Watchmen: Chapter 1 review

WATCHMEN: CHAPTER I: 

ANIMATED DC FILM BRINGS THE PAGES OF THE ICONIC GRAPHIC NOVEL TO LIFE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

WARNER BROS. ANIMATION AND PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen: Chapter 1

 

            The Watchmen are back in Watchmen: Chapter 1, the first part of a new animated film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ groundbreaking graphic novel, Watchmen. The original comic miniseries that was published between 1986 and 1987 was truly ahead of its time as it portrayed superheroes in a very different light compared to heroes like Superman or Batman by putting them in a grungy, Cold War environment where vigilantes are outlawed and ridiculed by the general public and having them deal with morally complex and extremely adult dilemmas. 

            It is also one of the best comics ever written with interesting characters, bold themes that weren’t explored much in comics at the time, and a thoroughly engaging story, I even enjoyed the 2009 Watchmen film adaptation from Zack Snyder. Sure, it’s not a perfect movie and the graphic novel is infinitely better, but I still stand by it’s a solid and mostly faithful adaptation of the source material, plus the release of the movie got me interested in checking out the original comic in the first place. 

            There’s no denying the legacy of the Watchmen comic as not only did it spawn the 2009 live-action movie, but also an animated tie-in short segment based on the Tales of the Black Freighter storyline, an animated motion comic also released around the same time as the movie, the prequel and sequel comics Before Watchmen and Doomsday Clock, a live-action miniseries on HBO serving as a sequel to the comic (Was that show any good?), and now a 2-part animated movie adaptation of the comic. I was curious to see how this animated version of the story would play out and if it would have more of the depth from the comic that the 2009 film lacked.

            I’ll admit it’s hard to compare this to the previous film version since Watchmen: Chapter 1 is not a complete package and is only the first half of a larger story and if you’ve read the comic or seen the Zack Snyder movie it doesn’t really do anything different with its narrative. But in terms of capturing the feel and spirit of the pages of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ comic then Watchmen: Chapter 1 delivers.

            The film is set in an alternate 1985 where masked vigilantes are outlawed by a society no longer enchanted by superheroes due to the Keene Act of 1977 and follows a group of former superheroes who reassemble after one of their own, the sociopathic and bad-tempered Edward Blake/The Comedian (voiced by Rick D. Wasserman-The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Batman: The Killing Joke, Constantine: City of Demons) was murdered. The heroes consisting of Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II (voiced by Matthew Rhys-Brothers & Sisters, The Americans, The Owl House), Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre II (voiced by Katee Sackhoff-Battlestar Galactica, Robot Chicken, The Mandalorian), the last of the outlawed vigilantes Rorschach (voiced by Titus Welliver-Sons of Anarchy, The Town, Argo), a super-being with godlike powers known as Dr. Manhattan (voiced by Michael Cerveris-Fringe, Treme, Ant-Man and the Wasp), and retired superhero turned business tycoon Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias (voiced by Troy Baker-Marvel Animated Universe, DC Animated Universe, The Legend of Vox Machina) band together to investigate The Comedian’s murder only to discover an elaborate and deadly conspiracy that they are all connected to. 

            The film also features the voices of Adrienne Barbeau (Escape from New York, Swamp Thing, Argo) as Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre, Corey Burton (The Transformers, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond) as Captain Metropolis, Geoff Pierson (24, Dexter, Young Justice) as Hollis Mason/Nite Owl, Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animatorfranchise, Star Trek franchise, Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham) as Edgar Jacobi/Moloch, John Marshall Jones (Con Air, Smart Guy, Bosch) as Hooded Justice, Yuri Lowenthal (Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice, Spider-Man (Insomniac video games)) as Wally Weaver, and Kari Wahlgren (Ben 10, Wolverine and the X-Men, Rick and Morty) as Janey Slater. 

            Overall, Watchmen: Chapter 1 probably won’t win over those not already familiar with the source material, but for those who love the original comic and/or even the Zack Snyder movie are sure to appreciate the film’s faithfulness and how it visually captures the comic’s panels (Though the Snyder film also did that pretty effectively as well). It’s honestly an easy movie to recommend to someone “Are you a fan of the Watchmen comic and/or movie and want to see it adapted in animation form? Then, go watch it!”, it doesn’t try to be anything more than that which isn’t a strike against it. 

            I think this adaptation of Watchmen really benefits from it being split into two parts because it allows certain aspects of the comic that were either removed or trimmed down in the 2009 movie because of time to be expanded upon such as the Tales of the Black Freighter segments that beautifully depict the panels from the comic set to narration and more philosophical themes and deeper character development compared to Snyder’s version. Hard to say right now since Chapter 1 is the only release out at the moment so hopefully when Chapter 2 gets made and released it’ll continue to flesh out more details and lore that the Snyder film glossed over. 

            I’m torn on the animation (The film is CG animated) because on one hand it captures the look and feel of the comic very faithfully, but the characters’ animation and movements seem like they just came out of the 2003 Spider-Man animated series and look very awkward at times. Maybe had the film gone for more of a Spider-Verse-style or traditionally animated like other DC animated features, I think it would have looked a lot better and fit the style of the comics but as is it took a while for me to get used to the animation. 

            Watchmen: Chapter 1 is a solid animated adaptation of one of the most game-changing and influential comic books of all time. I may enjoy the 2009 movie version and am a lot more nostalgic towards it, but I’ll go ahead and say this one has a better understanding of the source material thanks to it being a 2-part movie and thus allowing more time to flesh out details from the comic. 

            If you’re a fan of the comic and/or even the Zack Snyder movie, you’ll definitely want to check out this animated movie version of one of the best comics ever made.