WATCHMEN - THE VERDICT

So after the long, long wait for the most anticipated movie of the year Watchmen finally arrived yesterday. And it doesn't disappoint. And this is from an avid fan of the source novel and filled with so much expectation that he was fit to burst...yeah excuse that analogy but I was pretty excited.

Some said it was unfilmable. Alan Moore once again distanced himself from the project. Why I have no idea. He needs to get over the problems he encountered on League of Extraordinary Gentleman and From Hell. V For Vendetta was a triumph and so is this.

Zack Snyder proved to the world that he is an exciting director with Dawn of the Dead. A very impressive horror remake that was entertaining, funny and scary with the greatest metal song ever, Down With The Sickness by Disturbed as the main theme. He then did 300 which contained great action and terrific CGI. Yes the story peeters out but there was enough in the movie to suggest he would be perfect for something as gigantic as Watchmen.

The graphic novel opens a touch more subtly with The Comedian's murder but that is what makes this movie so terrific. Everything from the violence to the sex to the electrifying scenes with Dr Manhattan are amplified to make this a true movie spectacular. An absolutely incredible sequence involving The Comedian and a masked killer is shot with gusto and like Sin City (but with colour) it is like reading the graphic novel but on screen with the added motion, music and vivid colours that evoke a different world that still feels realistic to ours.

Snyder then deftly takes us through the credits while giving us some backstory on USA winning the Vietnam war, Nixon being re-elected and the impending nuclear war between USSR and USA. And of course we have Bob Dylan's classic Times Are' A Changing playing alongside.

The music is brilliantly chosen with a sweeping, grandiose orchestral score in parts combined with a collectionj of classics from the era. Along The Watchtower and Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen don't really work but all is forgiven when the visuals just take over.

What's most impressive is the first hour. Possibly the best opening hour I've seen in cinema. Jaw-dropping visuals, breathtaking violence and most importantly humour. The graphic novel made me laugh as much as gasp in awe and classic one liners such as 'He tried that shit on Rorschach and he pushed him down an elevator shaft!' and the outstandingly funny scene where Dr Manhattan has sex while working in the next room make the movie achieve success on so many different levels.

Of course the key element of the films successful formula is Rorschach. A character to rival V in comic book stakes, he just jumps from the page to the screen seamlessly. His constantly changing mask (or face if you believe that is the real him) and voice are perfect. Jackie Earle Haley stunned me with his devastating portrayal of a paedophile in the excellent Little Children and this shows it was no flash in the pan. He takes Rorschach and makes it his own. Snyder has realised he is the focal point of the film and centres the story around him. Rorschach like his mask connotes only seeing black and white and his uncompromising stance towards criminals and life as a whole put him on a thin line between good and evil but for me he is iconic. He is brutal and vicious but his overriding commitment to doing what he thinks is right makes him a character who you can root for and sympathise with. He is complex but darkly funny with two scenes expertly handled by Snyder; the prison scene where he melts a guys face and the scene where he kills the little black guy from Date Movie (ugh) with the toilet door swinging back and forth.

Which brings me to the little nuances that the 'Visionary Director' has brought us. Watching Nite Owl and Silk Spectre having sex through Nite Owl's glasses or his 300 style slow-motion action mixed with Wanted's high speed cranking where the action really does explode in places especially a superb sequence between Nite Owl, Silk Spectre and a bunch of thugs. The action is superbly handled with some pretty graphic violence that amuses and also shocks particularly Rorschach's murder of a criminal and one scene in the jail that I'll leave for viewers to interpret but it is quite extreme to say the least. I am delighted that the studio decided on an 18 certificate over in the UK and R in the US. It showed guts and the film blossoms because of it.

There are small weaknesses. The omission of certain parts of the source novel and the addition of others was slightly baffling in areas. For instance the scene where Nite Owl and Silk Spectre save people from the fire, it felt like Superman. And Watchmen shouldn't be like that although seeing Malin Akerman in that suit doesn't make me too unhappy...!

Other flaws are both Malin Akerman and Patrick Wilson who struggle as their alter ego's which is a shame as their normal life personas are well handled and with feeling. Matthew Goode is miscast as Ozymandias and we don't get enough insight into him but this is for Rorschach and Dr Manhattan to shine so I'm not too disappointed.

Dr Manhattan is the only 'superhero' who actually has a power. And boy does he have power. Control over space, matter and time. The texture and radiance he has in the film resonates with the graphic novel but most importantly his eyes retain the same pain and sadness which I found when reading the source novel. His world-weary attitude and sense of losing everything is delivered with a brillaint emotionless monotone from Billy Crudup. He is God basically but he is blue and has a weird sex life! I have to say that this film touched me and Dr Manhattan is the main reason for this, with some outstanding dialogue which rang so true and brutally that this movie surpasses comic book movies such as Spiderman, Superman and The Dark Knight (despite its pretensions). They have their place but Watchmen is unique. Where else would you have a character as violent, nasty and dehumanised as The Comedian yet still see some light and humanity in him. Extremely powerful performance by Jeffrey Dean Morgan btw.

A couple more things that definitely should be noted are that if you haven't read the graphic novel then it might not appeal. There are many things which can only be noticed if you know the source novel but on the other hand you might love it. It has to be seen to be believed as Snyder has created something which shows his love and commitment to the novel. It goes off near the end but picks up with a conclusion that is both shattering and hopeful.

Empire magazine have called it the Magnolia of comic book movies and it is an intriguing comparison. It has brutality, humour, death but still retains a bruised humanism throughout. There are no frogs in sight though...!