by Hannah Finlayson

     On March 6, 2009, Zach Snyder’s (300) latest film, Watchmen, was released nationally. This new film is based on the famous graphic novel by Alan Moore. This cult hit about everyday people working as masked avengers had millions lining up to see the two hour and 45 minute film.

                  Watchmen, as a movie, is about a group of superheroes living in an alternate America in 1985. These vigilantes work to keep everyone safe, even if people are ungrateful. The story follows various watchmen and their struggles to fight for a better world. The main vigilantes include: Daniel Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson) the second Nite Owl, Rorschach (Jackie Earl Haley) the semi-good guy, Laurie Juspeczy (Malin Akerman) the only female watchman, Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) the sole watchman with superhuman powers, Adrian Viedt (Matthew Goode) the smartest man in the world, and others.

Although at times the plot gets confusing, the movie is fairly easy to follow without having read the graphic novel. The film contains flashbacks from various points of view as each character relives an important moment from his or her past, making it necessary to pay close attention throughout the movie.

Overall the film stayed relatively close to the graphic novel. Confusing or unimportant scenes from the graphic novel were deleted, but otherwise, the movie followed as closely as possible to the original work. While some fans of the novel rave about the film adaptation, others cringe. Junior Lauren White says, “I really like the book and was looking forward to the movie. It’s not that [the movie] was bad… it just wasn’t the novel.”

Non-readers also had mixed reviews of the film. “There were parts in the movie where I was confused about what was going on, but otherwise it wasn’t bad. It was long though,” says senior Alex Duke.  Junior Ashley Oursler says, “It was way too confusing. I couldn’t follow any of it. I think if I read the book I would have understood it better.”

Whether you read the graphic novel or not, Watchmen is still an action-packed movie with many twists along the way.