Who (Re)Watches The Watchmen?
In a recent interview, film director Christopher Nolan was asked to weigh in on the anti-superhero franchise sentiment that’s developed among some filmmakers.
The Oppenheimer director made an interesting comment aout Zack Snyder’s 2009 Watchmen adaptation, calling the film ahead of its time, especially when capturing a superhero ensemble that Marvel’s Avengers made popular years later. “I’ve always believed ‘Watchmen’ was ahead of its time,” Nolan told The Hollywood Reporter. “The idea of a superhero team, which it so brilliantly subverts, wasn’t yet a thing in movies.”
He’s got a point.
In the world of comic book adaptations, few films have achieved the level of acclaim and controversy as Zack Snyder’s Watchmen. Based on the groundbreaking graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Watchmen was a daring and ambitious project that pushed the boundaries of what a superhero film could be. When it was released in 2009, the movie was a box-office disappointment, and many fan reviews were pretty negative. With the benefit of hindsight, lets examine what worked in the movie and if it was truly ahead of it’s time.
Faithful Adaptation
While some point to this as a flaw, you can’t argue that Zack Snyder had an unwavering commitment to the source material. Moore and Gibbons’ graphic novel was considered by many to be unadaptable due to its complex narrative, morally ambiguous characters, and mature themes. For good or bad, Snyder made a faithful adaptation, down to the exact framing and pacing of the comic. Every panel and page was on the screen.
Visual Aesthetics
Zack Snyder is known for his visually distinctive filmmaking, and Watchmen was no exception. The film’s visual style, which faithfully recreated the look and feel of the graphic novel, was in many ways groundbreaking. Snyder’s use of slow-motion, striking cinematography, and meticulous attention to detail brought the world of Watchmen to life in a way that had never been seen before in the superhero genre.
R Rating and Uncompromising Tone
Unlike most superhero movies, Watchmen received an R rating, allowing it to explore mature themes and present a more authentic representation of the graphic novel’s content. The film did not shy away from violence, sexuality, or morally ambiguous choices, further setting it apart from its peers. Viewers also got lots of shots of a blue ‘tinkler’, so there’s that as well.
Did Watchmen elevate the superhero genre in movies like the source material did with comics? No, but it did leave a lasting impact on the way filmmakers approach comic book adaptations, and showed that you can tell superhero stories with more complex narratives. Without Watchmen the movie, would we have The Boys on Amazon or the excellent Watchmen series on HBO? We don’t think so. While the film has flaws, it does feel like it would have performed better if it released later and it did help broaden the perception of what a comic book movie could be. In his interview, Christopher Nolan also adds, “It would have been fascinating to see it (Watchmen) released post-‘Avengers.’” We think Nolan is spot on with that comment.
