautiful slow-mo.
As far as the ending goes, I’ll be the first to admit it doesn’t have the same punch as the gorey climax of the book.
Those panels have some of the most visceral and disturbing imagery ever seen in comics.
Instead of the world uniting after a genetically engineered squid monster destroys New York,
Adrian tricks everyone into thinking
millions of lives were suddenly ended in an act of evil perpetrated by Dr. Manhattan himself.
It’s not ideal, but it’s an elegant solution that trims the storyline and ties in with Dr. Manhattan’s arc.
It’s as faithful as it could possibly be given the realities of blockbuster cinema,
and at times, it even
Feels Like Reading a Comic
An argument against any kind of ‘Watchmen’ adaptation is just how essential the comic book medium is to the story.
It’s a story about comics, designed to be read as a comic.
Moore and Gibbons packed every page with subtle foreshadowing, subliminal imagery and tiny worldbuilding details.
Not to mention intricate panel layouts that change an entire issue on reflection.
You can linger on a panel, or flip back to reread Rorschack’s psych profile.
I can't help him.
It doesn’t lend itself to linear cinema as a medium,
but Zack Snyder’s style actually came kind of close.
He definitely goes overboard with the slow-mo sometimes,
But it lets you soak in an image and catch the detail packed in each shot,
just like a comic panel.
And instead of abandoning supplemental worldbuilding material like ‘Under the Hood,’
they filmed it as an in-universe documentary and released it on DVD.
I dressed up like an owl and I fought crime because it was fun
And because it was the right thing to do.
If you’re a purist, or a masochist, you can watch the 3 and a-half hour long ‘Ultimate Cut’ that splices the extras into the story,
but I recommend the ‘Director’s Cut.’
It adds some more character moments,
and restores the end of Hollis Mason’s story, which was by far the most brutal cut of the theatrical release.
The length is more reasonable, and you’re not committed to a mediocre pirate cartoon starring Gerard Butler.
One of my crew lay ahead. Birds were eating his thoughts and memories.
Besides the book, it’s my favorite way to consume the story.
Because it’s just ‘Watchmen,’
Nothing More, Nothing Less
A lot of people are excited about Damon Lindelof’s upcoming ‘Watchmen’ TV show, and I’m definitely intrigued.
But as dense as it is, Watchmen is still a short, self-contained story.
A series will let them squeeze in every last detail from the book, but then what?
It’s gonna be hard to make a twelve-issue story last for years without a whole lot of filler.
Look at how ‘Preacher’ spun its wheels for its entire first season just to get where the books started,
and I’ll never get back the hours of my time Lindelof utterly wasted with ‘Lost.’
A ‘Watchmen’ series is going to require a lot of new backstory and tweaks to the world,
and since Alan Moore has washed his hands of the rights, that means Lindelof and crew will have to fill the gaps.
The last time that happened was DC’s ‘Before Watchmen’ comics, and they were a very mixed bag.
The ‘Watchmen’ movie tweaked the plot, but for the most part they didn’t change anything about the characters or the world.
There’s no tragic new backstory for Captain Metropolis or boring love triangle with Dollar Bill.
They might be a little more violent, but Dan, Laurie, Jon and Rorschach are still fundamentally the characters from the book.
Look, the best way to experience the story will always be the graphic novel,
but it’s not going anywhere.
It’s safe on our shelves to read anytime.
The movie doesn’t replace the book, it’s just a painstakingly crafted homage to it.
I hope this video made you appreciate it a little more, or at least made you curious for a rewatch,
because it’s probably the best ‘Watchmen’ movie we’re ever gonna get.