The Problem(s) With Zack Snyder's Watchmen 

The issue with Snyder's Watchmen is that it's a celebration of Watchmen and not a criticism and satire of superheroes.

Fun Fact: Jackie Earle Haley was the only one of the main cast who was already familiar with the graphic novel. He actively campaigned for the part of Rorschach.

I still smile whenever I think that Alan Moore created Rorschach to be disliked, but succeeded in achieving the opposite.

Aesthetically, Snyder's Watchmen is beyond impressive for how effectively it translates the graphic novel's iconography to live-action. But in making everything look cool/badass, you could argue he undermines the book's deconstructionist themes of why superheroing is... not all that great. Still, the Doctor Manhattan twist works fairly well as an ending.

I love that you say "just a few human lives" when the comics showed that a majority of NYC was killed by the octopus monster lol.

I think Gilliam was essentially right. Nothing is literally unfilmable, but is something worth filming if all you can make is an inferior version? The whole thing is written very specifically for the comic book medium. Doc Manhatten's chapter is absolute genius, the way it lets you into the perspective of a man who sees through time and has the power of a God, and in such a clear way. You couldn't film that, not in a satisfying way.

I think my biggest issue with Synder's Watchmen was the casting of Ozymandias. The actor is too young, and didn't have the screen presence to effectively portray the character. In the movie at the end, Ozymandias looks sad and remorseful that he had to kill all those people to fool the world. In the books, he is smirking and gleeful that he was RIGHT. Killing most of New York and all of his trusted staff is an afterthought for him. It doesn't matter to him that he's changed the world based on a lie, because it's HIS lie. In the movie, Ozymandias is a sad emo kid. In the books he's an arrogant monster. The difference in tone is huge, and it's very telling that Snyder didn't see it as a bad change.

The directors cut or extended edition is the only way to watch this movie

One thing that can never be faulted for this movie is production design. The production designer Alex McDowell (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Minority Report, Fight Club, and visual consultant on two of the best looking animated movies Fantastic Mr Fox and Rise of the Guardians) gave a lecture when I was in college the day before Watchmen came out. He talked for a long time about how meticulous they were in creating real things and spaces from the blueprint of the comic. He said lots of the drive for the accuracy came from Snyder, and I have to agree when you say Snyder’s strength is in his visuals because I love how this movie looks. Good soundtrack too.

The only problem I have is that Ozymandias walks away thinking hes the good guy. He killed those people for a brief temporary peace and the movie doesnt even tell him.

It's interesting that so far most of the superhero deconstruction has happened on TV - The Boys, Invincible, Watchmen. I do hope we someday get a movie that does for the superhero film what Watchmen did for comics.

I am one of the biggest critics of Snyder and his DCEU films but his Watchmen is one of my favorite movies of all time. Giving him props where props are very much deserved.

It’s not perfect but Snyder obviously had a deep love for the material. For something considered un-filmable, he knew the book intimately enough to be able to dismantle it and put it back together as well as he did.

I love the Watchmen, still among the best five superhero flicks ever made.

I still quote Watchmen to this day, that's how you know a movie did something right. And the line in question is "I hope you're ready, Rorschach." " When you are." His delivery there is...epic.

While Snyder would change things like Dan’s costume being sleeker and sexier, he then shows you that Dan can’t “get it up” without the thrill of the fight. That’s as much satire to me as what Moore wrote for Dan.

Although I hold the extended version of the movie in same highest regard as the original comic, this was still a pretty interesting viewpoint. Thanks!

as a dutchman it hurts to hear "Drieberg" pronounced as "Dreiberg" in Dutch and standard German the "ie" and "ei" are completely distinct sounds. comparable to the the English "brain" and "Brian"

Been grappling with this for a long while, because I worked for WB during the aborted Gilliam version. Snyder's version would have worked if he realized violence isn't to be celebrated, but to be grieved.

This is a pretty decent adaptation, it has issues and miss calculations in my opinion, but overall it’s pretty enjoyable and well done

Out of all the comic readers I’ve talked to, I have never heard anyone criticize the switch from the giant octopus monster to Dr. Manhattan. I read the comic first and I always felt the alien was just a bit off, and Manhattan just up and leaving didn’t sit right with me. In the film, it solves all of that in a believable fashion.

I’m a fan of both the film and the original source material

One change from novel to movie is completely puzzling for me: Rorschach is one of the most fascinating protagonists in the entire genre. In the novel, he has a _very_ specific creation story, including explicitly the very moment he was created, embedded in a gut-wrenching sequence. The movie not only ignores the creation moment, it also milktoasts the entire sequence and skips over what I think is best line in the novel. (Yes, better than Rorschach's line in prison.) Why?

"The boys" is the better deconstruction of superheroes.... but 'Watchmen' is a great movie to enjoy

While I haven't seen The Watchmen movie, despite the fact that ironically it's the reason I even discovered the comic, I agree that ending from the comics could've been changed to potentially great effect. Moore and his editor on the series Len Wein outright disagreed with each other about how they wanted it to end, and to be honest, when I read the ending myself I couldn't help but think something went wrong even if I couldn't pin it down.

The only problem I really agree with is the glorified fights but that really applies to Silk and Nite Owl, which I dont mind. Remember, movies are completely different from comics, so we need some good characters (especially let the extreme ones pass too). Watchmen came out right as the hero movie craze began. I think the original watchmen was to respond and subvert the genre while the movie is trying to predict the genre. Which could be right since almost all of our heros are boiled down versions of what they used to be.

Truly one of the best opening credits sequences I've ever seen!

Two things Snyder could have done with changing the squid to Manhattan were set up early in the film anyway. First is the device only kills humans by exploding them leaving behind grissly remains as opposed to the nuclear blasts in the movie. Second is send images to the minds of survivors (like Silk Spectre got from Manhattan) of why Manhattan is upset with all of humanity and he will kill more if they don't repent and work together basically making a fake wrathful god. With these changes, there's no mistaking or guessing like in the movie. Humanity isn't united to fight an alien, but instead out of fear of offending a very real god that can kill everyone. The horror of the major cities corpses along with the visions ensure this happens. It's just the real Doctor Manhattan didn't do it.

I have read the novel front to back 100 times over. And I STILL love the movie. I think Zach is the only one who will be the closest anyone will ever be to adapting the book from page to film. I'm aware of its flaws, but I will never call it a bad movie, let alone a bad adaptation.

0:35 - such a cool shot

Idk man, the deconstructive message certainly landed with me. And I never read the comics.

Zack Snyder LOOKS at graphic novels, he doesn't READ them. It's all superficial and containd no real depth of character.

Somewhat different than the novel, still my favorite super hero movie

"Watchmen" is my favorite comic book. I love the movie adaptation. Snyder's visual style works really well. Also, the cast and soundtrack are great.

Ditching the squid from the comic was a good idea because at the time the film was released, we were still in the grounded realistic phase of superhero films before Thor & GOTG introduced & expanded upon including fantastical elements like that into superhero films. The reason why the squid works in the comic is because space aliens & monsters were a trope in comics at the time but not for superhero films when the Watchmen film was released so tying the destruction of New York to Dr Manhattan was simpler & kept the end result intact.

The vibes of the movie are immaculate,,, even if some messages are a smidge muddled. Still a good time tho.

Watchmen was awesome.

Watchmen gets better everytime i watch it.

This reminds me of a few years ago when Moviebob did a deep dive into Snyder's filmography and arrived at similar conclusions.

The theatrical release missed 2 key scenes from the gn : Ozymandias looking at his lone shadow on the wall, when most other shadows are of pairs of people. Also, the admonition from the editor: “Take some responsibility.”

I feel that this needs to stated for others that attempt to interpret Alan Moore's work on to other mediums. One that comes to mind is V for Vendetta.

Marvel might have been just ramping up when Watchmen came out but by then we had already been immersed in the gritty super hero trope through Nolan's Batman and others. In the comic medium, we were seeing an explosion of hyper violence - Preacher ended it's run, The Boys was coming out guns a-blazing, and Kick Ass was finding it's audience. There was plenty there to satirize and Snyder missed it all. And by making Dr. Manhattan the faux villain in the end, he implies that he was a true hero at some time earlier in the story.

🎶 They made Watchmen without the slimy squid! And he'll have you know that that's pretty low, but not quite like the standards of the 90s Kid🎶

I always seen the film as a companion piece to the graphic novel. A way to see some key scenes recreated.

I think Snyder did kind of ruin watchmen by making the violence and cowed crusaders “cool”. This is just my personal take, but I don’t read watchmen as necessarily saying “superheroes bad”. But rather as a warning about trying to put superheroes in the real world. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and the rest are, at the end of the day, a fantasy. The idea that Clark Kent could be the most powerful being in the universe yet still fight for truth justice and the American way, the idea that Bruce Wayne, a man with so much wealth power would entirely devote his life to helping the downtrodden, or the idea that Peter Parker could go though so much suffering snd grief and yet remain a good man and a great hero we should all aspire to be are all, sadly, fantasy. The idea of people being given power and using it to do good simply because its the right thing to do is tragically more fantastic then any superpower, gadget or secret identity. Making superheroes realistic is bad not because it diminishes the super, but rather because it destroys the very notion of them being heroes.

That motion comic when it came out, was so awesome to see. It was my introduction to the comic itself !!!

the best thing is rorschach is fucked and nearly everyone goes 'yeah he's the hero'

I liked the movie tbh, maybe because i knew the graphic novels i thought it conveyed the themes and ideas well idk

I get that people don't like this film for the fact that it isn't faithful to the graphic novel. But it is still probably one of the best most original super hero movies we've gotten. I remember when I first saw it and walked out of the theater disappointed. But I rewatch this movie probably every year because it takes it's audience seriously and has a generally different take on the whole genre.

One question: have you watched the graphic novel, and if yes, do you highly recommend it? I haven't, and I watched the film years ago (after I had watched some MCU movies) and I found it very enjoyable, in some terms "groundbreaking" and overall a great time to watch. But please, educate me. PD: this is maybe the best YT channel there is, always making you question and revisiting works of art.

Man, if it was only a medocire film for true watchmen fans, than i can hardly imagine how next level incredible it could of been for lamens like me. I was only 16 sure but that was one of the first films watched that hit so hard i just sat there in silence for a good while after while my subconscious was surely having its mind blown. All that is to say i feel like i still got the deeper meanings in regards to the villainous of and feer felt towards the superheroes. And the whole villian doing what needed to be done to save the world, that hit me. Dunno, i feel like it hit on a deeper level than most comic fans who already knew the material felt.

There was only one thing wrong with the watchmen and it was some of the music choices. The ending was better than the squid monster in the comics. Made more sense.

Are these motion comics original? Well done.

this is very interesting snyder doesn't get what makes other people's characters who they are that's wildly obvious from the way he characterises superman and batman

Zack Snyder’s Watchmen is one of my favourite movies of all time period

The only thing i was not a fan of was the main change from comics i always thought having a external threat would bring people together rather than having dr manhattan appear as the threat

Is this a seasonal video (looking upload date)? I really admired watchmen as a response to the sam raimi spiderman, men and hulk films of the 2000s; those were culturally significant enough to provide a context that could be challenged. The nite owl scenes are largely dorky, with the restricted movement of the cowled costume, nobody left the theatre wanting to be nite owl in the same way they did bale's batman. I appreciate that a lot of snyder's films fall flat, but I think the tone of watchmen is one of the main strengths of the film in isolation (i have not read the comics to my shame). My only issue with the film is the female roles aren't well developed nor well executed in my opinion, but I also don't know a lot about acting, just the silk spectre intergenerational dialogue felt hauntingly artificial to me

The Motion Comic (which you use generously throughout the video) is excellent! Still on HBO - Watch it!

5:12 So True. Thank you that you made this!

Not familiar with the source material, but I loved this then, and love it now. A true standout.

I dont get how the world would unite against doctor manhattan since throughout the whole film he is shown to be an american weapon. Wouldnt every country just asume that they are being attacked by the US?

"It's a fun Superhero Movie" I don't know if I would describe it as "fun" but sure why not. Also, I wanna point out that Carla Gugino happens to be both in Watchmen (2009) and Sin City (2005). Pretty good pics for Comic Book movies. She's in a ton of stuff too, like working with Dwayne The Rock Johnson three times

Nice video! Where can i find the animated version of the comic book please?

I absolutely saw no problems with Snyder’s Director’s Cut of the film: I actually enjoyed it far more than the source material in every way that it was adapted to the big screen. Now, many fans of the graphic novel will say that Snyder missed the point of Moore’s original work, etc., and you know what? They’re right: he did and it was intentionally made to be both interesting plot-wise, while also looking cool as Hell and overall glorifying the dark, gritty sub-genre of Superhero movies. This is THE GREATEST Superhero adaptation ever directed and filmed as far as I’ve seen the past 30 or so years. If you disagree, you can go read the (in my honest opinion) inferior source material, or the abysmal HBO sequel series. Nobody’s stopping you, and Snyder’s version of Rorschach is STILL my favorite vigilante character EVER: FIGHT ME!

What better way to underscore the complexity of the source material than to see Nerdstalgic also miss some of the point of the book and the failings of the film adaptation.

One thing everyone fails to note in the adaptation is that only Doctor Manhattan is a superhero with powers. Everyone else is just people, no superpowers.

I wonder what people would've thought of the HBO series if this movie(that turned out to be the very thing the book was meant to excoriate) had never been released (but then again, the 21st century cultural war had polarized well, so the reactions wouldn't have seemed to be much of disparity either) The funny thing is that the series was more of anti-woke/anti-sjw or whatever you call that (from Redford's 7th term, just like nixon, etc that i can't mention more due to the shαδοωβαηnίng algorithm)

I think this might be my favoirite video of yours.

I was a huge fan of the story before seeing the movie. I’d read so much of Alan Moore’s stuff from through the past two decades (1963, ABC Comics). The point in the movie that I realized it sucked was when Rorschach leapt out of the window and instead of hurting his ankle and getting arrested, went into Matrix mode and kicked a bunch of cops’ butts before getting arrested. Zack Snyder loves and glorifies physical violence. Alan Moore does not.

Watchmen remains my favorite Zack Snyder film. Yes, it doesnt quite get everything right, like making superhero-ing look cool, but the visuals, costumes, and almost all casting choices are near perfect. I mean Jackie Earle Haley is anazing. I guess you could say Snyder made Rorschach "too cool" but I think people befofe the movie was even thought of, thought Rorschach was a cool/interesting character to read. Majorly flawed, but his tragic past makes you feel for him a bit. And of course, Rorschach's dialogue is just fun to read. Ever watched the video of Alan Moore reading Rorschach dialogue? It's pretty dope lol.

Which one of the characters in Zack Snyder's version of Watchmen wore spandex?

I love the film. I used to be embarrassed about saying that when I realised how unpopular and disliked it was, but it made me feel something and I always go back to it.

Was ready for this to be an April fools joke somehow

- Hey, Zack Snyder, why didn't you reinvent the Watchmen comic-book and made a towering achievement? - What, and someone else did?

7:24 with his love of superficial aesthetics and lack of deeper meanings, a Warhol biopic would be the perfect project for Zak!

It's such a polarising film. I think it's one of the best superhero films ever made yet a lot of people think it's no good. On the other hand I can't stand the Nolan Batman flicks but most people think they're high-art.

forgot a blurr aye? 6:45

The problem with changing the ending is that Dr Manhattan is treated as an asset of the USA (in both the film and the comic they use the phrase "The Superman/God exists, and he is American"), and the film has Ozymandias frame Dr Manhattan of not just New York, but several cities on both sides of the Cold War. The US would have been blamed for losing control over their greatest asset, not united with the USSR against a common, unknown (if fake) enemy. Movie Ozymandias' plan wouldn't have ended the cold war, it would have escalated it even further.

This movie is a underrated gem and one of the best superhero movies ever made!😁👍👍

Nite Owl shouldn't be doing twirly whirlies like King Leonidas

I've always thought that the violence in the alley scene is more disturbing than glorified.

"The boys" is an updated deconstruction of super heroes

Movie had great world building but pacing of story was inconsistent, it looses focus many times that i had to watch it on 2 parts as i i snoozed off on parts that had the pacing of a lullaby.

It's still my favorite comic book movie, next to Guardians of the Galaxy, Infinity War, Thor Ragnarok, and Batman returns. I watched the visual comic after seeing the movie, and i can say i like the story of both equally, but find the movie's conclusion far more interesting. This is what comic book movies should feel like! Comic books! That's the one thing comic book movies kept getting wrong since the Xmen trilogy... To bad he couldn't translate that to the MCU. I enjoyed Man of Steel and Wonder Woman, but the rest...

I really love the movie and the book and even the TV show.

loved the movie, loved the show even more.

I love Zack Syner movies but most of them struggle to get to the end well enough... I've watched Watchmen more than 7 times but getting to the end is always a struggle

There seems to be an overwhelming amount of disagreement in the comments to the viewpoints in this video. Personally, Watchman is one of my favorite superhero movies of all time.

"Many people think he may have been too faithful." Many? Many?

Am I alone in finding the film a snooze? I enjoyed the original Alen Moore story back in the late 80s, bought a graphic novel of it.

Zach Snyder is a great scene director, with beautifull photography and style, but a movie is more than a colection of scenes pasted together, most of his movies bombs at the movies cause of that, as pointed in this video, he is way to focused on nailing the visuals and not so much on the narrative in his movies

I loved this movie, but I don't know anything about the source material

This video should be titled "the difference(s)" instead of "the problem(s)" because even tho i loved the comic, i also loved the movie. Can i only like one over the other because some of the underlying meaning was changed?

So happy to see a video essay that verbalizes how Ive always felt about Snyder. Hes all flash without any substance. He loves hero stories but doesnt understand them. Look at 300. Look at Watchmen. Snyder is a manchild with a multi--million dollar budget.

I think the director cut is tremendous, like the book. I don’t agree that ZS failed to understand or deliver layers and nuance. Maybe there was room to do better, but I am impressed by the film.

I loved the movie

YES THANK YOU FOR THIS. My friends said I was crazy for hating it everything sans the ending, but this video is exactly what I felt (albeit 15 years later)

You didn't mention the Watchmen TV show

Has there been an adaptation of Moore's work that he actually likes?

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