The
times, they are a'changing
www
The
writer of the graphic novel Watchmen, Alan Moore, famously hates adaptations
of his work, and I can see why. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen made
a mess of terrific source material, V for Vendetta was slightly
more faithful but not by much - and now we have this. Watchmen is the most
popular and most revered of all Moore's works, and I've seen many people
express the feeling that if anything will make Alan Moore love Hollywood,
it'll be this. It won't be.
Sure, they tried. Casting is mostly dead-on. Jackie Earle Haley looks like Rorschach escaped from the pages of the book, Dr Manhattan looks like you could reach out and touch him (although you probably wouldn't want to), Patrick Wilson makes a brilliant Dan Dreiberg. The plot is barely changed at all, really- the ending is the same. Most of the dialogue is lifted from the book. Yet there's something wrong about it. The tone's wrong. The movie's like someone stuck the graphic novel and a DVD of Saw in a blender and this is what came out. The attempted rape of Sally Jupiter- something that takes up just one page in the novel- here is flung in our faces as Sally's flung over a table and punched repeatedly, every blow sounding like the cheery 'ka-pow!' of a very different comic book.
It's not necessary and yet it keeps amping up the violence: an arm is broken, a knife is stuck in a neck, a pair of arms are sawn off. The fact that Patrick Wilson's Dan and Malin Akerman's Laurie are responsible for some of these acts of violence doesn't help: Rorschach is the vicious one, not them, why would they call Rorschach a lunatic for doing exactly the same things they do? Characterisation is pushed aside in favour of gore. This was made with the Hostel/Saw/Captivity audience in mind, and they might be cheering but I'm wincing.
Performances are fine with the exception of Malin Akerman: she may look sexy in her outfit but she delivers her lines woodenly and generally seems miscast. Laurie in the book is firey, bitter, loving and bad-tempered: she felt like a real person while the movie's Laurie never does. I somewhat suspect that the writer and director didn't know what to do with a female character.
It's
not all bad- the opening credit sequence is brilliant, as is the
soundtrack. The special effects are fantastic, and there's lots of little
moments that the fans will appreciate. But, unfortunately, that's it. There
is just one moment I feel improves on the graphic novel- without giving
too much away, one character is present at another character's demise,
and makes his feelings clear. This is not nearly enough to save the movie,
though- they got it wrong. They say Watchmen is dark, but it was never
dark, it was bright, so bright it hurt your eyes. This is the twenty-first
century Watchmen- Adrian Veidt's office looks out over the twin towers,
the two buildings right in the middle of the frame- and it doesn't feel
right. May I please join you in your anger, Alan?
Sarah
Barrett
06/03/09