By Sarah Sluis
The upcoming release Watchmen is a superhero movie, but it's not an action movie. Instead, director 
Zack Snyder and illustrator David Gibbons describe Watchmen as "punctuated by action," with the real juice of the film coming from the complicated and rich backstories of the characters.
I generally dislike superhero movies. I found the Spider-Mans dull but enjoyed fringe genre films like Unbreakable or Harry Potter that explore the condition of being "super" rather than bothering me with the constant rescuing and saving. Judging from the New York sneak preview of scenes from Watchmen presented by Snyder last night, the film promises to defy the conventions of a "typical" superhero movie while still providing action sequences to satisfy viewers in search of explosions (violence-hungry audiences are apparently the target audience of the trailer, which can be viewed here).
The film has a "cold open" action sequence: a disheveled man in a bathrobe watches the news, revealing that we are in an alternative 1985 where Nixon is still president and a nuclear clash with Russia is imminent. A black-clad person breaks in, leading to a spectacular, slo-mo-laden sequence.
After a matter-of-fact death, the film segues into a long credit sequence set to Bob Dylan's "The Times, They are A-Changin" that expands on the alternative world inhabited by the Watchmen. Employing a green-screen or chroma-key effect to give the montage a slightly askew, "pop-up" feel, we are presented with a series of visual "dioramas." Two-beat, slow-motion snippets show American history with Watchmen's superheroes inserted into the fold. Like Forrest Gump shaking the hands of the presidents, we see a superhero immortalized by Andy Warhol, part of the moon landing, and at the scene of JFK's assassination. There are also clues to other parts of the superheroes' history: two criminals tied up with a mysterious ink blot note, and a murdered lesbian superhero. The linkage of the Watchmen superheroes within the history of pop culture makes for an intriguing departure from the anonymity of Gotham City. While both fictional worlds are dark and corrupted, the specificity of the references in Watchmen makes the apocalyptic climate more biting.
At the preview, we also saw the transformation of Dr. Manhattan, a contemplation/flashback sequence in which the scientist Dr. Manhattan escapes to Mars, and a prison-break sequence in which two superheroes rescue a Dr. Rorschach from a flaming compound. Incredibly ornate and detailed, even Dr. Manhattan's flashbacks were not presented in a linear order. Similarly, a murder in the prison break sequence is seen/concealed by a swinging butler door, leaving the audience to fill in the gory details.
Director Snyder mentioned at the screening that '"I've said before, that if I succeeded in making a two hour and forty minute advertisement for the book, I would be happy." In that respect, he's already succeeded. I went out and ordered the graphic novel after watching the
preview, eager to consume this superhero world so unlike that of the
gawky teen who saves the world.
Related link:
MTV News has a shot-by-shot breakdown
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