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8 Scenes From Zack Snyder’s Watchmen That Alan Moore Should Be Forced to Watch

6. The Birth of Doctor Manhattan

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Perhaps the most ambitious element of Alan Moore‘s story (and Snyder’s retelling of it) is Doctor Manhattan, the godlike figure who provides the Americans with their presumption of supremacy in the Cold War. From behind layers of CGI, Billy Crudup‘s implacably calm, modulated presence provides the basis for a character who, at the start of Watchmen, is starting to come adrift in the world of man, a world he no longer feels any attachment to. It’s difficult to focus on even the biggest human picture when the whole of time and space plays out before in all its splendor and minute detail.

The victim of an unforeseeable accident, Manhattan – named for the project that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II – started life as Jon Osterman, a nuclear physicist and son of a watchmaker. Trapped in the test chamber of an intrinsic field generator, Osterman is disintegrated before the horrified gaze of his girlfriend, Janey Slater, and best friend, Wally Weaver. However, having been removed from the physical realm, he returns in the form of Manhattan, a naked, blue, physically perfect being; his return, as depicted in both the comic and film, is suitably awe-inspiring.

Appearing full force in the middle of a crowded cafeteria, Manhattan’s eerie, floating presence, if not quite enough to inspire the religious terror of which Weaver later speaks, it does make for an impressive (re)introduction to the being formerly known as Osterman. Unlike The Hulk, however, Manhattan’s conspicuously not wearing pants. Like, ever.

 

5. Assault on the Prison

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One of Watchmen‘s relatively few straightforward action sequences is Nite Owl and Silk Specter’s attempt to break Rorschach out of the state pen just so happens to coincide with a full-on riot (admittedly also triggered by Rorschach’s presence). As all hell breaks loose, the duo are forced to throw down with a whole cell block worth of cons in order to reach their target… who’s too busy dispatching diminutive mob bosses in the prison toilet to effect an immediate escape.

For all the political subtext and character-driven niceties, it’s strangely enjoyable to just watch two out-of-practice vigilantes laying the smack-down on a bunch of generic baddies. There’s not much by way of jeopardy – Owl and Specter clearly outmatch any opponent they come across – or particularly notable take-downs – it’s very much kick, punch, throw, repeat – but it’s nevertheless satisfying to watch Dan Dreiberg and Laurie Juspeczyk burn off their remaining sexual tension.

It’s a stylish if unsubstantial reminder that, after all the pontificating, Zack Snyder, the man behind 300, still knows how to display an ass-kicking to maximum effect.

 

4. “Do It!” (Rorschach Meets his End)

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Our reserve of sympathy for the indomitable Rorscharch is brought to the fore when, in the film’s climactic moments, he appeals to Dr. Manhattan to end his life. Constitutionally unable to keep his knowledge of Adrian Veidt’s genocide secret, yet aware that the revelation would render millions of deaths worthless, the man once known as Walter Kovacs ultimately adheres to his mantra: “Never compromise, even in the face of Armageddon”.

His destruction at the seemingly omnipotent hands of Manhattan is arguably Watchmen‘s crowning tragedy: for all the innocents who have just been killed by Ozymandias’ device, the wide majority of them were faceless, unknown individuals. Rorscharch, meanwhile, is one man, one more body amidst the foundations, a human life amidst the statistics. The removal of his mask just serves to remind us that, under the vengeful persona Kovac has adopted, there is a human being of flesh and blood. A human being that the outwardly apathetic Manhattan atomizes.

JLH, is, as I’ve said before, the film’s most valuable player. His tearful defiance in this scene, not wanting to die but knowing he can’t go on, his guttural howl of anguish, reveals to us the trauma that lies at the heart of Rorschach, the humanity. The tragedy that befalls him is Shakespearean in stature and the dramatic highpoint of the whole film.

About the author

Robert Wallis

You can also read Rob's work at www.ofallthefilmblogs.blogspot.com.

1 Comment

  • Who is this “we”….I tend to strongly dislike Alan Moore…of course everyone dislikes him…but when he tries to deconstruct, he can create some very likable characters. like the Comedian, and to a lesser extent Rorschach. I bet Moore himself hated them..