I can’t remember exactly when I bought the Watchmen graphic novel, but it was before Zack Snyder’s film adaptation came out in 2009. That might have been the impetus behind me buying it. I didn’t watch the film until I’d read the book, and I missed its theatrical run, so I ended up with the original Aussie Blu-ray release.
Anyway, the reason for this blog is that I’ve just re-read the book and watched The Ultimate Cut on Stan (and I'm in the middle of re-reading it again). That version is the Director’s Cut which incorporates the animated Tales of the Black Freighter comic into its three and a half hour running time. Initially available as a separate purchase, TotBF is woven through this version of the movie similarly to how it appears in the graphic novel. The use of animation is quite effective, as it fleshes out the story a little clearer than the limited comic panels in the graphic novel.
I should probably SPOILER ALERT you right here. If you haven’t read the book or watched a version of the film, and you don’t want to know any plot points, stop reading.
It’s not a linear narrative, as events in the past flashback throughout the story and some plot details are included as supplementary inclusions at the end of each chapter. The Watchmen graphic novel is made up of the 12 months issues of the Watchmen comic series that were published in 1986 and 1987. I wish that I had read them when they initially came out! Some chapters finish with excerpts from Hollis Mason’s Under the Hood, a novel by the costumed vigilante known as Nite Owl from 1939 to 1962. Others include appendixes of magazine articles or notes from a personnel file. It makes for a very immersive read! The weakest of these, for me, was an ornithological essay by Dan Dreiberg, who became Nite Owl II in the sixties. Drieberg is a main character in the events of 1985 and appears in various flashbacks.
Both the film and graphic novel begin with the murder of Edward Blake, who is discovered by main protagonist Rorschach to be The Comedian. He was a member of a group of superheroes called the Minutemen in 1940 who went on to work for the US govt. The Comedian’s death is symbolised by the iconic image of a yellow smiley face badge with a splatter of blood on it. This image recurs throughout the comics and the movie. Rorschach is a ruthless character who sees the world as one in need of justice, and in his case, that justice is sometimes brutal. Taking his name from the psychological ink blot test, he wears a white mask with black liquid between the layers of fabric, which makes for a constantly changing Rorschach test. As we read (or watch) on, he believes this to be his true face and is not simply posing as Rorschach, he IS Rorschach. He might have been born Walter Kovacs, but one horrible encounter during a kidnapping incident changed him into Rorschach forever. His mask is the only face he feels he change show the world, seeing his mask-less face as his disguise.
Rorschach narrates part of the story, with his narrations coming from his journal. This gives us more insight into his character than any other, and despite his violent tendencies and extreme viewpoints, you find yourself sympathising with him and his plight. Jackie Earle Haley's performance as Rorschach in the movie is one of its biggest strengths. Among the numerous differences between the film and the graphic novels is one of my favourite changes, and it's only a small thing, but it gives Rorschach an awesome movie moment.
When Rorschach is sent to prison, there is a scene where he's confronted by another prisoner, who threatens to shiv him in the canteen. Responding quickly, and without fear, Rorschach hits him upside the head with a tray and breaks the glass protector sheet between the queue and the kitchen servery. He proceeds to grab a boiling pot of oil and pours it over the hapless prisoner. As he is being restrained by prison guards, he yells out to the all of the onlookers:
"None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me!!"
This whole incident is acted out in the movie, and Haley is brilliant in it. The graphic novel gives a second hand account of it via Malcolm Long, Rorschach's psychiatrist in prison. It has so much more menace and vitriol seeing the scene happen in person, rather than the line being relayed from another character. Nice work, Zac!
Of course, the crowning glory of the movie adaptation has to be the opening credits. Taking place straight after the murder of Blake, the titles are shown over a montage of scenes that depict the 1985 that this movie is set in, highlighting some events that have lead to it. A few of these scenes are only vaguely alluded to in the graphic novel, and to have them implicitly re-created in these little vignettes shows how much Snyder and his team mined from the source material. For instance, a superhero from the forties, Silhouette is shown kissing a nurse on VJ-Day in Times Square, referencing the famous photo of a sailor kissing a nurse on the same day in our timeline. It is hinted that the sailor is walking behind Silhouette, and so misses out on the kiss and the photo. This reveals that is superhero is a lesbian, and that things have become quite different, but the media still wields a lot of control. Another later scene in the titles show the nurse and Silhouette have been murdered in a bedroom, with a newspaper showing their famous kiss next to the bed.
The existence of Silhouette is referenced more in the graphic novel, but if you hadn't read it, you wouldn't even know her name. The movie shows her death which is only referenced to in an interview with Silk Spectre, who laments the way she was turfed out of the Minutemen...the first group of superheroes who banded together in 1940. She explained that one reason she was ousted was due to her sexuality, even though there were other members who were gay. We find out in the 2017 HBO TV series Watchmen, that this may have meant Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice.
This is just one example of the movie fleshing out a small detail of the graphic novel. Getting back to that opening credits sequence, each vignette is presented like a photograph (or being itself photographed) except for minor movement, or slow motion. It's underscored by Bob Dylan's immortal The Times They Are A-Changin', and it fits perfectly as the years get closer to 1985. We learn that The Comedian was involved in the death of JFK, who had been at a media conference with Dr Manhattan in another scene, and that members of the Minutemen have either been killed, committed to a mental asyulm or retired. While the new group of superheroes consisting of Dr Manhattan, The Comedian, Silk Spectre II (the original's daughter), Ozymandias, Nite Owl II (protege of the original Nite Owl) and Rorschach is thought of as many as the Watchmen, they are never named as such in the novel. In fact, the famous quote 'Who watches the Watchmen?' is never shown in full in the comic either; it's always obscured. The quote itself is from Roman poet Juvenal who asked 'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?' in reference to the guards posted to ensure the fidelity of his wife.
As I've mentioned before, some of the casting is absolutely spot-on. Haley as Rorschach, Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian and Billy Crudup as Dr Manhattan are all terrific. I think Carla Gugino was a little miscast as Silk Spectre, and didn't really work in the older guise or as the younger character. She had great potential, but it didn't land for me. Same with Malin Akerman as her daughter Silk Spectre II (Laurie). Something was a bit off. She didn't have the spark and spit of the comic book character. Matthew Goode's casting as Adrian Veidt was another mistake, I feel. Again, he just didn't embody the character right for me, although he gave it a damn good go. The actor portraying Richard Nixon was pretty unconvincing as well, I felt.
The biggest difference between the graphic novel and the movie that I absolutely hated was Veidt blaming the destruction to the human race at the conclusion of the story on Dr Manhattan. In the comic, a giant squid has been created by artists, scientists and other experts by Veidt, with the masterplan being that it appears in New York City, as if from another dimension, dead but affecting the deaths of over three million people. The movie has several locations all over the world that appear to have been random targets of Dr Manhattan's deadly powers, but they have been instigated by Veidt with the express purpose of uniting the world against a common enemy, and avoiding World War III between the USA and Russia.
The death of The Comedian at the start of the story sets Rorschach on an investigation that leads him to think that someone is trying to kill the old superheroes. Other events include Dr Manhattan seeking refuge on the planet Mars after falsely believing that he has given former co-workers and friends cancer, and an attempt of Veidt's life. Rorschach is sent to prison after being framed as the killer of Moloch, an old enemy of the Minutemen/Crimebusters who had since reformed and lived the life of a civilian. It turns out that Veidt was behind all of it, hiring his own hitman before killing his would-be assassian under the subterfuge of trying to pull a cyanide pill out of his mouth; when he actually crammed it in himself.
Veidt's motive is the same in the graphic novel, but the blame is put on an alien entity that has seemingly appeared from another dimension, and poses a possible threat of alien invasion. This threat was meant to unite the world, which we are told it does in the comic, and the later TV series. Apparently this element of the plot was eliminated from Snyder's adaptation because he felt he would need at least 15 minutes to explain it. Time he felt would be better spent on developing the characters. Yeah, maybe. Don't like the change.
Again, in both scenarios, Rorschach doesn't agree to keep the real source of the destruction a secret, and is bent on getting the news of Veidt's scheme to the people: "Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon." In both the film and the comic, he is killed by Dr Manhattan who believes that the world will be better served if the human race never learns the truth. The big difference in Rorschach's death scene is that the movie shows Nite Owl watching and yelling out a nice big "Noooooooooooooooooooo!" as Rorschach's body is torn apart by his blue executioner. Unnecessary change, I felt, but I guess it adds to the emotion of the moment. I don't like the way Rorschach's character dies (or that he dies at all, really), but I see it like a suicide. Rorschach must know that Dr Manhattan will kill him, and the doc must realise there is only one way to stop Rorschach from spreading the news.
It gives you more sympathy for Dr Manhattan's actions in the movie, because he realises that he is going to have to take the blame for Veidt's massacres. The good it will do for the planet outweighs the truth, and in killing Rorschach he seals his own fate. I don't like that Rorschach dies, and he's not exactly a model citizen, but it feels like his character drives the story. So, I guess it's kind of fitting that once he dies, the story nearly is as well.
Both the movie and the comic hint that the journal Rorschach mails to the New Frontiersman paper (unnamed in the movie, I think) will see the truth come out anyway, which makes it all a bit baffling. But that's the fun of it. There's a few ways the future could pan out, but its up to the individual reader or viewer.
In conclusion, I think the graphic novel is the best way to enjoy Watchmen, but the Ultimate Cut of the movie is probably the closest we'll ever get.
* * * *
After reading the comic, then watching the movie, then re-reading the comic, I watched the HBO TV series. And although I found it quite interesting, and certainly compelling in places, when it was all over I was like "Um, okay." I liked the premise, in that it is set in 2019 after the events of the comic in 1985. A giant squid killed three million people in NYC, the same as the comic.
In this alternate world, members of the police wear masks to protect their identity. This is due to a massacre of police officers, dubbed 'White Night' that occurred years before, due to the ease of finding their personal details. This was carried out by a group called the Seventh Kavalry, who for some reason wear Rorschach masks. This is never really explained, but I'm guessing it's to show a strange camaraderie to him, embracing his more right-wing qualities and painting him falsely as modern Klansman. I didn't like that idea, but the device of police having to be masked was interesting. It further blurred the line between masked vigilante and law enforcer.
I also liked that the character of Laurie Jupiter (Silk Spectre II) had becomes an FBI agent going by the name of Laurie Blake. She learnt that The Comedian was her father after his death, and knew that he had attempted to rape her mother. In spite of this horrible act, it seems that both The Comedian and Silk Spectre engaged in consensual relations, with Laurie being born from that encounter. After hating Blake for many years after learning of the sexual assault, she is devastated to learn that he is actually her father. That her character goes by Laurie Blake in 2019 shows that she must have made peace with that fact somehow. She is wonderfully played by Jean Smart, who is pitch perfect. Someone with the same energy and delivery should have been considered for the movie.
Overall, I thought the casting was excellent, and Regina King carries the show with her performance bearing its weight with ease. Her Angela Abar is similar to Rorschach in Watchmen, as she drives the story, and most of the action is seen from her point of view, baring the Veidt storyline on Europa. Tim Blake Nelson is wonderful as masked police officer called Looking Glass, as his head covering is fully reflective. Don Johnson is great in a small role as the chief of police before being assassinated, casting doubt on his true motives and on whether he was a member of the Seventh Kavalry himself, in spite of pursuing them. Jeremy Irons is an interesting choice as Veidt (who spends most of the series imprisoned on Europa, which is a moon of Jupiter). I felt at times it worked, then at other times his character seemed unnecessarily cruel. Indeed his character in the comic was quite narcissistic, but there was a gentleness to him; until he needed to not be gentle. Again, a British actor used to portray Veidt which I find bizarre, but maybe that was to add an air of pomposity to him?
Yahya Abdul-Matten II plays Angela's spouse Cal, and is very good. Particularly when it is revealed that he is not who he seems. I felt the actor who played a character called Will Reeves, Jovan Adepo, was excellent as well. It was a thrill to see the older character Reeves played by Louis Gossett, Jr too. Their character survived the Tulsa 'Black Wall Street' massacre in 1921 and is eventually revealed to not only be Hooded Justice, the first masked vigilante, but also Angela's grandfather.
There are numerous references to the original graphic novel, which does reward fans, but also enhances the world they are living in. Some nice plot points include Veidt orchestrating random showers of smaller alien squid to perpetuate the idea that invasion is still possible. Robert Redford has indeed become president, as hinted at the end of the comic, but we don't get see him unfortunately. A few scenes are set in Vietnam (now a state of the USA), and Dr Manhattan is almost worshiped as a deity, or derided as a devil, for his actions in ending the war in the sixties.
It won a heap of Emmy awards, with Regina and Yahya receiving the top gong in their categories and apparently had the highest number of nominations for a TV series ever. Among its swag was Outstanding Directing, Writing and TV Movie/Limited Series. Some categories saw multiple nominations, with Outstanding Supporting Actor getting nods for Louis, Yahya and Jovan. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross also garnered awards and praise for the music, which is also very good.
But yeah, by the end of it, I felt a little underwhelmed. I think the destination wasn't as good as the journey, which could be said of the original Watchmen graphic novel as well, I guess.
