I know, I know, that title alone is probably heresy.  Who am I to go up against the great Alan Moore and his masterwork.  Who am I to say it can possibly be improved.  It’s true that, ss someone who read Watchmen only a few weeks before the movies premiere, I have no nostalgic attachment to Watchmen, nor any snake hero worship of Alan Moore.  Simply put, I find Zack Snyder and  Alex Tse ending to be more grounded in the universe, more threatening, and less ridiculous.

For those who have seen the Watchmen movie with a friend who has not read the graphic novel, try this: explain to them that in the graphic novel the ending actually had giant alien squid in it.  I doubt you’ll find many who won’t be even more confused. Even if you explain to them that it’supposed to be mock alien, that Veidt’s been experimenting with genetics for a while, and that Bubastis was his first test, it will still sound ridiculous.  Take a step back from your fandom and ask yourself: what purpose does the squid serve that Dr.Manhattan supposed destruction of multiple cities does not?  Both viewers and those within the movie world understand what Dr.Manhattan is and what he is capable of.  They even understand that at that particular time in the movie/graphic novel he is unstable and potentially dangerous.  His retaliation against Earth even seems likely.  Would a giant alien squid with a psychic brain really be better?

All readers and viewers of Watchmen have to suspend their belief and acknowledge the existence of Dr.Manhattan. It’s fairly easy for viewers and readers to take this leap of faith along with the myriad other differences in the universe which he causes: the run up to armageddon, technological shifts, and teleportation.  If you can believe Dr.Manhattan exists and is seemingly all powerful, then you can believe in these other things.  The squid on the other hand brings in a whole neew host of questions about psychic brains and genetic engineering, questions which really don’t need to be asked.  The world already has a highly fantastical element to it; does it really need another?

Their are obviously problems both with the movie as a whole and its ending too, but one I don’t seem to understand is this: Dr.Manhattan is American, or at least and American creation, so why would the Russians ally with them?  Yes, it is true that he is American just like they say in the news report. But that’s why he’s made to destroy three major American cities and at least one Russian city, as far as I understood from the movie.  I think it would be pretty damn hard for the Russians to suspect that America was pulling some kind of trick in that situation.  Even if the Russians in some ways blamed the Americans, they both face the bigger problem of Dr.Manhattan.  This is exactly what Veidt wanted in either the graphic novel or the movie, that humans would ignore their past differences and unite to fight a common enemy.  Having known who Dr.Manhattan is and what he is capable of for over 20 years, it wouldn’t take them long to understand the threat he poses to them all.  The alien squid on the other hand would actually be harder for them to comprehend and unite against because it’s an unknown quantity.

Another small, but slightly geeky problem in the graphic novel is that if Dr.Manhattan isn’t considered a danger at the conclusion of the story like he is in the movie, what would stop humans from making more like him?  People with his powers would probably be best equipped to fight an alien invasion (if they thought that’s what was coming) and it wouldn’t take long for the human lust of power to bring civilization back to the brink of armageddon.  After Dr.Manhattan destroyed a few major cities, I don’t think humans would be so quick to try and make another doctor.

The argument for the squid I can understand is that it’s supposed to be ridiculously over the top because the only thing that can stop the inane, mutually assured destruction of nuclear war is something even more ridiculous.  It has to be absolutely pscyho nuts becuase the US and Russia already being bat shit insane by pointing nukes at each other.  This point is valid, but I still think that because Dr.Manhattan is a known quantity in the story, his power perhaps all the more frightening.

I understand why fans would decry this sort of opinion.  I myself dislike Zack Snyder for recreating one of my favorite movies, Dawn of the Dead.  The movie’s not terrible, but I just feel a certain defensiveness towards my favorite zombie movie.  This is probably the exact same defensiveness Watchmen fans feel so I understand where you’re coming from.  But in my humble opinion, I feel that while Snyder’s movie overall is no where near the caliber of the Watchmen graphic novel, it manages to make some intelligent improvements to the conclusion.

The Watchmen movie is a strange beast on.  On the one hand, it is pretty damn amazing that he did it.  Zack Snyder, definitely not one of my favorite directors, actually managed to make the supposedly unfilmable Watchmen into a film.  It’s overwrought, full of superfluous violence and slo-mo action scenes, and their are some weak links in the cast.  Despite all that, this is probably near the top of what can be achieved when turning a graphic novel like Watchmen into a movie.

The film is packed with story and images ripped straight out of the pages of the graphic novel.  If you’ve seen the trailers, you know that the imagery is uncannily close to Dave Gibbons art, but what surprised me is that it seems like literally 3/4 of the dialogue in the movie is literally whats on the comic’s pages.  I’m guessing this is because of Snyder’s own fandom and genuine attempt to please the fans, but it almost seems a little odd in a movie.  How many movie’s based on books have done something like that?  I know this is really broad complaint, but the point of a movie is that characters and scenery can convey emotions that have to been written out in other mediums.

I understand that fans wanted this to be close to the source material, but then whats the point of having it directed?  Or acted?  I suspect I’m in the minority here, but I sort of wish their was something here that made me feel differently than the graphic novel did by using the film medium.  In the end something about this absolute need to stay so close the the source hurt the film part of the Watchmen, the part that lets it stand on its own.  I can’t imagine how Watchmen is going to succeed among the general audience.  Theirs so much in the film that presumes you’ve read the graphic novel; my friend (who hasn’t read it) actually laughed when Bubastis (the big purple tiger at the end) came creeping out, which really doesn’t make a lot of sense if you haven’t read the graphic novel.

Ultimately, I think Watchmen succeeds more than it fails.  Fans of the graphic novel should (and more likely than not, will) see it.  But personally, I find it hard to recommend to anyone else.  That’s good new for purists, but probably bad news for studio execs.