Watchmen

Occupying expansive territory as morally complex as the world we inhabit, the Watchmen universe is a spectacular place to visit. Originally brought to life in Alan Moore's seminal 1986 graphic novel, the Watchmen world is now on display in director Zack Snyder's 161-minute cinematic opus, offering a different, but still remarkable look at heroes and villains struggling to find their place in the midst of the potentially disastrous Cold War. Moore's novel is dense in every meaning of the word, employing flashbacks and multiple peripheral resources to craft an alternate reality with a past, present, and future. The incredible amount of detail in Moore's novel and the created history that is referenced throughout makes tackling a film adaptation of the story an unbelievably daunting task. But after a long and torrid journey to the screen, the Watchmen have finally arrived in all their captivating, thought-provoking glory.

The story is set in 1985, in an alternate version of our own world, where Richard Nixon is in the fourth term of his Presidency and the members of a defunct group of masked avengers known as the Watchmen are living separate lives. Once the pride of the nation, the Watchmen were dismantled years ago when the government deemed costumed heroes too dangerous to be legal. But while most of the members have obeyed the law and hung up their costumes, one masked man who goes by the name of Rorschach (his mask is an ever-changing series of inkblots) has never abandoned his fight for justice. Now branded a vigilante and hunted by the police, Rorschach refuses to give up as he prowls the streets in search of despicable prey.

When one of the former Watchmen members turns up dead at the beginning of the movie, Rorschach makes it his mission to uncover the truth. His fear that someone may be killing off costumed heroes leads him to warn each of his surviving fellow members of the Watchmen group, which in turn introduces us to Dan Drieberg (aka Nite Owl), Laurie Jupiter (aka Silk Spectre II), Adrian Veidt (aka Ozymandias, the world's smartest man), and finally, the only super powered being on the planet, the glowing blue man named Dr. Manhattan. There are many other supporting characters from the past who appear throughout the movie, but this group comprise the Watchmen and therefore are the focal point of the movie.

Tasked with the difficult job of bringing these fully realized characters into the realm of flesh and blood, the cast achieve the desired result with varying degrees of success. As Dan, a sort of washed-up version of Batman, Patrick Wilson convincingly captures the defeated attitude of an ex-hero unsure of what to do next with his life. Matthew Goode brings enough confidence to the role of Adrian to justify his celebrity status as the supposed smartest man in the world. Billy Crudup's soft and melodic voice provides Dr. Manhattan with a careful combination of soulful honesty and eerie detachment. Unfortunately, not everyone fares well in their role. Malin Akerman is the weakest actor in the bunch, navigating Laurie's emotional avenues as if she were in a bad soap opera.

But it is Jackie Earle Haley as the grizzled hero Rorschach who proves to be most adept at bringing his character to life. Saddled with the challenge of performing the majority of his role behind a mask, Haley's growling voice pushes through the fabric and manages to ground the character, keeping him distinctly human even as his appearance attempts to contradict that fact. Rorschach operates as the movie's moral epicentre and Haley ensures that the masked vigilante is the most intriguing and engaging character in the entire movie. Rorschach is so exciting and entertaining to watch that the movie suffers whenever he is off screen. None of the other actors are able to imbue their alter egos with the energy and passion that is needed to match Haley's performance.

The characters are not the only aspect of the Watchmen universe that have completed their journey to the big screen intact. The visual world of an alternate 1985 New York bursts off the page and appears in stunning detail. Larry Fong's photography beautifully captures the mysterious allure of the Watchmen world, while illuminating the dank decay that is forcing its way to the surface. When coupled with Snyder's keen eye for striking imagery, Fong's work is easily one of the best aspects of the movie.

Until now, Zack Snyder has been a promising filmmaker unable to marry his imaginative visual style to a compelling narrative. His past two efforts (the 2004 remake of George Romero's zombie classic Dawn of the Dead and the 2007 adaptation of Frank Miller's gory graphic novel 300) were good-looking movies hampered by flat characters and tired plots. They signalled the arrival of a potentially intriguing director with a unique visual vocabulary, but one who seemed to treat story as a background fixture.

Inspired by Alan Moore's graphic novel and aided by the solid screenplay penned by David Hayter and Alex Tse, Snyder has now made his first great movie with the dense and richly executed Watchmen. Superheroes have rarely been as human and morally convoluted as the characters in the Watchmen universe. More than twenty years after the graphic novel revolutionized a medium, Snyder and his cast and crew have now given us a new and exciting way to view Moore's masterpiece.