Who watches the Watchmen? Zack Snyder, apparently. The divisive director made a name for himself creating beautifully stunning action movies, a lot of which took inspiration from, or adapted beloved comic books. While Snyder was at the forefront of the DCEU at one point, directing Man of Steel, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League (as well as the Snyder Cut), Snyder has revealed that the best superhero movie he’s worked on is one of his earliest.
Before introducing the world to Henry Cavill’s Superman, or Ben Affleck’s hulking Batman, Zack Snyder adapted the lauded Alan Moore comic Watchmen in 2009. The movie received mixed reviews and failed to make a mark at the box office. But, following its home release, the film has widely been regarded as one of Snyder’s best. Luckily, the director agrees. Speaking to ComicBook.com, Zack Snyder reveals why he holds Watchmen in such high regard compared to the rest of his filmography.
“I would have to say Watchmen, probably for me, just like the process of adaptation from comic book to movie design, all the things as we went from comic books to movie,” Synder said. The director has been criticized by comic book fans for making numerous changes to the source material and the beloved characters in his movies. Even Watchmen drastically changes the circumstances of the ending to make it more grounded and believable. Despite the changes, Snyder says that Watchmen is the cleanest adaptation he’s made, with many shots being pulled straight from Moore’s comic. Snyder continued:
“I think Watchmen is like the cleanest, and kind of most satisfying, transition to adapted material.”
Alan Moore Hates The Watchmen Movie
Zack Snyder and his dedicated fan base might love Watchmen, but one person who despises the movie is the comic book’s author, Alan Moore. Moore has repeatedly criticized the film for altering the original meaning of the comic book, and also loathes the newer HBO Watchmen series for allowing his characters to interact with the wider DC Universe. However, Zack Snyder shouldn’t take it too personally, as Alan Moore hates most adaptations of his work, and even hates his old comic book writing. While promoting his mammoth sized book Jerusalem, Alan Moore revealed that he doesn’t even have any copies of Watchmen (the comic or the movie) in his house, as it’s a painful reminder of his old infatuation with superheroes. The author said:
“I’m proud of all of my work, except that superhero stuff that I did that everybody else likes. I don’t have any copies of that in the house anymore. I can’t stand to look at it.”
Starring Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Akerman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino, and Billy Crudup, Watchmen is set in an alternate version of 1985 where the existence of superheroes helped the USA win the Vietnam War, keeping Richard Nixon in power. After one of the Watchmen is murdered, Rorschach (Haley) investigates the killing, threatening to blow open a massive conspiracy theory about the still ongoing Cold War.
Watchmen
is currently streaming on Max.
