Watchmen: The
Ultimate Cut – 5 out of 5
I’m a pretty big fan of the graphic novel Watchmen from
writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons.
The book blew me away as it told a story of superheroes from a
perspective never before seen and it altered the industry forever. For a long time, the story stood as an entity
all by itself but, recently, DC introduced the events into their main universe
when they launched the Rebirth line. As
a fan, I was hesitant about this decision but ultimately loved how they’ve
teased that this world is having some impact on the world where Batman,
Superman, Wonder Woman and the rest reside.
Since I’ve found I’ve enjoyed this crossover (I highly, HIGHLY, suggest
you check out the Batman/Flash crossover called “The Button”), I decided to
finally check out a series of books that nostalgia and my own stubborn fandom
prevented me from originally checking out; Before Watchmen. This series of book tells the tales of the
characters from Watchmen before the events of the main story. I won’t get into my mixed feelings about the
content of those stories but reading them really got me craving to revisit the
film adaptation from 2009 that was directed by Zack Snyder. In this case, I decided to sit back and once
again check out The Ultimate Cut and see if it is still just as awesome as the
first time I watched it…and, as you can see from the score, it is!
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| Such an iconic geek culture image! |
After an aging, retired hero by the name of Comedian (Jeffrey
Dean Morgan) is murdered, two of his former colleagues; the deranged Rorschach
(Jackie Earle Haley) and Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), start to investigate a
nefarious plot that seems to involve their friends and past teammates: the smartest man in the world and business mogul; Ozymandias, the daughter of one of the original masked heroes; Silk
Spectre (Malin Akerman), and the first man ever to gain superhuman abilities,
the near god-like; Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup). Their investigation soon uncovers that
someone is planning a massive attack that will leave millions dead and forever
alter the course of human history.
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| Also, some shit goes down on Mars. A planet you need to get your ass to. |
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| A friend of mine really like Wilson's butt and loves the movie so showing it but you got to give it up to his smile too. Look at that thing! |
Some people I interact with have this belief that I hate
Zack Snyder because I hold the stance that he is a great visual director but a
terrible director when it comes to telling a story and handling character. This isn’t me hating the man but rather a
real and honest critique of his work. I
think the man makes very visually appealing movies and he can film the living
hell out of action. However, the guy
just can’t handle pacing, character and plot at all. Despite this, I actually think he’s done some
great work in his career. Like, as you can see, I LOVE
Watchmen, I think his remake of Dawn of the Dead is fun, 300 is amazeballs and
I think Sucker Punch is a gorgeous film with entertaining action and a terrific
soundtrack (although the story is something to be desired). I don’t hate the guy but when you tell the
fanboys that you went into Batman v Superman excited but walked out very
disappointed, they hear it as, “I WANT ZACK SNYDER DEAD!!!” Hell, I will admit to there are a lot of things
in BvS that I liked too but the man does have numerous and very obvious
shortcomings. Basically, he is really
good at making 2 hour long trailers that look fantastic but are mucked up by
periodic slow storytelling. Watchmen,
however, I think is where he was at his most competent and I think it will be
the best film he’s ever done.
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| Actual representation of a DC fanboy yelling at me and telling me that I'm not "mature enough" for DC when I say I was disappointed with Batman v Superman. |
Fan reaction to this adaptation when it came out in 2009 was
mixed. Some loved how close it was to
the source material while others hated it because it was too close. This proved, once again, that fanboys are
impossible to please. For me, I was a
big fan of how faithful the writers and Snyder kept the feature. Everything from the set design, to the colors
felt dead on to the comic—Hell, Snyder even went as far as mirroring panels for
shots. There were some obvious changes
as the costumes don’t specifically match and there was a major story element
that was changed but it didn’t destroy how highly I think of this comic
adaptation. I’ll be 100% honest here;
the major change to the story is actually an improvement from the book.
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| "Cheese!" |
I think enough time has passed where I can talk about the
ending of the movie and compare it to the film—Spoilers just can’t exist here,
people. The comic came out in the back
half of the 80s and it’s been 8 years since the film came out. In the comic, Ozymandias orchestrates an
elaborate plot that will fool the world that an alien race has invaded the
planet and a common enemy will unite the surviving people in peace and
harmony. In the film, this alien
creature is completely eliminated from the story and, instead, Ozymandias plans
on making Dr. Manhattan a scapegoat and replicates his powers and uses it as an
attack on the world, making Manhattan the common enemy for everyone to unite
under.
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| Look, Ozymandias is opening up for a hug! |
With no disrespect to Moore, I
actually found the movie ending to be better than the comic. Having the god-like Manhattan become the fall
guy for Ozymandias and not some random alien creature that the businessman-turned-hero had writers, creators and scientists create made much more dramatic
sense to the characters and story and it added more weight to the actions Oz
takes against Manhattan. Plus,
eliminating the creation of the octopus creature definitely cut at least an
hour out of the possible running length. Sometimes
changes to the source material work out really well and I honestly found this
change—that exists in a property that realistically didn’t change much—to be a
very effective one.
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| I know the site would send me a "Hey, there's nudity on your blog, take that shit down" if I posted a screencap of Dr. Manhattan's dangling bits so, instead, here's his big blue butt. |
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| Frewer is so damn talented. I love this man! |
Another element that I really enjoyed about Watchmen is the
fact that this cast feels like they were all perfect for their roles. So many performers—like Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Carla Gugino as the first Silk Spectre, and Jackie Earle Haley—felt tailor-made
for their roles and seemed like they were lifted directly off the pages. There’s also the surprise casting (meaning
players that wouldn’t be the first to come to mind for me with their roles)
that worked so effectively. For example,
Matt Frewer (who can do no wrong with his acting, in my book) is great in his
small role as Moloch, Stephen McHattie brings his gravitas as Hollis Mason; the
first Nite Owl, and Matthew Goode really embodies the type of man that
Ozymandias is presented as in the book.
However, I think my favorite bit of casting is Billy Crudup as Dr.
Manhattan. Manhattan is a being of
unbelievable power and to have him played by the soft spoken Crudup is just
such a great melding of tones that it made the character even more
commanding. Not to mention that Crudup
vocally captures Manhattan’s exhaustion with the human race and how he’s become
bored by the “normal life” they lead.
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| Although having him makes me imagine Dr. Manhattan as the voice of Mastercard. |
If there is any critiques I have with Watchmen, it is that
it’s loaded with Snyder-isms. Sometimes
his tropes are fine to deal with and work very well for this property but
sometimes they are a bit overused. For
example, his love of slow-motion during fight scenes is excellent most of the
time throughout this film but there is a moment or two where it feels like he
did it too much. Another element that
I’m not the biggest fan of is Malin Akerman as Laurie Jupiter. Mind you, I don’t think she’s terrible in her
role but if someone held a gun to my head and said I had to pick the weakest
link on the acting chain, I would first wonder why they would resort to such
measures and why they so desperately want me to single out an actor but Akerman
is essentially the weakest of the cast and is basically just serviceable as
Silk Spectre.
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| With that being said, Akerman isn't that bad. I have to emphasize that. Be damned, Strange Man with the Gun to my Head. |
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| If you don't want to deal with Butler as a cartoon pirate who loses his mind, you can still just watch the theatrical cut. Both are great, in my opinion. |
Watchmen is, without a doubt, my favorite film Zack Snyder
has done and definitely one of my all-time favorite comic book adaptations that
has ever been made. What’s even better
is that after not having seen it for at least 6 years, the film still holds
up. Sometimes movies are just a product
of their time and don’t age well after they are initially released (or they are
ahead of their time and get better with age) but Watchmen, even this cut which edits in the Tales of the Black Freighter cartoon featuring the voice
of Gerald Butler, holds up and is still a fantastic feature film with themes
and ideas that are just as relevant today as they were when it first was
released…both in comic and movie form.
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