The plot of Watchmen is rooted in an alternate version of reality where Richard Nixon remains president and the United States and Russia hover on the brink of nuclear war. A disbanded group of superheroes with some very ugly secrets reform when one of their own - The Comedian is thrown out of his apartment window. As they investigate who did it and more importantly, if one of them is next, the only genuine superhero among them - and the only deterrent from nuclear war - the omnipotent Dr Manhattan is becoming increasingly detached from human kind.
The original Watchmen graphic novel was a revelation when it was first released in 1986. The first comic to deconstruct the notion of a superhero in a modern-day 'real' environment, this groundbreaking piece of work plucked apart the conventions and history of the superhero genre and even transcended the medium of what a comic could convey and is since the only graphic novel to win a Hugo award and feature on Time Magazine's top 100 novels of all-time.
When Zack Snyder was confirmed as director and a budget of $130 million was granted to create his vision of the Watchmen world the big question was could a director who had in essence previously made a two-hour overly-stylised music video (300) adapt a novel layered with nuance and subtext?
The answer for the most part is a resounding yes. Although the viewer is confusingly bombarded with information at first with a 10-minute montage set to Bob Dylan's 'the times they are a'changin', Snyder for the rest of the movie confidently navigates through the various characters and plot strands, he presents a complicated story in a surprisingly concise manner and does justice to the novel in a 161 minute running time that feels spritely rather than painful.
Though the movie isn't without its problems - for a start it's not a movie for everyone, it's targeted towards its core audience and expects them to sit through it for its lengthy duration, Snyder has been so faithful in adapting the story, he has been rather unforgiving in making the film accessible to those without any knowledge of the Watchmen universe. People with no knowledge of the novel may see it as disjointed, confusing and lacking pace, those who aren't fans of comic-book movies as a whole may want to steer well clear. The film is scored to hits from artists including Billie Holiday, Jimi Hendrix and Simon and Garfunkel which at times feel distracting, a love scene set to Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah feels at best out of place and at worst - twee. Although the film as a whole keeps a solid pace and rarely hits an off-note, the final act isn't perhaps as tight and well thought out as it could be.
The cast veer in their ability to fully inhabit their characters with complete conviction.
