The Miracle of Watchmen

In discussions regarding the film adaptation of "Watchmen," whether on the internet or face-to-face with friends, I often am lead to feel that most fans (of the movie, of the book, or of the genre) do not realize how truly lucky all of us were that the "Watchmen" film was made in the first place, much less that it turned out the way it did.

Consider the fact that Warner Bros. spent $130 million to create a movie that:

-Ran 2.5 to 3 hours in length,
-Was rated "R,"
-Contained extremely graphic violence and gore, including a brutal sexual assault,
-Included quite a bit of nudity, including full-frontal male nudity and a borderline pornographic sex scene,
-Was set in a completely different era, 25 years in our past, in an alternate history,
-Featured no famous or well-known actors, and was
-Based on a book and characters that are largely unknown outside the community of comics fans (unlike universally recognizable characters like Batman).

Add to all of that the fact that "Watchmen" was an extremely faithful adaptation of the book, often panel-for-panel, and was clearly made by those who held a great deal of respect and reverence for the original source material.

What most people tend to forget is that major movie studios - the only kind that have the bank to pull off a big-budget feature like "Watchmen" - simply do not make these kinds of movies. They're far too risky. You can't make big money off of merchandising (since it's not a kids movie), you have a hard time appealing to mass audiences (since it requires relatively more extensive intellectual engagement), and you're not really telling a story that can lead to a sequel for delayed return on investment.

It's an all-or-nothing gamble, where the movie has to return a profit by selling itself, based on its own merits, to an audience that, by definition, is already narrowed and limited in scope. No big name actors or characters to help and no supplemental sources of income.

In short, it was a miracle that "Watchmen" got made, especially without any artistic compromise.

As a fan of well-written science-fiction, comic books, and "genre" literature and art, I'm used to being shit upon by the businessmen who own the IP to the characters and worlds that I love. So to me, it's a rare treat to see a major movie studio do things right - artistically and morally - even if it's not the smartest business move, and that's something that I think fans should be thankful for in this case (whether they personally liked the movie or not).

Now I'm not trying to say "Watchmen" was a perfect movie. It wasn't. I'm not even sure if it's a "great" movie (though I would at least rate it as "good"). It certainly had plenty of flaws - the graphic violence was far too over-the-top, the sex was ridiculous and laughably gratuitous, and there were times where ham-fisted directing got in the way of what would have been nearly-perfect, emotionally resonant scenes.

But we were damn lucky that we got what we did, instead of a watered-down, cheap, generic piece of crap created by executives and MBAs rather than artists. Or yet another remake or sequel, completely unrelated to a beloved, original graphic novel. Or a lazy romantic comedy or forgettable, schlocky action flick.

If you had asked me beforehand if a "Watchmen" movie would ever have gotten made at all, I would have said it was unlikely. And if you had told me that a "Watchmen" movie would not only be made, but that it would be so completely faithful, filled with moments of true vision, originality, and brilliance, without any compromise in its artistic integrity for the sake of marketability or bottom-line profits?

I would've sooner believed that Nixon could have served five terms in office.