Ever since his first film, I've kept my eye on Zach Snyder, mainly because he directed a horror remake that didn't suck. Yes his directorial debut was the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead (The original is a favourite film of mine). Amazingly this was a modern horror film, typically unoriginal studio-forced remake/prequel/sequel that DIDN'T eat total balls and was enjoyable for multiple sittings; not butchering a classic.
Anyway Zach Snyder isn't a studio-puppet and works when he wants to, only doing a few films ('Dawn', '300', now 'Watchmen') and with his own style, he's a lot like Quentin Taratino. I respect that, a lot. See 'Saw' was original, inspiring and generally fantastic, crushing the un-original modern horror competition, but then the studio got their grubby paws on that too, and the series has grown more and more wizened since.
Anyway, the subject at hand. I am a huge fan of the graphic novel as a lot of viewers will be. So far the reviews I've seen have been from source-fans as well, and while most have said it was a triumph there were a few that took the other end of the 'Marmite-spectrum' wide as it is. The only 'sitting-on-the-fence' i've seen was the 'Metro' paper and I got the impression they hadn't a clue what they were talking about and hadn't even read the source text. Having said that, I don't think you need to have read it to love this. Whether you look at this as a new experience, or an adaptation of a classic it, is, great. I saw this movie with some friends who hadn't read the book and they loved it just as much as I did if not more (one of them said it was his favourite film of all time).
One negative review I read complained that this movie did not modernise the tale and therefore the movie feels lost, out-of-date. BOLLOCKS! That's called being faithful. It's a film by fans, for fans. Primarily. Sure a few of the costumes of been changed but that's not a disaster. The scenes they've missed add nothing to the shallow surface of the plot but in the book emphasise the themes of the text, so in the film you'll get heavy profound speeches that seem to come out of the screen and rape you. Yes thematically this movie is rough around the edges, but it hasn't lost its depth. Going back to being raped, this movie is unlike anything else, it shoves the super-hero movie formula up its arse, and mentally violates you, in a good way. That's not to say those who want a shallow murder-mystery/fanatsy/super-hero/action movie will be dissapointed, they won't be. This movie wraps all of those things together in a neat bundle. The action sequences are genuinely jaw-dropping. Who knew that Nat King Cole's 'Unforgettable' would be an awesome song to engage in fisty-cuffs to? It is! The first scene brought tears to my eyes. It's, that, good.
The performances are great despite not being an all-star cast (I liked that fact). Rorschach's Jackie Earl Haley stands out, you can pin-point a single second in the film, where you can tell how good he is (I won't spoil it, but you'll know when you see it). He speaks with a bat-growl that everybody assumes but it's his face that does it for me; I doubted him before hand (looking at the actor and the comic drawing of unmasked Rorschach) but, I was really impressed. There is no bad performance here. I also really enjoyed Jeffrey Dean Morgan (loved him in the shamefully underrated 'Supernatural' before this) as The Comedian, especially seeing as the character can be seen degrading throughout.
Zach Snyder lends his use of colour, blood and slow-motion (but not too much) to really make this film reflect the poetic fantasy feel, it looks like a comic. Speaking of how it looks, this is the most beautiful film i've ever seen. The sound is equally good with a period soundtrack. The action sequences (unlike most these days) are well edited and are realistically choreographed. Yes the film combines surreal style with dark tone and deep ideas at its core. Darker, deeper than the Dark Knight, and dare I say, better. Sure it doesn't have Heath Ledger's Oscar winning performance as (one of my favourite fictional characters ever) the joker, but the performances and characters here are still great. As a film or as an adaptation there's little I can complain about if anything.
The bits that have been cut, had to be cut, and it makes sense. The violence toned down had to be toned down (or in some cases made extra bloody so it seems more comic to get away with it).
All in all I love this movie, and will no doubt get the uncut Blu-Ray on release. Zach Snyder...you did it!
