Watchmen Comic to Film - How Does It Compare?

“Imagine filming "Harry Potter," but having no time for the Sorting Hat. Putting "The Giving Tree" on celluloid, but having to change the ending. Those are the types of quandaries director Zack Snyder navigated while adapting "Watchmen," the beloved graphic novel deemed "unfilmable" by many — including Alan Moore, its creator.” (Carroll, 2008)

I think we all have experienced the feeling of having read a great book, and then the movie comes out. Do we go and watch, running the risk of having our favourite book destroyed on the big screen? Or do we go and hope that the director cared as much about the story as we have and done their best to be true to its source? Or do we not watch the film, knowing that no one could have done the book justice?

Some people may have felt this way towards Watchmen. Having been acclaimed as one of the best graphic novels of all time, how could a movie compare. After having read the book twice and watched the movie once, I am not an expert but I thought they did the book justice in this movie. It mostly stayed true to the story. Some things were left out, but overall it was well done.

Here is an overview of those differences found between the book and the film that I think are worth mentioning.

Tales of the Black Freighter

Tales of the Black Freighter is a comic within a comic. A young kid comes and hangs around the newspaper stand and rather than buys the comic, he sits there and reads it. Speech bubbles tell this horror story while the main story is going on. At first this tale seems pointless, and it is not until the very end where there is a connection between this story and Veidt’s comment about how he “feels every death” (Chapter 12, p. 27, panel 1 & 2) that it comes together. However due to time restraints (this movie already runs 162 minutes), this part has been left out.

Under the Hood

Between each chapter there are excerpts from different places, one of these being from Hollis Mason’s autiobiography. Hollis Mason was one of the original Minutemen and the original Nite Owl. From these excerpts we are given additional information about the Minutemen and how the first masked crime fighters came to be. There are other articles as well that gives more insight into characters like Doctor Manhattan, Veidt and Rorschach. The movie tries to give this background information at the onset of the movie. There are flashes of scenes while the song Times They Are A Changin by Bob Dylan plays but they are unable to tell the whole story. These do not replace lengthy pieces of background information.

Characters

Although the characters mostly seemed true to how we found them in the book, there were two that stood out for me simply in how they were cast. I found both the actor who played Veidt and Dreiberg way too young. Veidt looks to be about 25 and way too thin to be as fast and strong as they portray them. In the graphic novel, Dreiberg is portrayed as an aging, retired superhero. In the movie, Dreiberg appears to be still fairly young.

In the graphic novel, with the exception of Doctor Manhattan, the characters do not have super powers. They are regular people who have decided to stop crime and disguise themselves by wearing a mask and costume. Although it is not stated in the movie that the masked superheroes have speical powers, they fight they like they do. They get beat up over and over and keep coming back for more. Near the end where Nite Owl and Rorschach attack Veidt, Veidt defends himself like only a superhero can.

Violence

I found the violence of the movie to be harsh compared to what was presented in the book. There were parts of the movie that I chose not to watch as they broke people’s arms in two and blood squirted out everywhere. At times it was truly gruesome. I never felt that way with the graphic novel. Rorschach is rather intense at times but never so graphic. The scene where Dreiberg and Juspeczyk get caught in the alleyway with all those thugs was extreme. The book contained five panels where they fought the hoodlums in the alley before they were defeated. (Chapter 3, pp. 14-15) There was some blood but nothing too crazy. In the movie I had to look away because of all the horrible beatings and breaking of bones.

Other Alterations
Here are noticeable changes that may have little or no impact on the story.

• Laurie is a heavy smoker in the novel; she is a nonsmoker in the film
• it is Rorschach that warns Veidt about the possible assassination in the book but it is Dreiberg in the film
• in the book, Janey Slater is interviewed and tells her tale of woe to a journalist; in the movie she shows up at the TV station where Doctor Manhattan is being interviewed
• the book gives more time to the pschoanalyst and Rorschach in prison; through this we get to know more about both characters
• when Jon goes back to retrieve the watch in the “intrinsic field generator”, in the book, it is Janey Slater’s watch he goes to get and in the movie, it is his own
• when Doctor Manhattan gets upset after being interviewed on television, in the book he teleports everyone out of the building; in the film he teleports himself to Mars
• with the ongoing story of Tales of the Black Freighter, we get to know a little more of the newspaper man and some of the people he sees on a regular basis. It is many of these people who die in the end when Veidt attacks New York so you have more connection with these characters in the book than in the movie
  
  I enjoyed watching the movie right after the reading of the book. I was able to make connections with different scenes and dialogues which made it easier to make the comparisons. I thought the director stayed fairly true to the novel and with the exception of some of the more extreme violence, I enjoyed the movie very much.
  

References

A.V.Club. (2009). Book vs film: watchmen. Retrieved from http://www.avclub.com/articles/book-vs-film-watchmen,24746/

Carroll, L. (2008). 'Watchmen' director reveals key differences between graphic novel, film. Retrieved from http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1605765/20090224/story.jhtml

Moore, A. (1986). Watchmen. New York, NY: DC Comics.

Youtube. (2008). Graphic novel vs. movie comparison. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ONqFE1x23w&feature=player_embedded

Watchmen as Movie

Watchmen

Directed by Jack Snyder

Directed by Zack Snyder

Produced by Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin, Deborah Snyder

Screenplay by David Hayter and Alex Tse

Based on Watchmen by Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore

Starring

The Comedian - Edward Blake played by Jeffery Dean Morgan

• protrayed much like the same character as in book
• muderous and callous
• appears to have no soul until scene where he lands in Mollock's bedroom drunk and crying, talking about the bad things he has done (about halfway through the movie)

Doctor Manhattan - Jonathan "Jon" Osterman played by Billy Crudup

• plays a very believable Doctor Manhattan
• the few times he appears naked, there is no uncomfortableness about it

Nite Owl - Daniel Dreiberg played by Patrick Wilson

• this Dan Dreiberg appears a lot younger than the man in the book. His age isn't given so it is difficult to gage but he should be older.

Ozymandias - Adrian Viedt played by Matthew Goode

• this character also seems very young - at atleast twenty years too young
• a more mature actor would have made his character more believable

Rorschach - Walter Joseph Kovacs played by Jackie Earle Haley

• character true to book
• suits the role well
• great voice for the journal readings

Silk Spectre II - Laurie Juspeczyk played by Malin Åkerman

the character in the movie is much more robotic than how she appears in the book. In the book she is not quite so perfect.

Summary

• story takes place in an "alternate timeline in which masked, costume heros fight crime in America" (Wikipedia, Watchmen[film], 2010)

• during the 30s and 40s, these masked costume heroes formed a group called the Minutemen to help aid the law in cleaning up crime
• Watchmen are the next group of "superheroes" to aid society
• certain historical events are noticeably different such as the US has won the Vietnam War thanks to Doctor Manhattan and Nixon getting elected for a third term
• when this movie opens, it is 1985 and The Comedian has been murdered
• masked crime fighters have been outlawed due to the Keene Act signed in 1977
• tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States are mounting and there is imminent fear that a nuclear war will break out
• both The Comedian and Doctor Manhattan are working for the government
• Rorschach works on his own as an outlaw
• after Blake's murder, Rorschach believes that someone is trying to kill the Watchmen and warns Dan Dreiberg (Nite Owl II), Doctor Manhattan and his lover, Laurie Juspeczyk
• Dan talks to Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias)
• while everyone is at Blake's funeral, Laurie is teleported to her mother's, Sally Jupiter, a member of the Minutemen. Here she reminisces about Eddie and her daughter gets angry with her as Eddie tried to rape her long ago.
• Doctor Manhattan exiles himself to Mars after being accused of causing cancer to those people around him and after Laurie leaves him
• an assassination attempt is made on Adrian Veidt, confirming Roschach's theory that someone is out to get the superheroes
• Rorschach gets framed for murder and sent to prison
• Laurie, aka Spectre II and Dan Dreiberg (Nite Owl II) become close and decide to break Rorschach out of prison
• after rescuing Rorschach, Doctor Manhattan returns for Laurie and she returns to Mars with him. She asks him to save the world. He at first says no. But after Laurie discovers that her real father is Edward Blake, Doctor Manhattan realizes that out of chaos humanity is born and worth saving.
• the journal Roschach keeps is dropped in the mail slot at the newspaper office in case anything happens to him
• Meanwhile, Rorschach and Nite Owl discover that Veidt is behind the plot to kill off the masked avengers. He wanted them distracted while he played out his real plan - to make it look like the world was under alien attack in an attempt to bring the United States and the Soviet Union together to save the world from nuclear destruction.
• by the time Nite Owl and Rorschach arrive, it is too late
• Doctor Manhattan and Laurie arrive but there is nothing to be done as Veidt's plan is working - the countries are striving for world peace
• they agree that the real cause of the attack cannot be told
• when Rorschach disagrees and says that he will tell the truth, Doctor Manhattan kills him
• Laurie and Dan return home
• doctor Manhattan returns to Mars
• a young man at the newpaper office reaches for Roschach's journal as filler for the days news

Watchmen Soundtrack Track List
1."Desolation Row" My Chemical Romance
2."Unforgettable" Nat King Cole
3."The Times They Are A-Changin'" Bob Dylan
4."The Sound Of Silence" Simon & Garfunkel
5."Me & Bobby McGee" Janis Joplin
6."I'm Your Boogie Man" KC & The Sunshine Band
7."You're My Thrill" Billie Holiday
8."Pruit Igoe & Prophecies" Philip Glass
9."Hallelujah" Leonard Cohen
10."All Along The Watchtower" Jimi Hendrix
11."Ride of the Valkyries" Budapest Symphony Orchestra
12."Pirate Jenny" Nina Simone

References

Mahalo. (2010). Watchmen soundtrack. Retrieved from http://www.mahalo.com/watchmen-soundtrack

Snyder, J. (2009). Watchmen. Burbank, CA :Warner Brothers Pictures.

Youtube. (2008). Watchmen trailer. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3orQKBxiEg&feature=PlayList&p=0BB4CEE96B0385E1&index=0&playnext=1

Wikipedia. (2010). Watchmen (film). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(film)

Other References

Copy of movie poster retrieved from http://scooterchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/watchmen-movie-poster.jpg

Watchmen: the graphic novel

Watchmen

by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Description

• 12 issue comic book series
• created by Alan Moore (writer) and Dave Gibbons (artist); colourist John Higgins
• published by DC comics 1986 - 1987
• stories were used to “reflect contemporary anxieties and to critique the superhero concept.” (Wikipedia, 2010)
• Watchmen depicts an alternate history where the superheros helped to win the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon is still in power
• story is told by traveling back and forth in time
• each chapter ends in a quote by a familiar personae

Main Characters




The Comedian - Edward Blake (1924-1985)

• it is Blake’s murder that sets the plot in motion
• a cigar smoking narcissistic son-of-a-bitch that appears to kill without emotion
• kills his pregnant mistress in Vietnam (p. 14 - 15)
• tries to rape Sally Jupiter when she turns his advances down (p. 6-7)

Doctor Manhattan - Jonathan "Jon" Osterman (1929- )

• pushed by his watch maker father to become a physicist, he studies quantum physics and goes to work for the government. While retrieving a watch from his lab coat pocket, he gets locked in the “Intrinsic Field Chamber" and is disintegrated. “Within a few months and after several attempts, his disembodied consciousness managed to reconstruct a physical body for itself, assisted in part (it is implied) by his childhood training in watch repair and a solid understanding of precision assembly and disassembly.” (Wikipedia, Characters, 2010)
• the States thinks Doctor Manhattan is their biggest asset
• due to his part, America won the Vietnam war, changing history forever
• works for the US government doing work on quantum physics
• most of the time is fully nude
• by moving particles of matter around, he is able to create and destroy anything

Nite Owl - Daniel Dreiberg (??)

• a boring older, retired superhero
• reminds you of Clark Kent
• lives alone, above his lair
• he is the second Nite Owl, inheriting the name and costume from Hollis Mason

Ozymandias - Adrian Viedt (1939 - )

• Veidt sees himself as Alexander the Great, following his footsteps and continuing his work
• inherited a fortune at 17 but gave it all away to prove that he could make something of himself on his own
• said to be the smartest man in the world
• spends his days running all of his businesses

Rorschach - Walter Joseph Kovacs (1940-1985)

• wears a white mask with black splotches over it that constantly change
• son of a prostitute, spent much of his life in a home for troubled youth
• sees himself as Rorschach rather than Walter Kovacs
• leads us through the story with his journal writings
• violent vigilante, killing criminals at will
• works with Nite Owl II to try and save the world from Veidt

Silk Spectre II - Laurie Juspeczyk (1949- )

• second Silk Spectre
• daughter of Sally Jupiter, first Silk Spectre
• ongoing relationship with Doctor Manhattan
• discovers halfway through book that Blake Edwards is her real father
  

Summary of Watchmen

• story told in a back and forth motion and through the memories of the main characters.
• begins with the death of The Comedian or Eddie Blake;1985 - Edward Blake, retired superhero and government agent, is found dead.
• it is at Blake’s funeral that we go back in time in each person’s memory and they tell their side of the story.
• depicts an alternate history where superheroes began showing up in the 40s and 60s.
• this changes history as we know it.
• United States used superheroes to win the Vietnam War.
• as the US moves closer to a nuclear war with Russia, vigilantes have been outlawed and most superheroes have retired (Keene Act, 1977) (p. 23, panel 1).
• as retired superheroes begin to show up dead, those left are concerned and are considering coming out of retirement.
• with the exception of Doctor Manhattan, these superheroes do not have any special powers (however, they do seem stronger than the average guy and Veidt can catch a bullet).
• two superheroes remain as government agents: Doctor Manhattan and The Comedian.
• once the Keene Act in in place, one outlaw remains - Rorschach. He leaves a note with a body on the steps of the police station saying “Never” (Chapter 4, p. 23, panel 6).
• vigilante, Rorschach feels that superheros are being killed off and begins his own investigation and lets other masked adventurers know what he thinks is going on.
• after Blake’s funeral, Doctor Manhattan is accused of causing cancer to those he comes in contact with. At the same time, Laurie leaves him and he decides to exile himself to Mars.
  with Doctor Manhattan out of the picture, the United States is seen as weak and Russia invades Afghanistan.
• at the same time, another retired superhero narrowly misses being assassinated (Veidt) and Rorschach gets framed for the murder of Moloch, “a former super-villain” and member of the Minutemen.
• with Doctor Manhattan gone, Juspeczyk, lover and companion of Doctor Manhattan, is now booted out of her government housing and finds company with Daniel Dreiberg, aka Nite Owl II.
• Juspeczyk and Dreiberg become close and they spend more time together.
• they begin to think there is some truth to a conspiracy to kill all the old superheroes and decide to don their old costumes and free Rorschach from prison.
• Doctor Manhattan teleports himself back to earth to bring Laurie to Mars with him to discuss why he should save the earth for her. It is only after she realizes that Edward Blake was her father, that he understands the importance of humanity and agrees to help her out.
• meanwhile, on Earth, “Nite Owl and Rorschach continue to uncover the conspiracy surrounding the death of The Comedian and the accusations that drove Doctor Manhattan into exile.” (Wikipedia, Watchmen, 2010) They discover that Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandia may be behind everything in an attempt to throw everyone off of his scent. Rorschach writes his thoughts in his journal and sends it off to a newspaper in case anything happens to him.
• Rorschach and Nite Owl make their way to Antarctica to confront Veidt. Veidt confesses that in an attempt to save the world from a nuclear war, he has designed an attack by “aliens” on New York City to force the warring nations to band together against this attack. Rorschach and Nite Owl try to convince Veidt to stop, but it is too late, he has already enacted his plan.
• when Juspeczyk and Doctor Manhattan return to earth, the alien attack has taken place and many are dead and dying. Doctor Manhattan, sensing where the emmissions are coming from, teleports himelf and Laurie to Antarctica and Veidt’s fortress.
  Once there, they confront Veidt and he shows them that his plan has worked; he wanted to save the world from a nuclear world and now hostilities between the countries are coming to an end.
• to keep Rorschach from telling the world what has happened, Doctor Manhattan must kill him.
• Juspeczyk and Dreiberg release some of their built up tension and Doctor Manhattan takes himself back to Mars.
• Back in New York, the paper where Rorschach sent his journal is still standing and the boy who works there is reaching for a filler for the paper and his hand hovers over Rorschach’s journal.
• as this story takes place, there is another story within this story: The Tale of the Black Freighter. We do not find out the name of this character until the very end, but a young man comes and reads a comic at the newspaper stand each week and this tale is told alongside the main story.
• voice bubbles are in different colours: yellow for Rorschach's journal comments, blue for Doctor Manhattan, sandy brown for The Tale of the Black Freighter and white for everyone else.
  

Art and Composition

• Watchmen designed to be read four or five times
• will pick up something new or different with each reading
• was designed to stand out as a comic book and be recognized for its individualistic traits. “Gibbons said he deliberately constructed the visual look of Watchmen so that each page would be identifiable as part of that particular series and "not some other comic book". He made a concerted effort to draw the characters in a manner different than that commonly seen in comics” (Wikipedia, Watchmen, 2010)
• panel layout deviated from the norm for that time period
• nine-panel grid system
  

References

Annotated Watchmen. (1999). Character Guide. Retrieved from http://www.capnwacky.com/rj/watchmen/characters.html

Moore, A. (1986). Watchmen. New York, NY: DC Comics.

Wikipedia. (2010). Character of Watchmen. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characters_of_Watchmen

Wikipedia. (2010). Watchmen. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen

Other References

Cover photo taken from http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/watchmen.jpg

Photo of main characters taken from http://www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/watchmen-new-cover.jpg