Zack Snyder
Watchmen

Magmatic, uneven, fascinating for its intrinsic imperfection: "Watchmen" by Zack Snyder, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, is this and more.

It's superfluous to proclaim the supposed philosophical depth of the plot or the moral questions posed and carefully evaded, as is customary for comic fans to prove the work's worth: Watchmen is first and foremost a sensory experience that, like The Dark Knight (and few other blockbusters of our time), encompasses within itself that pure vocation for entertainment, amazement, and wonder of the cinema of origins.

Over the years, the project of Watchmen passed through the hands of visionary directors such as Terry Gilliam and Darren Aronofsky without ever materializing, remaining suspended in the limbo of adaptations considered impossible or financially too risky. Then Snyder came along, galvanized by the unexpected success of 300. And finally, the production mechanisms were set in motion to satisfy the Watchmaniacs who had been eagerly waiting for more than twenty years.

Watchmen was released at the right time. Even just a few years ago, the cinematic environment was immature, and the film would not have had the same impact. Indeed, I am sure it would have been conceived in a completely different and far less effective manner.

The situation is favorable: the comic-book film is rooted enough in the cinematic imagination to justify its own meta-reflection, but not too consolidated and therefore still flexible enough to withstand the shockwave of its questioning without undermining its foundations and destroying the commercial appeal that has characterized it so far.

If The Dark Knight almost renounced its origins, attempting to classify itself within a genre with a longer and more established history like the crime movie à la Heat, Watchmen makes its belonging to the comic genre its strength, indeed, the condicio sine qua non for a thorough thematic and technical analysis.

Alan Moore had conceived his creation as an analysis of the superhero tradition in American classic comics, with the dual intent of paying homage to it and, at the same time, affectionately desecrating its topoi, as well as meditating on the potential of the medium and pushing it to its extreme narrative-formal consequences.

This cinematic Watchmen does the same with the comic-book cinema by explicitly citing the films that preceded it, from the milestones (the wonderful Batman by Burton) to less successful films, which perhaps constitute the majority of this sub-genre. And thus there are not-so-veiled references to Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman in the fetish latex suit of Silk Spectre II, ridiculous rubber nipples peeking out of Ozymandias' costume like in Joel Schumacher's awful Batman & Robin, flashes of pure heroism and grandiose rescues in perfect Spider-Man style, echoes of X-Men in the portrayal of the mutant Dr. Manhattan, hypertrophic, naturist, and emotionally detached superman, the only character with authentic and highly destructive superpowers. Numerous references to Blade Runner are also present, which preempted the strong stylization of images in the comic-book film and particularly its violent action sequences.

Snyder's direction oscillates between calm and storm, alternating long introspective moments, unusual in modern entertainment cinema, with action sequences extended by an eternal slow-motion (inherited from Matrix) marked by an elegant aesthetic always on the brink of being glossy for its own sake. Hence, perhaps what the Watchmen film lacks is the equivalent of the formal daring of Moore and Gibbons: Snyder rarely deviates from the path laid down by various Wachowski, Raimi, and Scott, and although the results are satisfactory, it is impossible not to wonder what Watchmen would have been like with Terry Gilliam at the helm.

A merit of Snyder is undoubtedly having assembled a cohesive cast of semi-unknowns, among whom stand out the brooding Rorschach of Jackie Earl Haley (already an Oscar nominee in 2007) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (the Comedian), who shares not only a curious physical resemblance with Robert "Iron Man" Downey Jr. but also - and most importantly - an innate acting charisma.

Special mention for the extraordinary opening titles accompanied by the immortal "The Times They Are A-Changin'" by Bob Dylan.

[The opening titles can be admired at the following address, courtesy of the company that made them: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/the-watchmen-opening-credits-are-online ]