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AMBITIOUS. FLAWED SUPERMEN
. . . W , - *
WATCHMEN (R) Quis custodiet ipsos custo
dies? Who watches the watchmen? Considering
the massively successful superhero trend
at the movies, my best guess is everyone,
whether they read the comic books or not.
How these watchers will respond to the most
ambitious comic book movie ever made is
harder to predict. Several diehard fans I know
loved the film, having seen the epic twice on
opening day. My inner-fan of Alan Moore, who
refused to let his name appear in the credits,
and Dave Gibbons' landmark, Hugo Award
winning graphic novel adored what director
Zack Snyder fashioned from the script by David
Hayter and Alex Tse. My outer critic noted sev
eral flaws. Thankfully, none of them threaten
the film's structural stability.
Watchmen is not the greatest comic book
movie of all time, yet considering the height
of its twin measuring sticks (its own source
material and The Dark Knight), such expecta
tions may have been too great to begin with.
Hell, Snyder doomed himself by comparison
with his perfect previous comic adaptation,
300. Managing to corral Watchmen's 12 meaty
issues into a digestible, sub-three-hour fea
ture that will please diehards and not confuse
newbies was an impossible task. Watchmen,
as it reads, is and always will be unfilmable.
Nevertheless, Snyder, Hayter and Tse miracu
lously made the best movie they could.
visual. Comic artist Gibbons' gorgeous panels
are reproduced with painstaking precision.
Entire pages are brought to life, dialogue
included. Every pen-and-ink character
meets its long-lost flesh-and-blood double.
Watchmen's many triumphs began in the
questionable casting of Patrick Wilson, Malin
Ackerman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Billy Crudup
and Jackie Earle Haley.
Like master tailors, Snyder, Hayter and
Tse cut the unnecessary plot threads from
the comic's suit. Fans might miss the comic-
within-the-comic, Tales of the Black Freighter,
but no one else will. And the much-debated
changes to the ending make cinematic and
story sense.
Still, no comic book movie has ever shown
such fidelity to its source, and that faithful
ness is where the film's flaws begin. Some
scenes, especially dialogue-heavy exchanges
between Wilson's Dreifort and Ackerman's
Jupiter, feel trapped on the page, the four
borders closing in. As joyous as it is to see the
page so exactingly replicated on the screen,
that accuracy keeps the film from developing
its own identity. The movie begins to separate
itself with its bone-crunching brutality and
a darkness deeper than Gibbons' Jack Kirby-
influenced comic realism.
As inspired as the casting may have been,
the performances are disappointingly incon-
pSR's,’
; v •
For the uninitiated and interested, I highly
recommend reading the comic first. For those
without the time, here's a little Watchmen
101. In an alternate 1985, superheroes exist
but have been outlawed. Richard Nixon has
been elected to five terms. World War II,
Vietnam and the assassination of JFK all
occurred, but the latter two were affected
by the likes of Dr. Manhattan, the only hero
with actual superpowers, and the Comedian,
a sociopathic superhero-turned-government
operative. Former adventurers—Dan Dreifort,
once known as the costumed Nite Owl, and
the second Silk Spectre, Laurie Jupiter—try to
eke out normal existences. The world's smart
est man, Adrian Veidt, outed himself as the
hero, Ozymandias, and has reaped the finan
cial windfall of his own toyline. Amid fears
of nuclear war, just when the world needs
heroes again, they begin dying and disap
pearing. Be it coincidence or conspiracy, the
murder of the Comedian catches the psychotic
interest of masked vigilante, Rorschach (his
mask of ever-changing blots is the film's most
memorable image), the only hero breaking
the law by continuing to patrol the streets.
With America's bipedal nuclear deterrent, Dr.
Manhattan, fleeing to Mars, World War III
seems inevitable. Can the world's once great
est heroes save humanity from itself?
As anyone who saw Snyder's 300 would
expect, Watchmen's greatest successes are
sistent. His voice a painful growl, his features
hidden by his "face," Haley practically boils as
Rorschach. Another cloaked performer, Crudup,
is as opposingly calm as Haley-is agitated.
Spending most of the film buff, blue and
naked, Crudup softly, emotionlessly intones
Dr. Manhattan's crucial, growing distance
from mankind. Dr. Manhattan is also the film's
single greatest effect. As wonderfully exact
as Wilson and Ackerman look, both are rather
stiff and ho-hum. Wilson is well-suited for the
Clark Kent milquetoast, but he doesn't jazz up
the rather boring Nite Owl. No one is helped
by the fact that most of the deconstructive
Watchmen's adventurers are simply cardboard
stand-ins for DC's real heroes.
Watchmen is a rousing success, though
not on the mainstreamlined level of The Dark
Knight. A vicious hard R-rating and a deep
philosophical cynicism practically ensure
its failure as a box office juggernaut and
award contender. Yet Snyder has pulled off
the impossible. Should fans of comic books
and movies accept the flawed masterpiece as
is, they need never think of Ghost Rider and
Daredevil again. Watchmen—a perfect cap
stone for the present superhero renaissance—
has been brought to beautiful, ambitious,
artistic, flawed and extremely watchable
(again and again) life.
Drew Wheeler
1 2>,iFLAGP0LE;C0M.-.MARCH 1 l,j2009...:,
f-V-V—V
NEWS OF ATHENS’ CINEMA SCENE
This Is the First "Film Notebook" of the Rest
of Your Life: Let's not waste it. I got to see
a DVD of Kelly Reichardt's new film Wendy
and Lucy, and it's as good as everyone says.
Those of us who saw Reichardt's 2006 Old
Joy won't be surprised at that, nor will read
ers of Film Comment, which just named it
the best film of 2008 in its year-end critics'
poll. There's a suitably weird cameo by Will
Oldham, co-star of Old Joy, but the film is
carried by a devastating lead performance by
Michelle Williams, who should win an award
or something. It's opening in Athens around
the beginning of April
at Cine; I'll write a
full review when that
happens.
► It's That Time
of Year: As most of
you surely know, the
fifth annual edition
of Robert Osborne's
Classic Film Festival
hits Athens next
week, Mar. 19-22 at
The Classic Center.
Osborne, the film his
torian, longtime TCM
host and Hollywood
Reporter columnist,
will be joined as festi
val co-host this year by
the ridiculously funny
Fred Willard, who will
handle the Saturday
and Sunday screenings.
This festival is one of
the things that makes
Athens a great place
to live. It doesn't hap
pen anywhere else, so people who want to
see an archive-quality print of, say, King Kong
or Sunset Boulevard or The Godfather have to
come here. Personally, I feel pretty lucky to
get to go and watch those and other great,
rarely screened films in a plush auditorium
with an absolutely enormous screen, then
have a late bite or a drink downtown and
still be walking distance from home. It's not
something to ignore or take for granted. In
addition to the eight films, each followed by
an interview of a special guest by Osborne or
Willard, this year's festival will also include a
panel discussion entitled "Film Festival Fare:
Independent Filmmaking and Its Influence on
Hollywood." I'll have an interview with Robert
Osborne in next week's issue. In the mean
time, go to www.robertosbornefilmfestival.com
for more details.
Coming Up at Cine: Saturday and Sunday, Mar.
14 & 15, Cine will present a special return
engagement of Girls Rock!, a 2007 documen
tary from co-directors Arne Johnspn and x
Shane King about Portland, Oregon's Rock
and Roll Camp for Girls. The camp brings
together girls aged 8-18 who want to learn to
rock (and receive some other lessons as well).
The film follows a handful of camp attendees
as they form bands, friendships and attitudes
and, of course, cut loose at full volume in
front of an audience of about 700 people. I
can say that my young friend Camille Flurry
was deeply inspired upon seeing this film the
last time it showed in town. By all means,^
bring your daughters (and, what the hell, your
sons, too). Speaking of your sons and daugh
ters, Laurent Cantet's The Class is scheduled
to open Mar. 13, and Two Lovers, the new
film from James Gray, director of We Own the
Night and The Yards, is scheduled for Mar. 20.
Finally, Cine's second anniversary is coming
up at the end of March, and they plan to cel
ebrate with a festival-style lineup of four dif
ferent films in one week. Very exciting—more
on that in two weeks; keep an eye on www.
athenscine.com for updates.
Health and Inequality: The Russell Library
at UGA is co-hosting "Is Inequality Making
Us Sick?: 2009 Unnatural Causes Film and
Discussion Series" beginning Sunday, Mar. 22
at 3 p.m. at the Athens-Clarke County Public
Library auditorium at 2025 Baxter St. This
will be a screening and moderated discussion
of the first, hour-long episode in the seven-
part documentary Unnatural Causes. The film,
according to a press release, "focuses on the
social and economic factors that shape dis
eases and conditions such as diabetes, obesity,
hypertension and infant mortality and illness."
The first episode, entitled "In Sickness and In
Wealth," introduces the connections between
health, wealth and race. The remaining six epi
sodes will be screened on subsequent Sunday
afternoons, either at the ACC Library or at
UGA's Coverdell Center. For more information
or to RSVP for these free public screenings,
go to www.libs.uga.edu/russell/exhibits/pro-
grams.shtml or call (706) 542-5788.
Quick Announcements: Dr. Karim Traore once
again invites the public to the screenings for
his African Film class at UGA, Monday eve
nings at 7 p.m. in Room 201 of the Miller
Learning Center. Mar. 16 is Guimba by Cheick
Oumar Sissoko, and Mar. 23 is Ta Dona by
Adama Drabo. Both films are from Mali, and
both are excellent. The ACC Library continues
its iFilms series with Kambuzia Partovi's
Border Cafe Mar. 12 and Chris Bell's Bigger,
Stronger, Faster Mar. 19. Free screenings are
Thursdays at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the
Main Library at 2025 Baxter St.; check www.
clarke.public.lib.ga.us for more details.
'Bye!: I am film@flagpole.com.
Dave Marr
Sunset Boulevard w\\ screen at the Robert Osborne Classic Film Festival
Saturday, Mar. 2!.