‘Watchmen: Chapter I’ Review: Another Unnecessary Adaptation

Alan Moore’s genre-defining comic book series, Watchmen, debuted in 1986, and has since become one of the most acclaimed comic books of all time. The series has had several projects that follow up or are based on the original comic. On the television and film side, the comic has received a made-for-TV motion-comic animated series, a feature film directed by Zack Snyder, and an HBO miniseries created by Damian Lindelof, who previously helmed the extremely popular television series, The Leftovers, for HBO. 

Moore has openly expressed his disdain for superhero movie and even adaptations of his own works in the past, going so far as to say they have “blighted cinema”. He has had to sit by as his magnum opus has been made their own by other creators, and a new adaptation has just entered the ring. Warner Bros. Animation has developed a new two-part animated adaptation of the comic. The first part, Watchmen: Chapter I, released on VOD on August 13th.

Watchmen: Chapter I, directed by Brandon Vietti, who has previously directed major films for DC and Warner Bros. Animation such as Superman: Doomsday and Batman: Under the Red Hood, is at the helm of the animated duology which amounts to basically a 1:1 adaptation of the comic. As someone who loves the comic book and would go so far as to call it my favorite of all time, Watchmen: Chapter I did not elicit many strong emotions from me, and left me ultimately underwhelmed. However, it’s not necessarily a bad movie, just one that feels somewhat pointless.

The film utilizes a very unique form of cell-shaded animation that lends itself beautifully to the world and characters of Watchmen, and animation has always been a great medium for superhero movies and television. As much as I love how this movie looks, it just feels redundant, as it’s almost entirely a shot-for-shot remake of the comic. If I ever wanted to reexperience this story or recommend it to someone, I would always just spring for the original comic rather than this inferior retelling of a near-perfect story. 

Watchmen is about a group of former superheroes, in a world where they’re outlawed, whose lives are upended when one of their own is murdered, set against the backdrop of an alternate-universe America hurtling towards World War III with the Soviet Union. The comic is excellent in its story, its political commentary, and its deconstruction and meta commentary on superhero media. It’s also a pretty long book, consisting of 12 issues. 

In contrast, Watchmen: Chapter I is a brisk 83 minutes, and its pacing is all over the place. As was to be expected with that short of a runtime, the plot moves at an extremely fast pace, and tries to fit in every little thing from the comic, leaving it feeling somewhat messy. There’s no downtime between major events, and things just happen one after the other. Additionally, these major events do not have the impact they did in the comics. 

The film is much more tonally in-line with the comics than the 2009 film, and a more faithful adaptation. However, I appreciate the 2009 film a lot more. It may not be as faithful and cut out a lot of stuff, but it tries to be its own thing and go beyond what made the comic great. Its existence also feels justified because live action film is such a vastly different medium than comics. Where the Snyder film succeeds and where Watchmen: Chapter I doesn’t is the Snyder film isn’t concerned with trying to tell the same exact story in the same way, and it’s all the better for it.

The performances in the 2009 film are also now iconic, especially Jackie Earle Haley’s Rohrschach. The voice acting in the new film feel like cheap imitations trying to recreate already great performances. Some line readings are also read in weird inflections and tones. A lot of the cast are well-established voice actors, so it’s odd to me that the voice acting in the film isn’t very good. Rohrschach’s (Titus Welliver) voice is especially egregious, and his gruff voice sounds like someone who’s trying to talk with a mouthful of food. Unsurprisingly, Troy Baker, who’s probably the most well-known and acclaimed voice actor ever, as Ozymandias is easily my favorite performance. His cold, nonchalant voice perfectly captures Ozymandias’s genius, godlike persona.

Watchmen: Chapter I is a fairly decent adaptation, carried by its visuals. Non-comic fans will get a lot more enjoyment from it than comic fans, especially if it’s their first exposure to the story. However, it certainly isn’t the definitive adaptation I thought it would be, and probably the worst of the film/TV projects based off the comic. Anyone wanting to familiarize themself with Alan Moore’s iconic deconstruction of superhero media would do well to do so with the original comic book, and not this subpar iteration. 

In 2005, Alan Moore made his opinion on adaptations of Watchmen quite clear: “My book is a comic book. Not a movie, not a novel. A comic book. It’s been made in a certain way, and designed to be read a certain way”. He has repeatedly expressed that he doesn’t want any more adaptations of his comics to be made. I hope for Moore’s sake, this is the last one. 

Brandon Vietti’s Watchmen: Chapter I was released by Warner Bros. on August 13th on VOD, and is available to rent and buy on all platforms. 

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