I saw the film last Friday.
Snyder's Watchmen is very very well made indeed. I have never seen such a faithful adaptation of anything, ever. There were many moments when I was in awe of how specifically identical key scenes were on screen as they are in the book. For someone who knows the book pretty well, it was a joy to see on screen. And in so many ways it is an absolutely amazing film.
HOWEVER
While I think that for people who love the novel it will be a very fun experience, for me the film didn't enhance my enjoyment of Watchmen, or the world of Watchmen. For someone who's read the book, it's perhaps the film's attention to detail and loving recreation of the universe created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons that means it never had a hope of adding anything. In short, I'm not sure they needed to make a film at all.
The plot doesn't quite have enough strength to it to make a proper film. I guess that, for me, it turns out that the storyline was never the big attraction - it was more the atmosphere and the buildup. They capture quite a bit of that, but I think that Alan Moore was mostly right (even though he's a grumpy old bastard) - and that it probably shouldn't have been filmed, even as a 2:43 long movie.
A friend of mine put it very well like this:
a) those who love Watchmen the comic think it is a masterpiece, and a definitive work in the medium.
b) Citizen Kane is to film what Watchmen is to comics.
c) I would have no interest in reading a Citizen Kane comic.
I met Zack Snyder for an interview recently (listen here) and he understood exactly what I mean by the fact that the appeal of Watchmen has never really been its story. In fact, it's almost everything EXCEPT the story that people remember and love so much. He even said that there was pressure from the studio to 'get back on point' and back to the investigation part of the film. He managed to avoid that pressure, but I think for some people the film may feel like it's trapped between two different kinds of film, and may feel that the fact that it is packed with scenes that really are not important to the plot at all, but are integral to the characters and the atmosphere, makes it a 'bad' film. So it's probably best not to think of it as a film at all.
That's not to say that it's not good.
And most of the actors pretty much nail the roles, as much as it is possible. There has been quite a lot of talk about the ages of some of them, particularly Matthew Goode (listen to my interview with him here), who's at least 20 years too young to be Adrian Veidt, but it actually all works really well when you see it on screen. He may not quite have the presence required, but I think I kind of felt that in the book anyway!
When Patrick Wilson is talking with Hollis, or having that fantastic conversation with Rorschachin his basement, and wearing those glasses, he really IS Nite Owl II. Wilson really did take the role very seriously, despite not having known about the book before getting the part (my interview here) - he really 'gets' the character, playing his alter-ego somewhere close to Christopher Reeve's Clarke Kent, actually. Jackie Earle Haley is just brilliant as Rorschach, completely capturing the uncompromising metal-ness. He pulls off the voice, and makes those lines from the book, which I always thought would sound silly in a film, sound deadly serious (interview with him here).
Seeing Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian, you'll think Gibbons actually based his work on him - he looks perfect, and plays the role with just the right balance of likeability and coolness that's covering the surface of brutality and sexual violence that defines the character (interview here).
Billy Crudup does a good job with Dr Manhatten, though it wasn't how I imagined him to be like. He's made me look at the comics in a new way, with actually a bit more emotion than you ever thing Manhatten had, and that actually enhances the character, rather than spoils it. His blueness is also spot-on.
Malin Akerman doesn't really need to stretch her acting skills that much in this, but is a convincing and sexy Silk Spectre II. Her mum looks ridiculously young, but Carla Gugino does the best she can nonetheless. I think they would have been better off getting an old woman though, then making her look young with CGI in Minutemen flashback (here's the interview with both of them).
The music's brilliant too - check out the soundtrack and prepare to be surprised. Like I said, it also looked perfect. Just absolutely perfect - the colours, shadows, buildings, clothes, even the rain (although no cigarettes! Silly).
There are some things cut out, including the Black Freighter story, (which is coming out on DVD soon and will be edited into the director's cut), and the death of Hollis. Individually, they may not matter too much, especially to the PLOT, but they are just more accumulated atmosphere and additions to the world and to motivations that do mean the whole 'feel' can never be truly recreated.
There's so much good stuff about the film, and yet somehow it was all a little hollow. When I finished reading the book I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and it all made sense. The detail and complexity of the whole thing is astounding. But when a friend of mine who doesn't know the book left the cinema last night, having seen it for the first time, he described it as 'long and weird' - he, understandably, didn't always know what was going on, and didn't get that sense of incredible storytelling and coolness that I got from the novel.
I think it's definitely the best Watchmen movie that could ever have been made, but I can't see it doing particularly well commercially. If it was just a film, and had never been a book, I think a lot of people would say that it needs to be cut down a lot, with more plot and less talking. However, I have no idea what someone who's never read the book would think, and would like to find out.
And yes, there is no squid. I won't spoil the ending, but when I first watched it I was almost already dissapointed they hadn't been a bit braver. When I asked Snyder about it, though, his answer actually converted me. To unite againt a 'god' is surely a potentially far stronger thing than to unite because of the discovery of alien life.
Finally, a note on Alan Moore. Seems to me he is a grade-A nutbag these days. I can completely appreciate that he doesn't really want his books to be made into films - but he didn't even give this one a chance. Plus he is becoming more and more reclusive. Snyder says it was 'difficult' to hear his comments, being a massive fan of the great writer. I just really hope he watches it one day. And the fact that he actually had his name removed from anywhere in the film or in the credits or anywhere actually left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, before the film even began.
And even more finally, what the hell was with that guy playing Nixon? The makeup just looked stupid, I'm afraid.
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