If I ask you what’s your favorite superhero movie? You’ll probably say The Dark Knight, Snyder’s Justice League, Avengers Infinity War, or something else; depends on your preferences. But it’s most likely not Watchmen (2009) directed by Zack Snyder. Well, that’s my favorite DC movie so far. And I feel bad that when it comes to the superhero genre, not many people talk about this movie.
In an alternate reality in the mid-80s when the Cold War between the Soviet Union and America escalates at its peak. The world is teetering on the brink of a nuclear holocaust. Richard Nixon has been serving a fifth term as president and has been in power for 16 years. He altered the reality by winning the war against Vietnam aided by Doctor Manhattan, a blue-colored Godlike power possessor.
People have already lost faith in Watchmen; a group of superheroes including Nite Owl, Rorschach, Silk Spectre, Ozymandias, or Dr. Manhattan. As a result, every member of Watchmen quits being a superhero and starts living an ordinary life except Rorschach. Everything picks up when Edward Blake (better known as the Comedian), a former member of Watchmen gets killed by an unknown assassin. Rorschach starts investigating the murder on his own considering someone is targeting the members of Watchmen. And that journey let us know how messed up society went and how horrible things are gonna be soon.
Watchmen is not the kind of superhero movie we usually see. You’ll most likely be disappointed if you expect action sequences heavy on visual effects where “the hero fights against the evil supervillain”, then you’ll most likely be disappointed. Because there is no particular hero or villain in the movie. All of them can be considered as antiheroes. And Watchmen is all about moral diversity among each character. Throughout the movie, you’ll find yourself in the dilemma of right and wrong. Don’t get me wrong, it does have some superhero stuff with a load of VFX. (I mean, the only person with a real superpower is Doctor Manhattan. The rest of them are just vigilantes). It’s just not the same as any other DC or Marvel movie we often see. You’ll know what I mean when you watch it. Watchmen is the perfect amalgamation of superheroes and societal elements. What I meant is… ok let’s classify two categories of DC movies. For instance, I’d call Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, or Aquaman more like Superhero movies whereas Joker or V for Vendetta by Societal movie. You get the point I am trying to make, (Gosh I am so bad at explaining).
Watchmen is an adaptation of the graphic novel (not comics) “Watchmen” by Dave Gibbons, Alan Moore, and John Higgins that was originally published as a monthly series between 1986 and 1987. If you read it, you’ll understand that how challenging it would be to make a proper movie out of such a conceptually dense story. So, Zack Snyder made a smart decision by making some change in the ending, character development, tone and the pace of the movie. Snyder tried to replicate the visuals of the graphic novel to the film and I’d say, he’s successful in most of its parts. His stylish visual presentation makes action scenes super cool. Though, I’ve heard some comic nerds complaining that the movie is nowhere near the level of the graphic novel’s quality. I mean, who can satisfy them?
Back in 2009-2010, the movie and its director faced significant criticism, led the movie to a Box-office failure.[1] It’s funny in a sense that, Christopher Nolan once said that Watchmen was an “ahead of its time” film.[2] And today’s audience validates the statement. You see, today we are used to seeing superheroes as threatening figures as we’ve seen The Boys or Invincible. Imagine a movie with a similar plot but a better story, visuals, art, and literally every other sector coming out now instead of in 2009. How awesome that would be!
Watchmen’s Ultimate Cut is 215 minutes or 3 hours and 35 minutes long. (Initially, the movie’s theatrical runtime was 2 hours 42 minutes. A director’s cut brings the runtime to 3 hours and 6 minutes. And years after the Ultimate Cut was released.) So, if you have a really short time-span or get bored with slow pacing movie, then Watchmen is not probably a good movie for you to watch. The movie is super dense with so many details in it. So, to get the maximum output of the movie, you’ll have to sit through the whole movie with proper attention. And if you can do that, you’ll experience a masterpiece.
