Why Watch the Watchmen?

What makes this comic book cult sensation so special? And why should you uninitiated see the film?

If you live in Los Angeles, or any major metropolitan city, and you've driven down any street lately, you've probably felt the presence of a big, blue, bald man with glowing white eyes peering down at you from a wall or billboard. If not him, then perhaps you've seen a guy in a vaguely Batman-like costume, or a woman in sleek, skin-tight latex and thigh-high boots. No, these aren't the latest fashion trends lighting up Hollywood (although you never know). They're part of the marketing push for "Watchmen," the first major superhero movie to come charging into theaters since last summer's "The Dark Knight" (we'll just forget about the "The Spirit," shall we?). Images of the movie's six main characters are everywhere, the trailers are ubiquitous online and in theaters, and the fanboy universe is about to go supernova. So what exactly is all the caped commotion about?

In 1986 a comic book was published that forever changed the nature of the medium. Titled "Watchmen," the 12-issue series was written by famed comics scribe Alan Moore, illustrated by artist Dave Gibbons, and colored by John Higgins. The impact of "Watchmen" was immediate on a commercial level; it was an instant best-seller and even briefly lifted its publisher, DC Comics, above its eternal competitor, Marvel, in the two companies' never-ending battle for market dominance. But more importantly, on a cultural level, the effects of "Watchmen" are still being felt today throughout the comic book world and, by association, the film, television and even literary realms as well.

Along with, arguably, Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" (issued around the same time), "Watchmen" took the comic book medium to an entirely new level of sophistication, maturity and dramatic potential. Moore and Gibbons brought the story to the page in groundbreaking new ways, while the narrative itself was a rich mélange of action, sci-fi, mystery, politics, social satire and philosophy, steeped in symbolism, subtext and allegory. "Watchmen" took the very idea of the superhero and became, as author Bradford Wright wrote in his study "Comic Book Nation," "Moore's obituary for the concept of heroes in general and superheroes in particular."

Now, 23 years after its initial publication, and almost as long since the idea of a film version of the story was first developed, "Watchmen" is coming to the screen. The project's long struggle to get there is almost as complex and dramatic a tale as the actual book, and for many years "Watchmen" was close to being deemed one of those "unfilmable" projects that would never see the light of day. Now, at last, it's here, under the guidance of "300" director Zack Snyder. And for many comic book fans, March 6, the film's release date, is a day they never thought they'd see. But for the rest of the world, the question is: Why watch the Watchmen?

Origin Story

"Watchmen" emerged out of Moore's desire to take a series of superheroes from the defunct Charlton Comics line, which went out of business in 1986 after a 40-year run and sold its characters to DC, and resurrect them in a new story that would begin with the death of one of them and portray the rest in a fashion that had not been seen in superhero comics to that point. Eventually abandoning the idea of using previously existing characters such as the Peacemaker and the Question, Moore came up with his own set of heroes. They looked and sounded enough like pop culture icons such as Batman and Captain America to strike a chord with readers, but were also deeper, more dysfunctional and in many ways more twisted than just about any so-called "superhero" that had appeared in comic books before.

Thus were born Nite Owl, the Comedian, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan and the unforgettable Rorschach, six "heroes" in various stages of retirement, personal crisis or mental instability. The world of "Watchmen" is a parallel to our own, set in a 1980s in which Richard Nixon is still president (term limits having been lifted on the Oval Office), the Cold War is reaching a boiling point, and there's a level of dread and anxiety permeating every facet of everyday life. Masked crime fighters, while once a part of this world and influential in the outcome of historical events such as the Vietnam War, have fallen out of favor and are either dead, retired or officially working for the government, with legislation passed in 1977 to outlaw them entirely.

Only one of our six main characters, Dr. Manhattan, is a true superbeing, having been transformed by a lab accident into a highly evolved entity of immense power and energy. Ozymandias, now operating a vast and hugely successful business empire under his real name, Adrian Veidt, is considered the smartest man in the world and has evolved in his own way. The others have relied on a mix of strength, ferocity, fighting skill, technical prowess and intelligence to make their mark, but all four are feeling the effects of age, loneliness and loss of purpose in a world that has rejected them.

The time of the superheroes has indeed passed in Moore's story, and at the worst possible moment. Tension between the United States and Soviet Union, mostly over the presence of Dr. Manhattan as a U.S. operative/weapon, has led the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear war. Meanwhile, someone is out to either murder or discredit the superheroes. The story begins with the killing of the Comedian, which the psychopathic Rorschach, who still works outside the law, sets out to investigate. What he and some of the others discover is a plot to not only get the heroes out of the way, but also to alter the course of human history entirely.

Heroes or Villains?

When Moore wrote "Watchmen" in the mid-'80s, the Cold War was still raging, but with nowhere near the intensity he establishes in his book. Yet Ronald Reagan had come into office a few years earlier, blustering about the "Evil Empire" and decimating the country's welfare system in exchange for a massive increase in defense spending. His Justice Department launched an invasive and punitive "war on drugs" that opened the gates for even more abandonment of civil liberties.

This world of cowboy diplomacy, might over right, and moral absolutes was the one Moore wanted to comment on. "Watchmen" rejected the idea of a superior morality or authority. Moore made sure his superheroes were as flawed as the rest of us: Nite Owl suffers from impotency and can barely squeeze his sagging frame into his costume; Silk Spectre drinks and smokes too much and is promiscuous at a young age; the brutish Comedian is a rapist; and even the above-it-all Dr. Manhattan thumbs his nose at the world the minute he gets some bad publicity.

In a number of crucial scenes, Moore makes the argument that we cannot, as a race, depend solely and unconditionally on individuals or bodies of authority to make the world a safer or better place. Moore's United States has already handed power over to Nixon in possible perpetuity, while the tactics of the Comedian and Rorschach come straight from the vicious playbook of Dick Cheney, making them nearly as bad as the evildoers they are attempting to eradicate. Even the ultimate plan that's revealed at the climax of the story, while ostensibly idealistic, comes at a horrifying cost and carries its own odor of fascism. The best laid plans are subject to the whims of human frailty, superpowers or not.

"You've Changed Things"

It is for all the reasons above, and many others, that the vast viewing audience out there not necessarily familiar with the book's Grail-like status should nonetheless flock to see "Watchmen." While its characters are not iconic like Batman or Superman, they're all recognizably human, even the godlike Dr. Manhattan. The intertwining of ideas and themes is almost overwhelming, as is the parade of surreal, slightly psychedelic visuals. The complex narrative is rich with details, character moments, flashbacks and mind-blowing set pieces, not to mention explicit, plentiful sex, violence and bloodshed.

Even the story's alternate Cold War setting feels both timeless and just as relevant as ever. If anything, the world is more uneasy than it was back in the '80s, with the threats of terrorism, environmental disaster and economic collapse casting deep shadows across the globe. The idea that we shouldn't place all our hopes on the shoulders of one person, or a handful of individuals, also seems timely; with tens of millions looking to a new president to lift us out of our current mess, we might just need a reminder than he's a man, not a superhero, and just as capable of failure as the rest of us. Even the most idealistic leader can be corrupted and the most promising initiatives distorted, a point driven home quite eloquently in "Watchmen."

In other words, this is a superhero movie unlike any other you've ever seen, written and directed for an adult audience. I can report confidently for the die-hard fans that, while there are some changes along the way (most notably in the climax), the film version of "Watchmen" is so faithful to the book that, for most of its 160 minutes, it seems to have leapt straight off the page. For everyone else, this is about as far away from silly junk like "Batman and Robin," "Spider-Man 3" and "Fantastic Four" as this genre of movie can get, and its long path to the screen in this pristine form mirrors the long evolution of comic books as well.

It was "Watchmen," after all, that introduced the concept of the flawed, dysfunctional superhero, leading to massive changes in the comic book industry. The books got darker and more complex, while the heroes got more recognizably human. This has finally filtered down to the movies, as evidenced by the depth of "The Dark Knight," the character shadings of "Iron Man" and even the misfired ambition of "Hancock." While "Watchmen" paved the way 20 years ago for those films to eventually emerge, their success has in turn opened the way for "Watchmen" to make its way on-screen. So why watch the Watchmen? For many of the same reasons you watch any movie: It's got action, mystery, fights, sex, love, special effects, a great story. But it's also got something else that we're seeing for possibly the first time in this genre, front and center: ideas.