The End is Near

DC just can’t stop messing with Watchmen. The comic series, created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, was supposed to revert to the control of the creators after sitting in DC’s vault for an agreed upon amount of time, but through trickery DC has managed to retain the rights and continues to do reprints, re-releases, and new versions of the work just to maintain their hold on what many consider the seminal work of superhero storytelling. All of this, of course, without the consent of Alan Moore (who famously hates every adaptation of his work ever released).

Despite Alan Moore wanting nothing to do with it, DC has published a series of prequel comics to the original story called Before Watchmen. They then put out a comic book sequel, Doomsday Clock, that tied Watchmen into the greater DC multiverse. Of course there was also the Zack Snyder adaptation from 2009, and there was the unrelated TV series sequel that aired on HBO in 2019. Oh, and a motion comic as well released in 2008. Over and over DC keeps touching this series, reworking it again and again just to try and squeeze more money out of it (and retain the rights for as long as they can).

Which begs the question, why? I mean, yes, corporate greed. But when you watch each and every version of these works, more often than not you’re left with the feeling that there wasn’t really anything more to say on the matter that wasn’t already said in the original 1986-1987 comic book series. Snyder’s version tried to go shot for shot with the original, but with all of Synder’s (lack of) substance and overwrought, slo-mo style, which essentially missed the point of the original work. The motion comic was more faithful. The prequels couldn’t really do anything new with the story because they were prequels that had to lead up to the main event. Arguably the only works that really did anything new with Watchmen were the sequel comic (which was legitimately well received by critics and fans) and the TV series sequel (which I did think was pretty solid). But when you just keep going back to the well, over and over, it dilutes the material until it feels like there’s nothing left.

And that’s where we’re at when, in 2024 (15 years after Snyder’s attempt), we have yet another adaptation of Watchmen. This one is stated to be a more faithful adaptation, working all the material from the 12-comic run into a two-part movie event. Part one is out now, adapting the first six issues of the series, and, well… it’s Watchmen. It’s the same story we’ve seen a few times already, the same beats, told more or less the same way. This version, more than any other so far, begs the real question of why? Is there any reason for this version, which is faithful to every version that’s come before, to exist? Something this long, encompassing every story beat and moment of the series, encourages you to go and read the comic instead. Certainly it would be a prettier, more enjoyable experience.

If you’ve read Watchmen, or seen the movie adaptation, then nothing in this first movie will be new. This is an alternate version of the world, one where, due to the existence of superheroes, the balance of power on the globe has tipped to the U.S. This is mostly because the U.S. has Doctor Manhattan (Michael Cerveris), the atomic superman, and he’s aligned with the U.S. With the superheroes (especially Doctor Manhattan) on the U.S.’s side, America won Vietnam and pushed back the tide of Communism and Nixon is serving his fourth term. Despite this, though, peace has not yet been achieved. Russia is a constant threat, with nuclear war on the horizon. Superheroes (aside from Doctor Manhattan) were made illegal. The world is a dark place, constantly beset by fear.

Into that landscape we’re thrust with the death of the Comedian (Rick D. Wasserman), a former superhero turned U.S. operative. The police chalk it up to a home invasion robbery gone wrong, but the vigilante investigator Rorschach (Titus Welliver) believes it was murder. Someone, he thinks, is going after superheroes, one by one. But for what reason? He talks to his former partner, Nite Owl / Dan Dreiberg (Matthew Rhys), but Dan doesn’t believe him. There’s something afoot, some mastermind pulling the strings, going for the former superheroes, and whatever they have planned could lead to something really bad for the whole world.

The animated version of Watchmen is a curious beast. Because we already had a live action version of this series, logically you would think that a new version would try to find a different angle for adaptation. More faithful, closer to the comic, more devout. Except Snyder’s movie (at least in the first half) was very devout to the source material. He went scene by scene, often using the comic as storyboards for the actual film. While he added his own artistic flourishes at times (like the opening montage of the movie that is often considered to be the best sequence in the film), he stayed as true as he could to the look of the movie (even when that meant missing the forest for the trees when it came to the story and emotions of the original work).

Oddly, then, the animated movie doesn’t try to do anything new. This is a movie that adapts the comic even more faithfully than Snyder’s work, including every scene, every line, every bit of everything, but then also takes inspiration from Synder’s film for the visual flourishes of putting the comic into motion. The way the characters look, how they move around, how the action is filmed (even taking into account some slo-mo for added effect in the same ways). This is, in short, an animated film (in its first half) that feels completely beholden to everything that came before.

Now, I get it. This is Watchmen. Fans of the story are going to want the most faithful version possible. It’s not like with other DC works where they’ve been adapted and changed and readapted so many ways that fans are fine with stories that take inspiration from the source. In the case of Watchmen you’re expected to tell that story, that way, as if it was sealed in amber. The biggest gripe people have about Synder’s film (which is flawed in so many ways in general) is that it changes the ending of the story for no good reason. Presuming this animated two-parter doesn’t do that, does that mean the only reason for this film’s existence is to change that one thing?

I have to assume yes because, in no other respect, is this a better adaptation. This film still has many of the same flaws of Snyder’s version. It’s flat and dull, without much of a stylistic voice of its own. What style it does have feels borrowed, beholden to the other works. The characters don’t feels like characters, just flat action figures moving around the work. Big, emotional beats fail to resonate, meaning that the huge swings the story takes don’t land in this version of events. It all feels empty, starchy, clinical.

Much of the blame has to go to the art direction. The movie is animated in this weird 3D CG style that leaves everyone rendered flat and plastic-y. That doesn’t help the feeling that we’re only watching action figures, as the characters struggle to react and act like real people. The voice actors behind the characters are great, with a solid cast of performers, but their beats can’t land when the figures in front of the camera move around like thick robots. This animation style was the wrong choice for the film, and it makes all the other flaws of the movie stand out even more.

Again, if the goal of this work is to give an ever truer version of Watchmen then, fine, I buy that. If the second half keeps the original ending of the comic and plays it all out perfectly, then at least this film will have one improvement over the 2009 adaptation. I don’t think that will make this a better movie as a whole, but it does explain the one (and only one, I can see) reason for fans to pay attention to this. End of the day, though, it’s really hard to justify the existence of this film. It’s slow, it’s boring, and it’s stiff. It doesn’t have life, it just pretends it does as it moves its animated figures around. I’m not sure a good adaptation of Watchmen is even possible, but I can tell that this version certainly aint it.