Watchmen - The Script Review - Spoilers

For every medium there are different works that change the entire industry. Plays have Shakespeare. Films have The Jazz Singer, Birth of a Nation, and Citizen Kane. Comics have Watchmen.

Originally released as a twelve-part miniseries, Watchmen did something crazy: it gave great complex pysches to each of its characters, all while being politically relevant. Time magazine even listed it as one of the 100 best novels of last century - it was the only comic to be on the list.

Well, right after this comic came out, the movie of it was greenlit. Right after it was greenlit, visionary filmmaker Terry Gilliam took the project over. He worked on it long, and he worked on it hard but he just couldn't do it. He was famously quoted as saying that he would only do it as a 12 part television mini-series, which was a no go.

After that, great filmmaker Paul Greengrass took the project over. He had begun casting and was very far into pre-production. So far, to the point of having people from Aint It Cool News to show up at their pre-production offices and having a website. For some reason, this also ended up being debunked.

Then came 300. It was the largest grossing R-Rated film of all time, and it was very cheaply made. The director, Zack Snyder, was a very avid Watchmen fan. So much so, that he lobbied WB to let him make the movie. The first image of what we should expect from the film was inbedded in the red-band trailer for 300.

Well, I have one of his drafts (the first one the writer he chose did for him), and let me tell you this: It is close to the best adaptation we are going to get.

For those of you NOT familiar with Watchmen, it is about a group of superheros who have since been outlawed as the result of a policemen strike. It has been a while since they are out of commission. The only ones that are still allowed to legally work as heros are Dr. Manhattan (a man who can do anything and is going out with another ex-superhero, Laurie Jupiter) and the Comedian (a big, burly, brass man who is a top government employee). There is only one TRUE vigilante: RORSCHACH. He is a mentally unstable vigilante who calls his mask "his face," doesn't speak in full sentances, and will go to any length to find out what he wants. When the Comedian is killed, Rorschach enlists the help of his old companion, Dan Drieberg aka Nite Owl II, to solve the mystery of a "mask killer."

Truthfully, if you have read the comic book, you have pretty much read a much expanded version of this script. Missing from the comic book is the original group of Superhero's that aren't alive anymore. Pretty much, if a Superhero from the original doesn't help with the basic plot, they have been cut out. Which, truthfully, while it adds much more character to the comic it was not a very big deal here. We don't have the Crimebusters here either. We have "the Watchmen" and "the new Watchmen" people who have read the comic know that these are just different names. While, the Crimebusters are almost cut completely out, the 3 important ones still exist: Hollis Mason, Sally Jupiter and Edward Blake(the Comedian). "The Black Frieghter" is not in it either, but the news stand man is in there a little more. In fact, they decided that for sequences like that, that they would go universal and show soldiers and civilians from around the world worrying about the world. Personally, I thought that was a nice touch to link the entire world together, instead of just making it an american story.

My only complaint is the end, but it is very minor. If you have heard about this script, you know that Dr. Manhattan is harnessed and is made to look like he kills 3 million people, as opposed to the fake giant alien squid thing. Now, this works just as well truthfully. In fact, it drives home the idea that Dr. Manhattan is the linchpin to World Peace. I'm not saying I perfer it better, because I don't. We are not going to see the mass of mangled bodies, but I do like it. Another difference is that Dan kills Veidt. Which, in the flow of the script, works. Nothing changes the final message of the film, and gives a nice character arc to Dan.

Everything else is pretty much there, except shortened, but in a 2 hour movie, none of it feels rushed. It all clicks. In fact, I actually really loved this script and knowing that Synder is making it even MORE truthful to the comic book (The recent set pics of Manhattan shaking hands with JFK are NOT a scene in the movie, but it is in the comic) makes me realize this: on 3/9/09 we are in for one hell of a movie. Truthfully, it could end up as the best comic book movie to date.