the Watchmen: the Film

After initially being very dissapointed wth Zack Syder's adaptation of "The Watchmen" when seeing it in I-max upon its release, I have since become rather dazzled with the movie upon giving it further viewings on DVD. Of course the amazing graphics and CGI effects and brutal fight scenes left me smitten upon firt view, but I simply could not help but compare it to the imcomparable comic book was adapted from. Now I realize that "The Watchmen" was almost unfilmamble, and the fact they were able to create such a cohesive and memorable plot from such a complex narrative is astounding. As I'm sure people know by know, the film/comic is a re-creation of American history in which masked vigilante super heroes are known to the world, the Cold War with USSR has reached its absolute peak, and nuclear holocaust is seemingly totally imminent. The film begins with the murder of Edward Blake, a.k.a., the Comedian, a former super hero turned super soldier. He is thrown out a window by an unknown assailant. The film then follows the 5 other super heroes trying to discover the truth behind this Mask killer theory and then unwittingly unveil a plot far more diabolical and letal.

I don't want to bore with all the details of the film and narrative because the philosophical overtones of the film should be experenced by the individual, but I would like to discuss the implications of the scene's final climactic scene. Superheroes Dan, a.k.a., Nite Awl, and Rorshach, discover that the conspiracy, including Blake's murder, as well as other acts of savagery and evil, were perperated by Adrian Veidt, a.k.a. Oxymandias, a former super hero that was the only one to reveal his identity to the world. During a scene at Veidt's pyramid in Anarctica, he reveals his plot to Dan and Rorshach. Veidt tricked Dr. Manhattan, the movie's only true super being with the powers to bend matter at will, into creating a machine recreating Manhattan's under the pretense of creating unlimited power.Veidt asserts he took Mahattan's power to create a nuclear explosion that would destroy several of the world's largest cities, making it look like Manhattan was responsible. To the audience's surprise, Veidt pulls this off. He then, by murdering millions, actually ends the nuclear threat, while the Soviet Union and the United States end the cold war to unite agaist the new common enemy, Dr.Manhatan. Veidt, in an act of evil truly despicable, actually saves the world in a way, "killing millions, to save billions." The scene is truly affecting. If the world did come that close to Nuclear War, it is true that this apocalypse might only be prevented by an act of evil, such as Veidt's. To save the world, there must certainly be sacrifices. The movie/comic the begs us the question, is peace built upon false pretenses and lies still preferable to mutually assured destruction? I am most certain we would all agree it is. Three of the four super heroes then even vow to keep thier silences about Adrian's crimes, due to the fact exposing his evil would only re-doom the world to nuclear war. Adrian Veidt is a highly ambiguous charachter, he is clearly brilliant, sinister, and even deluded, but he did in a way save the world, just in a very morally questionable way. The movie implies that it might take a being as morally loose as Veidt to save the world from such a disaster and to make that impossible decision.