Director	Zach Snyder
Length	162 mins
Certificate	18
Rating	Film making: 3  Personal enjoyment: 4

The vast majority of reviews of Zach Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen have split the film, and what people’s perception of it might be, into two camps: those who have read the classic graphic novel on which it is based, and those who haven’t. In the case of this film, this response does seem necessary, since it is a very faithful, very dense, and rather complex adaptation of one of the biggest cult objects ever written. That is not to say though that the film will be impenetrable to the attentive first-timer, since it has moments of humour, beauty, and instantly memorable dialogue all wrapped up in its intriguing ‘whodunnit’ noir-inspired storytelling structure. The nature of the film as an adaptation is something that I will deal with in my Alternate Take, since it really is a defining part of both the film’s scope and its potential appeal.

For those, then, not familiar with the novel, Watchmen tells the story of a group of vigilantes in New York City in an alternate 1985. Richard Nixon is still president and, thanks to superhero Dr. Manhattan, the USA have won the Vietnam War. The film opens with the death of The Comedian, one of the Watchmen, which sparks an investigation into his death by one of his former colleagues, Rorschach. Rorschach, the narrator and the closest we get to a protagonist, enlists help from fellow Watchmen, Silk Spectre, Ozymandias and Nite Owl to uncover the conspiracy behind the murder. Added to this is the story of blue, telepathic Dr. Manhattan, his relationship with Silk Spectre, the history of the Watchmen as a group, and indeed the history of America itself.

The film, although rather complex (especially in dealing with its ultimate ‘villain’, and the who and why behind the conspiracy), nevertheless flows surprisingly well, combining character study with intense, and gory, action set-pieces. Many characters are included, and jostle for screen time, including Nixon, who interestingly receives more attention here than in the source material. The most successfully rendered of the main group are Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), the cigar-chomping, amoral Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and impotent, Batman-like Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson). Unfortunately, the now-naive Silk Spectre (Marlin Akerman) is treated as something like a token female, and is for the most part pushed undeservedly and unnecessarily into the role of love interest in a triangle between between Nite Owl and Dr. Manhattan.

Of course, as the film’s well-documented production history attests to, it could all have been so different - from Paul Greengrass (amongst others) nearly directing, to Ozymandias’ costume looking like something out of Mystery Men (1999). Still, given the difficulties inherent in the project, it is laudable that it works at all - and, somehow, it does. For the fanboys there is enough detail of the narrative world (the newsvendor, Bubastis) to revel in, whilst the story is gripping and fascinating enough to keep the uninitiated interested, even if it does occasionally drag, especially towards its compromised conclusion.