The Watchmen

I'm more then a political nerd, in fact I'm a fairly well rounded nerd as most all of my friends can attest. One of my interests, however, is comics. I love comic books, I really do. I'm normally a Marvel man but I have plenty of DC 'exceptions'. There's the normal mainstream heroes, the Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern are the tops there. Then, there are the 'indie' things DC will do, making things that really make you go 'whoa, the people who made Superman published this?' One of those things is a comic called The Watchmen, by Allan Moore.

This is a rather dark comic, it treats super heroes as if they were real, the cops resented a bunch of freaks in masks doing their jobs, so they were outlawed. The heroes had flaws, and no, not weaknesses, honest flaws. Half the time you find yourself thinking 'why do I like this guy again...'. The stereotypical 'atomic super man' simply can't relate to normal humans, he caused cancer in a former lover, and finds himself in a self imposed exile to Mars to escape the disdain that grows regarding him. Our 'Batman' type grizzled investigator with no powers is a real bastard, horrible childhood, contempt for the world, even his one friend is constantly pushed to the limits of being around him. Most of all though, under the masks, the heroes are human. That's why I love that comic, because the 'human' side isn't Clark Kent, the nerdy reporter no one likes so we only see him for a minute or two, it's not Peter Parker the social outcast, and it's not Bruce Wayne the millionaire playboy. The 'Humans' run the gambit from a homeless 'doomsayer' who's hinted to be retarded many times, to the average woman, to the introverted brilliant man.

With this humanity being the a key side of the characters, comes human reactions. The story focuses around the death of a former hero 'The Comedian', who's seen with a mix of pure scorn and hero worship. On one hand, he was a 'golden age' hero who went on to serve his country in Vietnam on his own free will. On the other, he's a rapist who saw humor in the burning of villages. Neither of these sides are fictional, there's no dramatic moment where our hero goes "NO! You were wrong all along about him!" He's laid out on the table for the reader very early, never disproved, only expanded on. Why? Because he was human. Have you ever wondered 'ok, The Flash is being funny with his little quip but...how does he stay joking after all the insane things he's seen?' It's really simple, The Flash isn't human. Sure, 'canonically' he is, but from a mental state he's not. Why? Because, watching a hero sob and mourn for ten issues after every disaster isn't fun. The Comedian, however, is human. He goes from the light hearted 'tee hee I used a spring powered boxing glove to knock out the robber' to a Punisher like hero who has no problem killing. Why? Because he saw things that 'killed the joke'.

Why am I writing all this? Well, for one, to say 'go buy The Watchmen, it's cheap and most bookstores carry an anthology of all the comics,' but also because there is a movie being made of them. I have no idea how to feel about this movie. On one hand, my fanboy side is going 'whoooooo Watchmen movie! This is gonna rock!' but on the other, my film nerd side is going 'wait, how will this work?' One of the amazing things about the comic is that it's a heavily 'internal' story, inner monologues, journals, and deep personal thoughts are all used to turn the characters to more then ink on a page. For a comic, this is amazing, books of all kind were made for 'internal development' because we readers have the luxury of being able to 'read the mind' of the hero. A film, however, is very external, the actors can't project their thoughts. Of course, voice overs and such are very good workarounds, but for this film to capture the comic's 'soul' it would need to be ALL voice over as the heroes talk in between, a very clunky thing to do.

Another issue comes in the main character Rorschach. This is a very hard role, let me break down the major character points of him. He's antisocial, speaks in perfect monotone until his very final line, wheezes, spends more time writing in his journal then speaking, has many flash backs to his abusive childhood, is a general sociopath in regards to views on human life/respect, and as said before, is hinted to be brain damaged in some pretty major ways. Let's see, this is a major movie chance, they're gonna stick to big names...who could do all that in a way that won't make you cringe...

Here's my worst fear, this movie is an atrocity to the comic, it focuses more on demonizing The Comedian then getting the message of his story across, it focuses more on showing 'check out how awesome we made Dr Manhattan look' then showing his struggle to live a normal life, it focuses on making Rorschach a 'lovable antihero' instead of how he really should be, a giant bastard with massive mommy issues, and after all that, it's a giant success. I've seen film companies ruin some great things, I'm getting tired of it. I want this movie to do great, I want to see people rushing to buy the comics, I want to see it be more then some obscure name, but at the same time, if it succeeds by destroying the source, what's the point? I know it sounds horribly spiteful but, if this movie winds up being a total bastardization of the source, I hope it fails, just so Watchmen can live on.