Watchmen.

It is not a perfect film.

That said, I have only this to say to Zack Snyder: You done good.

Snyder took on an unfilmable work of comic book genius and produced an extraordinary adaptation that profoundly affects its audience on every level of the spectrum: visually, emotionally, intellectually. Nonetheless, while the film is an accomplishment, it is not nearly the accomplishment that is the graphic novel; the differences in medium and scope make it impossible for Snyder’s “Watchmen” to reach the pinnacle of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ “Watchmen.”

But more on that later. Anyone who has seen “300″ knows that Snyder has the ability to translate the aesthetic of a graphic novel into film, and “Watchmen” is no exception. In fact, the loving attention paid to every seemingly-minute detail is one of the reasons that this film stands up to multiple viewings. Snyder recreates some of the comic’s most iconic panels in ways that not only turn the film into a visual masterpiece, but make the fans, well, pretty damn happy.

One of the visual centerpieces of the film is of course Dr. Manhattan. To the casual viewer, the glowing blue man (and the many full-frontal shots of azure genitalia) might seem to be an odd choice among the sea of gritty, noir characters, but sans Dr. Manhattan, the hard-boiled detection and bloody fight scenes do not a “Watchmen” make. One of this reviewer’s fears was that Warner Brothers’ attempts to pare down the running time would cripple Dr. Manhattan’s character arc. Not to worry; the most important elements are preserved and in fact they form a breathtaking sequence that is one of the emotional linchpins of the entire film.

Billy Crudup’s mostly monotone performance was a daring (and ultimately compelling) narrative choice. Through Crudup’s understated performance, Snyder was able to address some of the philosophical questions that made the graphic novel so great.

Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl II (aka Dan Dreiberg) did an excellent job, but some of his story didn’t quite make it to the film and what did make the cut was slightly disjointed and unclear. A fault of either the studio’s running time fears or Snyder’s squeamishness with Nite Owl II’s hard–err, difficult personal problems (hard to believe given the amount of blue penis), Dan Dreiberg’s arc was one of the weaker ones in the film.

But the true weak link of the film was Malin Akerman’s Silk Spectre II. While the rest of the cast brought their game (notice I’m saving the genius Jackie Earle Haley for last), Akerman was good only in the sense that if she kept her mouth shut, she looked like Silk Spectre II. The problem was that she simply couldn’t deliver her lines anywhere close to the standard achieved by the rest of the cast. While the no-dialogue action scenes were fantastic, her performance was ultimately undercut by the fact that she looked like she was playing in “Watchmen: The Community Theater Presents.”

And there’s a scene on a ship in the sky that ends with fire, with a lot of awkward cuts and a terrible song choice, and I have to say that it was really one of the low points in the movie for me.

But back to the good stuff.

Rorschach.

In a stroke of genius, Zack Snyder fought to get Jackie Earle Haley the part and the effort paid off brilliantly. Haley was extraordinary as the masked noir vigilante, no mean feat considering the fact he spends a great deal of the film with his face entirely covered. Haley handles that setback deftly, his superb physical acting breathing life into the beloved character. Rorschach has almost all of the best moments of the film and he acts the hell out of them: equal parts finesse and presence. Simply put, if there is one reason for you to see “Watchmen” it is for Rorschach and Jackie Earle Haley’s performance.

So what’s the damage?

There are okay parts to this film, there are good parts, and there are some great parts which overshadow the mediocre to the extent that 95 percent of the film is stunning.
The other five percent has been rife with controversy for months: namely, to squid or not to squid. For readers of the comic book, it’s easy to understand why a giant alien squid would have a difficult transition to the silver screen. I for one don’t have a problem with it being cut, but rather with what they chose to replace it.

On the surface, the Not-Squid isn’t a terrible deus ex machina, but once you peel back that first layer it sort of falls to pieces at the first indication of logic. By the time that the Not-Squid hits the screen in the film, I was so amped up and excited that I’d have accepted any explanation without question. But the moment the credits started to roll, I was left a little deflated and disappointed with the direction Snyder and company went.

If that were the only problem with the end of the film, I’d probably be able overlook it in light of the sheer awesome of Rorschach or Dr. Manhattan. Unfortunately, Snyder spoiled us with his TLC in the rest of the film and the last 10 minutes felt disjointed and rushed. At the same time, it’s understandable; he was forced to blend key moments from the graphic novel (which were as outstanding as the other 95 percent) with the haphazard denouement of the Not-Squid conflict.

So my conclusions? Like the characters it depicts, Snyder’s film is great and yet ultimately flawed. But I choose to focus on the great half of that equation; Zack Snyder deserves accolades for not just the masterwork of vision but for the audacity to tackle “Watchmen” on the big screen.

So “Watchmen” is not a perfect film. But it is, without a doubt, a damn good one.

Watchmen is the latest in a line of big budget comic book-to-movie adaptations. Zack Snyder took the task of filming a book, which has been called unfilmable by everyone from casual fans down to the author, Alan Moore, and against all odds, made a very good movie.

Speaking of Alan Moore, with most of his defining works poorly translated to the screen, it’s understandable that Moore pulled his name from this movie, and everything to do with it. His classics “From Hell,” “V for Vendetta” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” have made their way to the big screen, and have ranged from poorly adapted to downright horrible.

Nowadays Mr. Moore comes off as a cynical old curmudgeon but he’s certainly earned it. Unfortunately, he should see “Watchmen,” a movie that finally does justice to its source material. Perhaps he would have left his name on it, but that won’t ever be known.

What we do know is the influence by “Watchmen’s” other creator, the artist David Gibbons, greatly impacted the final film product. Gibbons did a lot of conceptual work for the movie and it shows. As a fan of the graphic novel, I felt like I was watching the panels moving in front of me. The bright colors popping off the dark backgrounds were taken directly from the book, and surprisingly still work. The oranges and purples, used to accent shadows and skylines is another great touch from the book that made its way to the silver screen. But even without the book to stand on, the movie brings a lot to the table. For lack of better words, the movie is visually stunning. From the sheer spectacle that is Manhattan’s clockwork castle, to the grimy alleyways that Rorschach combs over, to the Egyptian style on Ozymandias’ Antarctic watchtower, everything looks wonderful and well designed. But in today’s movies, it helps to look breathtaking, but you also need to give a story to match.

Without giving too much away, Watchmen, at its heart, is still a superhero story, despite its adult themes. We follow a handful of current and former masked vigilantes, as they put the costumes on to try and save the world from something much bigger than the thugs they dealt with in their heyday.

Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) is an objectivist detective, with ideas verging on paranoia, who keeps record of the whole event in his journal.

Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson) is the alter ego of the nerdish Daniel Dreiberg, who has lived his life in the shadows, whether they are of the original Nite Owl, or of his own life in costume. He is the closest thing to a hero, in the traditional sense of the word.

Laurie Juspeczyk (Malin Akerman) was the Silk Spectre, a second generation hero who has trouble dealing with her family and her past, and has never gotten to make her own choices in life.

Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode) publicly revealed his identity, sharing that he is Ozymandias, an Egyptian-themed hero with a love for the kings of old and a wish to use his title of “Smartest man in the World” to save the world from itself.

The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was the moniker applied to Edward Blake, a man who epitomizes the word “soldier.” Between government work, his life as a vigilante, and his time spent at war, he developed a cruel twisted view of the world, and acted as a mirror, reflecting it’s horrors for all to see.

Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup) is the exception to the rule. Among the crime fighters, he is a marvel of science. Caught in the middle of an experiment gone astray, he is destroyed and then rebuilt, as a blue being of pure energy — a real life superhuman (who is American) — who can change matter with just a thought. But even he is not immune from the flawed nature of mankind, as he is slowly losing his grip on humanity and forgetting what it was once like to be a man named Jon Osterman.

The important point of each character is that none of them are perfect. They are not superheroes who live there nights as costumed vigilantes and their days as mild mannered civilians. They are both at the same time. They have to carry the things they have done or seen, whether they have a mask on or not. They are flawed, they are broken, and as a whole, they seem fairly unstable. Veidt appears to have a god complex; Rorschach is paranoid and sees the world as a vile pit nearing the point of no return; Dan is uncomfortable outside of his suit, and can barley function without it on his mind; Laurie is juggling failed relationships with her family and Doctor Manhattan; The Comedian seems to only feel anything through violence, and has taken a nihilistic view of the world; and the good Doctor Manhattan is losing any attachment to Earth. These are not the people I want saving the world, yet these are the people trying.

The portrayal of these characters is certainly the hardest part of putting together this movie, and that was its biggest strength. Haley took the role of Rorschach and made it his own. From his bursts of anger, to his monotone gravelly voice, the character was nailed. The surprise star of the film was Patrick Wilson, who was able to play both the roll of the geeky Dan, and the heroic Nite Owl, who while the same flesh, are fundamentally two different people. Without the mask, he is meek and quiet and unable to work up any courage. With the Mask on, he was your classic vision of a hero, righting wrongs and injustices. The dichotomy was brought to the forefront and Wilson handled it perfectly. In truth, all the characters were handled very well. Each actor brings their nuances to the roles and it helps in bringing these people off the page.

The biggest shock was the use of music in the movie. While most music sits in the back of a movie, setting a tone, Watchmen used it in front of the characters. The title montage, set to Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin” was one of the best uses of music in a movie I have ever seen. Gripping an audience, and pulling them right into the story without ever saying a word is a nearly impossible feat, and like everyone else in the theater, the movie sucks you in from the start.

During one scene, set in the Vietnam War, Doctor Manhattan arises over the horizon, to the classic “Ride of the Valkyries” evoking the similar scene in the classic “Apocalypse Now” and showing how the world changed because these people were around. Because of Manhattans’ interference, the war ended in less than a week, and the use of music dredges up the feelings of what was just avoided. The only folly was a horrible cover of “Desolation Row” played over the beginning of the end credits, but I can forgive it because it was clearly shoehorned by the bigwigs, and not by those making the movie.

While I certainly enjoyed the movie, it isn’t without its flaws. The main one being pacing. It is known that a lot more was shot, and was left on the cutting room floor to make it fit in the three hour range. It felt like it. A lot of little details and plot lines were left out, and will hopefully make their way back in the Director’s Cut, which is already rumored to be nearing the five hour mark. But it wasn’t just the missing information that was the problem with the cuts, but rather the flow of the story. The first three fourths of the movie were spot on. It felt right, even though it had some missing details, but the last quarter really felt rushed. Hopefully that when this hits DVD a lot of the pacing will be fixed with the extra footage. The movie and the story both echo the theme of “never compromise” and I feel that perhaps a little to much compromise has made its way to the theatrical cut.

“Watchmen” was both fun and stimulating and an astonishing success conceding the complexity of the literary source. The actions scenes were done right, and showed why these people survived so long. Each character felt different while fighting, which is something rare in action flicks. Rorschach moved in quick sudden bursts, striking wildly and brutally, while Nite Owl threw punches that could have taken down any boxer. Fanboys might get up in arms over some changes, but there was also a lot of stuff left in there just for them. The overall story felt a bit disjointed, but was enjoyable and understandable. Despite having to fit such a large story into three hours, the point does come across:

Simply, there are no heroes. There are only humans, and thus are as flawed as you and me. Between them, there are murderers, adulterers, racists, and sexists. They aren’t people who you should look up to, much less emulate. Yet, they are characters, who while all approaching it differently, all want a better world. So go to the theatre looking for people, not for heroes. Go looking for stories, not for heroics. Go looking with an open mind, and see that it’s more than a popcorn superhero flick, and it deserves more than being known as such.

Here are some more “Watchmen” videos from Rubber Republic and Blast Magazine.

The Comedian and Ozymandias

Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons

Dr. Manhattan and Silk Spectre

Night Owl II and Rorschach

SAN DIEGO — Many have called the comic book series “Watchmen” unfilmable. With the exclusive footage Comic-con attendees were shown at Friday’s event, director Zack Snyder (“300″) is proving otherwise.

Snyder said that when Warner Bros.  approached him about making a “Watchmen” movie as he wrapped production on “300,” he was initially hesitant, but he realized that if he refused the movie, it would pass on to another director who might not create a good translation of the novel.

“If the movie for whatever reason didn’t turn out, it still would have been my fault,” Snyder said of his decision to make the film, which will be released March 6, 2009.

Previous tries by directors such as Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky and Paul Greengrass came up empty as they tried to recreate the world of “Watchmen” in modern times using current political tensions, but Snyder tried to stay as true to the original as a two-and-a-half-hour movie can to a 416 page graphic novel.

“Making a movie about the war on terror and [modern politics] seemed really wrong in a lot of ways to me,” said Snyder. “It’s cooler if people go, ‘Oh hey, this makes me think,’ instead of me telling people what to think.”

“Watchmen” is the only graphic novel to be listed on Time Magazine’s 2005 list of “the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.” It tells the intertwined stories of a group of unwanted superheroes; Rorschach, The Comedian, Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre I and II, and Night Owl II, from their numerous perspectives throughout various time periods. “Watchmen” dates itself as it is set in an alternative future where the United States won the Vietnam War (thanks to Dr. Manhattan), and Nixon is serving his fifth term as president.

Snyder acknowledged that while the movie will remain similar to the comic series in many ways, some aspects of the “Watchmen” world will have to be changed for the sake of length.

“You’re going to end up with some stuff that’s not in [the original story], but that’s just how it is,” Snyder said.

More important than the segments that might have been cut are the subtle parts of “Watchmen” that Snyder left in. While cavalier directors may have considered getting rid of character development for the sake of large action scenes, Snyder said that he left out a lot of the big blockbuster action attractions in order to have more of the story elements.

The four minute montage of clips that Snyder presented exclusively to the audience showed evidence of his attention to detail. The scene in which Rorschach discovers that the murdered Edward Blake was in fact the Comedian includes a brief shot of a photograph of Laurie Juspeczyk, a connection to later events in the Watchmen storyline. A light bulb flashes and Sally Jupiter rubs her eyes as she stands in her Silk Spectre outfit in a scene that matches frame for frame with the graphic novel. A Vietnamese woman slashes the Comedian’s face with a broken bottle in a scene that reveals just how cruel the Comedian had been in his life. All of these clips are of events small enough that they could have been cut, but significant enough to diehard fans like Snyder that they weren’t.

Even a shot of Dollar Bill lying dead after he got his cape caught in a revolving door surrounded by police was in the series of clips, and that was a scene that had only been mentioned in the supplemental material included in the novel compilation of the series.

Snyder said that he was especially proud of how his actors absorbed the mythology of “Watchmen” and how well they kept their characters consistent with the book.

The actor who had the most difficult time slipping into character was Billy Crudup (“The Good Shepherd”), who is playing the omniscient, blue, and completely computer generated Jon Osterman (superhero alias Dr. Manhattan). Instead of a costume, Crudup had to wear a skin-tight suit with motion sensors covering it so that a computer could capture his movements and make them Dr. Manhattan’s. He said that it took weeks before costar Malin Akerman (“27 Dresses”), who plays Manhattan’s love interest Laurie Juspeczyk (superhero alias Silk Spectre II) to look at him without bursting out laughing.

“I wasn’t the only one,” Akerman said in her defense.

“Dr. Manhattan is like nothing I have a frame of reference for,” said Crudup. “How do you play [Dr. Manhattan] while you’re a five-foot-nine, 40 year old jackass playing dress up?”

“Changing my molecules … that’s stuff they don’t teach you in drama school,” he said.

Jackie Earle Haley (“Semi-Pro”), playing Walter Kovacs (superhero alias Rorschach), said that he learned the most about his character not from the comic book but from the blogs where fans discussed Rorschach’s intricate and nihilistic character.

Big news comic book fans; a Watchmen trailer has finally been released!