Finally. And you know what? I liked everything -- right up until the freakin' ending.
If you haven't see the movie or read the graphic novel, stop reading this right now -- 'cuz I'm going to talk about things that contain SPOILERS, natch!
The movie stayed remarkably true to Moore's and Gibbons' phenomenal work of comic art. In fact, in my estimation, I'd say at least 50% of the dialogue (if my memory serves me) came directly from the comics. As such, I thought the movie worked perfectly ... right up until the ending.
The "villain" of the story is Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandias, who through various machinations has implemented a plan to thwart impending nuclear war and bring the nations of the world together. In the comics, Veidt enlists the aid of artists and geneticists (among others) to construct a ghastly "alien" creature with a brain cloned from a psychic sensitive. Just as his fellow Watchmen happen upon Veidt's lair in Antarctica, Adrian's already set his plan in motion. What he does is monstrous: He teleports the behemoth creature to New York City where it materializes inside and around various buildings and infrastructure. The resultant "shock" of this obviously brutally painful action causes the creature to send out a massive psychic "shockwave," killing about three million New Yorkers.
Up until this point, the United States and the USSR were on the brink of nuclear war. But now, this "alien attack" upon the human race serves to unite humanity against a common foe! It was precisely what Veidt had intended! Fellow Watchmen Silk Spectre, Night Owl and Dr. Manhattan can only accept the cold logic that Veidt has forced upon them.
The movie misses this very important point. The film has Veidt conjuring up a scenario whereby he frames Dr. Manhattan for destroying large portions of not only New York City, but numerous other metropolises around the world. The "attack" by the "mad" Dr. Manhattan supposedly serves to unite humanity in place of the original graphic novel plot. But it doesn't make sense.
Here's why: For his entire career, Dr. Manhattan was an operative of the United States government. In both the comic and film, we see Manhattan annihilating Vietnamese troops in that war, as well as serving as a huge intimidation factor against the Soviets. As such, why would the Soviets, not to mention other unfriendly world powers in particular, suddenly "unite" with the US against Manhattan after Veidt's orchestrated plot? Why wouldn't they be suspicious that it was all just some sort of dastardly plan by the United States? In addition, at the film's conclusion we hear Dan Drieberg (Night Owl) tell Laurie Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre) that the new, imposed world peace will hold "as long as they all believe Jon (Dr. Manhattan) is watching." However, unless I missed something, there was nothing in Veidt's plan that alluded to Dr. Manhattan destroying those cities as a "warning" to the nations of the world to stop all war.
So, I sat for over two and a half hours of glorious attribution to the only comic in Time magazine's best 100 books of the 20th century, only to have it ruined by a non-sensical ending! And here's another thing: after including so much of the comic in the film -- stuff that could have been left out -- why couldn't they have kept true to the original Veidt plot? In my opinion, they could have easily done so.
As a result of this big let-down, I give "Watchmen" 3 out of 5 stars. It's comics film gold ... right up until the last 20 minutes or so.
March 13, 2009
I watched "Watchmen"
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3 comments:
Don't you know? The Cold War never happened. It was cooked up as a way to load the pockets of right-wing war-mongers.
So you can't have a Soviet Union vs. the United States plotline. Everyone knows the Cold War was a fiction.
Not sure what you mean, Chris. There WAS a USSR vs. USA plotline in the film. In fact, it permeated it.
The Size of the Conspiracy
In the comic, you have the faux alien which was largely dreamed up by a huge number of artists, technicians, etc. Many of them are moderately famous. Veidt then has to kill them to cover everything up. But hey nobody is going to notice the sudden disappearance of a huge number of famous people, right? The comic establishes that the Black Freighter author is missing. Evidence of what they were doing is left behind in the form of the drawing that washes up on the beach. And we must assume that this huge number of people live in complete isolation and didn't blab to anyone, despite working on a project that none of them really understood.
In the movie he kills a small number of scientists and engineers in what could easily be blamed on an industrial accident. They were working on a project that would be Top Secret. Granted he does it by subtracting their intrinsic fields in an "accident" that might create a dozen Dr. Manhattans, but this is a much simpler conspiracy to maintain.
The Attack
In the comic, Veidt only attacks New York City. In the movie, he attacks major cities across the globe including Moscow. In the former, only the US is weakened. In the latter, the entire world is effected. The idea that everyone, friends and enemies alike, will pull together if only NYC is hit with a catastrophic event is of dubious merit. The movie version establishes that the entire world has a common threat.
In the comic, the "alien" kills (or drives insane) most of NYC with a massive psychic blast from it's huge genetically engineered brain. Except that Dr. Manhattan is established as the only one with super powers. Wouldn't psychic powers be super powers? Where does he get the psychics to engineer the brain from? Plus why would an alien (or aliens) capable of developing and using teleporters in any organized fashion, use them in a way that would cause their certain deaths?
In the movie, Veidt just blows cities up using Dr. Manhattan's reactor. Much simpler.
Manhattan is an Alien
In both, the major theme surrounding Dr. Manhattan's character is his gradual alienation and loss of humanity. He questions the fundamental nature of human morals and, in trying to come up with something to replace it, he can't see any worth in human life. He sees people as ants. Of no greater worth than Martian rock strata. Laurie changes his mind, but only the people at Karnak know this. In the end of both versions, Manhattan has become an alien. He leaves earth and humanity behind and travels off into deep space.
The public is aware of all of this. Or they can suspect it and be made to jump to the right conclusions. In his talk show appearance establishes that he does not see the world as we do. He is shown to be harming those around him with cancer and as emotionally unstable under stress. He has killed people before during his crimefighting and Vietnam.
Manhattan alludes to knowledge of a coming nuclear holocaust, giving him motive. His disappearance provides him opportunity. He has ability. Forensic evidence from the scene of the crime confirms this. He is a the only likely suspect in the public's mind.
It's either Dr. Manhattan or an elaborate frame up. Whether he did it to stop nuclear war or to squash some bugs, it doesn't really matter. The effect is the same.
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