missroserose | On Watchmen, Rose-Has-Her-Brain-Back Edition

First off, the reports of Snyder's adaptation being damn near identical to the original story have not been exaggerated in the least. While there have been a few instances of streamlining (most notably at the beginning and end), much of the movie proper seems to have simply taken the comic as a storyboard and gone from there.

What's surprising, and where Snyder deserves some mass props, is how well this works. Comics, for all that they're more visual than regular books, are not movies, and trying to directly transliterate the one format into the other is going to introduce inherent issues in structure, pacing, and general storytelling no matter what you do. Sadly, Watchmen doesn't escape those entirely, but the aforementioned instances of streamlining (combined with the fact that it's a fairly cinematic story to begin with) do a fair amount to alleviate them.

But, since there are definitely some issues, first I'll get into the parts that honestly didn't work for me:

Pacing. This is probably the movie's biggest problem, if (as I said above) unfortunately a pretty unavoidable one. Even though I knew how the story went and where we were at any given point, there were more than a couple spots where I was shifting around in my seat wondering when it'd get interesting again. Admittedly, a lot of it was Order of the Phoenix syndrome - the story is complex enough that even though it doesn't always hold your attention, there weren't very many spots where things were obviously extraneous. I think it will help a lot when we watch it at home, in a more comfortable setting.
Action. Sort of a sub-point to the one above. While the action sequences were mostly straight out of the book, Snyder's penchant for slow-motion Matrix-style action-porn style did a lot to contribute to the slowing of the story. A couple of setpieces (the prison break, for instance) would have been just as impressive and kept things moving at a better clip; do we really to see every detail of young Rorschach biting a piece out of a bully's cheek? Also, I could have done without the extended-director's-cut-edition of the Comedian's attempted rape of Silk Spectre I. It did nothing to further the story and only reinforced the impression I got from 300 that Snyder has a thing for humiliating women onscreen.
Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias. This is a tough one. Matthew Goode did a perfectly fine job in the role, and he certainly looked the part - I especially liked how they made him look almost emaciated underneath his suits (because of course something as pedestrian as eating wouldn't be a very high priority for the World's Smartest Man). But somehow, he was never quite as expansive as I'd imagined Ozymandias. In the book he's almost a twit about the awesomeness of his intellect and accomplishments ("almost" because they really are that awesome and he has every right to be a twit about them); Goode's take on the character is much more reserved and quietly menacing, which works okay, but seems at odds with his flamboyant, almost gaudy taste in clothing and decor. And also - what was with the accent? Adrian Veidt is the Smartest Man In The World, and elocution has A Lot to do with how intelligent someone is perceived to be (as Rex Harrison will happily remind us). Giving Ozymandias a vaguely German, distressingly mealy-mouthed accent only undercuts his believability, let alone the character's charisma.
Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre II. Again, Malin Åkerman certainly looked the part, but her acting simply wasn't up to par. Laurie Jupiter's character goes through quite an emotional arc during the course of the story, but Åkerman never convinced me that she was feeling any of it - she never seemed attached to anyone in the story, and so her big emotional moments, robbed of their core, felt like shallow histrionics. I don't want to pin all the blame on Åkerman, though - a great character director, Snyder is not, especially when it comes to female characters, so I can't imagine she was getting much help on that front.

Hm, that list is starting to look pretty long. So, if you're wondering whether I actually liked any of it, the answer is - hells yes. Aside from the aforementioned issues, it all worked together remarkably well. And, of course, there were some truly standout parts:

The Opening Montage. Considering that the way the book established its backstory (through newspaper clippings, excerpts from autobiographies, etc.) was inherently unfilmable, the opening sequence does a remarkable job of doing just that. Say what you will about Snyder's lack of abilities at character direction (and I will), but he has a fantastic eye for composing an image that both gives you an instant bead on a situation and directly engages your emotions on the subject. Also, you can never go wrong with Bob Dylan.
Dr. Manhattan. The much-discussed glowing blue wang aside, Dr. Manhattan works remarkably well onscreen. Given that his character's arc basically consists of his growing more and more remote from human emotion, it would have been all too easy for him to just come off as boring and apathetic. But an excellent performance (both vocal and motion-capture) from Billy Crudup does a lot to capture his vaguely Zen attitude; and the digital artists who created his physical presence portrayed his range of emotion beautifully, despite the fact that it's composed entirely of subtleties in facial expression and posture.
Rorschach. Jackie Earle Haley deserves a standing ovation for his performance here - all of the attachment and gut-wrenching emotion that Åkerman's character was missing, Haley delivers in spades. Rorschach is a hugely tough character to portray because he's so inherently unlikable; he believes with every fiber of his being that humans are no better than animals, and that anyone who transgresses against his moral code - no matter how long ago or for what reason - deserves death. And yet Haley makes him, if not likable, at least sympathetic; and by the end of the story, we both respect him for holding to his absolutism, and pity him for his inflexibility.

So what do I think of the movie as a whole? It was far from perfect, but it did a remarkable job bringing the story to the screen, and on the whole I was impressed. I would warn anyone new to the story that they're probably not going to get everything on the first viewing, but if they stick with it, I think they'll find it rewarding as they figure out how each piece fits together and works with all the other pieces - much like the inner workings of the often-referenced watch.