Preface 1: The monthly 12 issue comic series, as I read it in 1986 -87, was one of my most intense interactions with a piece of art of any kind. Primarily due to my incorporating it into my class curriculum in 2002, I have continued to study the work and am amazed at both the large and small aspects which I discover for the first time each time I revisit Watchmen. Anyone who reads it once, or even five times, and thinks they have fully experienced the joy of the series has underestimated the complexity of both the form and the thematics of Moore's and Gibbon's novel. I love the themes, the characters, certain aspects of the plot, but more than anything I love the storytelling devices and the incredible use of the art form. (As a huge Steve Ditko fan, I enjoy other subtleties that I will not bore anyone with). It's no exaggeration to call it the Citizen Kane of comics, and for all of the same reasons -- it is not about simply being a good story (there's actually some pretty significant flaws by the end) - it is how that story is told, the innovations to the form, the multiple allusions to literature, philosophy, music, etc., that makes it so significant.
Preface 2: Comics fans all grow up wanting their comics to be converted to film. We can't help it -- there's just something transcendent when you see Dr. Octopus' tentacles brought to life, when you see Superman unleash his full powers on the phantom Zone villains, and most recently, watching Heath Ledger actually add dimension to a character who's been around for over sixty years. Therefore, even though Alan Moore voiced his displeasure (and other film adaptations of his work have been dreadful), even though Terry Gilliam said it was unfilmable, even though we all should have known better -- Watchmen fans wanted the movie -- no, we craved the movie, we NEEDED the movie.
And now we have it.
Central Question: I have been flooded with the same question since Friday -- So did you like it?
Answer: I suspect my experience will be somewhat like the phases of death and dying -- denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance -- in that I am only now experiencing my first phases, hopefully achieving acceptance further down the line.
Phase One: I really didn't see the film -- not the way that I would normally watch a movie. Instead, I went in with a mental checklist of every panel in those twelve issues of Watchmen and I preceded to check them off or cross them out. My biggest criticism of Zack Snyder (so far) is that he made this almost unavoidable by so closely mirroring panels and dialogue. I know fans wanted exactly that adherence to the text, but it did prevent me from actually experiencing the film itself upon the first viewing. Because of the fairly strict fidelity to the comic -- in terms of plot, dialogue, characters (with the exception of the Silk Spectre who I thought was far less bitchier and therefore blander), I just sat there watching for every deviation, i.e. Nite-Owl warning Veidt instead of Rorschach doing it, the police not noting that Rorschach was wearing lifts in his shoes, after they beat him, the sad lack of scooters on the way to Karnak, Hooded Justice's contempt for Silk Spectre I after the rape, Silk Specter II not smoking .... Every omission took me out of the film, just as many of the perfectly delivered "captures" from the comic -- Morloch opening the frig, Manhattan staring at the bra or putting on his tie, Dan cleaning his glasses -- made me happy (but happy because it was included, not because it enhanced the film). Just another check mark on the list. (Now compare this to loving King's The Shining, and then seeing Kubrick's version -- you may love it or hate it, but you put away the check list pretty early)
So this was what I experienced while watching the film. Not much beyond.
Phase 2: I walk out of the movie, and my fellow watchers ask what I think. I'm surprised at how critical I am, not of the slight omissions, or even the bigger changes by the film's end, but of bigger criticisms -- it seems like a needlessly dark film (not thematically, but just hard to see); some of the musical choices seemed inspired, i.e Glass on Mars, but more seemed ham-fisted, even ridiculous, i.e Hallelujah; sequences seemed forced and rushed, i.e. Rorschach giving up his origin in the first session with the therapist. At least I'm interacting with the film finally, rather than just comparing it with the comic, as I was the whole time I was watching. More of the film sunk in than I initially thought. But I seem to have little positive to say, other than liking three of the performances. (Blake, Rorschach, and Cruddup) Why? Was it actually bad?
Phase 3: I start to think what really troubled me -- besides that Snyder is not Kubrick, or even Gilliam. And it's that he has made a super hero movie, not a deconstruction of the super hero movie. It's like the difference between Death Wish and Taxi Driver, Green Berets and Apocalypse Now, When Harry Met Sally and Annie Hall. Secondly, the film has been unavoidably drained of all of the comic's narrative complexity and over-determination. In order to make Watchmen be as artistically successful as the comic, one needed to give Godard $100 million dollars and tell him to do to this what he did to Histoire(s) du Cinema. That wasn't going to happen. And not even the fans would have liked it -- but I suspect Alan Moore would have snuck into the back of the theater just to see how it turned out.
And so, my conclusion is that I have no idea what I thought of the film. I didn't actually see it first of all. Secondly, my immediate criticisms were fueled by resentment at what it was not. I don't want Watchmen to be a super hero movie, but that's what the studio wanted it to be -- and of course they did.
So here's what I need to do -- I have to see it again; this time as a casual viewer. If it doesn't happen on the second try, I'll see it again until I can watch it as a work apart from the comic. When that happens, I'll post a more reliable assessment of what I thought of the film as part of the current cycle of super-hero films. I want to be able to compare it with Iron Man, Dark Knight, etc. (In fact I need to be able to do so, in terms of my own scholarship), but the first time hurt too much for me to enjoy it -- and all those years of anticipation were too distracting, etc. I'm sure my second or third viewing will be more enjoyable -- I'll be more relaxed (I hope). By my 4th try, who knows -- maybe I'll be yelling Zap!Wham!Kazam! like the other kids. I'll let you know.
