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Watchmen Review

Book-based movies generally go one of two ways: first, the adaptation may be faithful to the spirit of the source, so that even though some liberties are taken the overall feel of the story remains intact (Secret Window was a pretty good example of this). The other typical option is that the movie changes too many things, and the original story is damaged or lost altogether (Timeline followed this unfortunate route). Very rarely, you get another option: a movie that follows the original story beautifully almost the whole way through, but then goes off the tracks for no apparent reason (Dreamcatcher, I'm looking at you).

For me, Watchmen followed this less-traveled road. The overall movie was good, but their one major alteration to the story put me off. A further explanation is after the link, but be warned: SPOILERS INCLUDED FOR BOTH THE MOVIE AND THE GRAPHIC NOVEL.

Ozymandias' "checkmate" in both the movie and the book was the same: to unite all of humanity in the face of a (false) larger danger. Unfortunately, the movie makers chose to use Dr. Manhattan as that larger danger instead of an unknown alien species. This creates a couple of problems for me.

One is that Manhattan wasn't an outside threat: he was an Earthling, and he was an American. So instead of something to unite all of humanity in the face of an overwhelming threat, it seems like this ultimate danger would more likely create a stronger anti-American sentiment throughout the rest of the world. After all, America not only created Dr. Manhattan, but used him as a weapon and a researcher for years. His work was condoned and actively encouraged by the country. If he was as big of a threat to the world as the endgame made him out to be, then America was implicitly responsible as well.

Also, Dr. Manhattan is a somewhat limited threat. Despite his power, he was still a single being and therefore he could theoretically be overcome. An alien takeover serves as a much larger threat with no real "end." Earth would have no idea how many invaders existed, when they would make their next move, etc. The more vague threat offered humanity the chance to band together to face an unknown future, rather than the more straightforward goal of imprisoning or destroying a single being.

The change to the ending was somewhat understandable, but it was a change that took away from the story too much for me. It was too bad, too. If not for that, the movie would've been a near perfect adaptation. As it is, I still thought it was very good. If you haven't read the graphic novel yet, do so. It doesn't matter whether you do it before or after watching the movie, as they serve as great companion pieces to one another, but you ought to make sure to take Watchmen in their original format.


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