Watchmen Chapter I (R)
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Caution: spoilers!

This is the first part of a 2024 two-part direct-to-video animated (cel-shaded CGI) adaptation (by J. Michael Straczynski) of the 1986-87 graphic novel series Watchmen. My original intention was to rate each chapter separately, but after watching Chapter I, I've decided it's impossible for me to be sure how much I like it without seeing the whole story, including Chapter II. But so far, I find myself liking the story less than the original graphic novel or the 2009 live-action movie, both of which I loved. This movie seems so far to to follow the original story a bit more closely than the 2009 movie did, particularly with its integration of the "Tales of the Black Freighter" comic book that one character reads. (The comic book is narrated by Phil LaMarr.) So I should love this movie, too. Maybe I'm just burnt out on the story, like "been there, done that", twice. But it's still pretty good, and probably better than my current ability to appreciate it. Update: After watching Chapter II, I decided I do kind of love these movies, though probably the second one moreso than the first one.

Anyway, it takes place in an alternate 1985. It basically begins with the murder of Edward Blake, who turns out to have secretly been a costumed "hero" called the Comedian. He had been one of several costumed adventurers in the past, until he started working for the U.S. government. And when the Keene Act outlawing costumed adventurers was passed in 1977, most super heroes retired, without revealing their identities to anyone. Only the Comedian and a godlike man called Dr. Manhattan continued working for the government. The one costumed adventurer, or "mask", who never retired, Rorschach, begins investigating Blake's murder. I feel the need to say that the Comedian was an asshole. He may have fought crime on a small scale at first, and later fought America's enemies in wars and such, I don't think it was ever accurate to call him a hero. In fact, he would have raped one of his fellow masks, Silk Spectre, if he hadn't been stopped by another mask, Hooded Justice. (The three of them and several others were members of a group called the Minutemen in the 1940s.) I also need to say, I think that when I first read the graphic novel, and maybe even when I watched the 2009 movie, I probably found Rorschach kind of cool in some ways. I don't now, watching this movie, and that's not because the character has changed at all. It's because I have. I don't think I ever thought of him as a "hero"; he's more like an anti-hero, and even that is probably being too kind. He has always been a problematic character, in a lot of ways, but now I realize I kind of hate him, and I'm certain he would hate me just as much, if not more. He has a very black and white view of "justice", and is perfectly willing to do anything, use any amount of violence, to achieve his goals. But more than that, his concept of right and wrong definitely doesn't align closely with my own. (For example, I'm a Democratic socialist, and he'd likely just call me a Communist, and therefore a bad guy.)

Rorschach warns his former adventuring partner, Dan Dreiberg, aka Nite Owl II, about his theory that someone is out to kill former masks. He also warns Dr. Manhattan and his lover, Laurie Juspeczyk (voiced by Katee Sackhoff), aka Silk Spectre II, the daughter of the original Silk Spectre, aka Sally Jupiter (Adrienne Barbeau). Laurie isn't concerned about the Comedian's death, because she knows what an asshole he was, and what he tried to do to her mother, years ago. Rorschach also warns Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandias, aka "the world's smartest man". He doesn't seem concerned, either. And Rorschach interrogates a former criminal known as Moloch (Jeffrey Combs), who says the Comedian had visited him a couple of weeks earlier, ranting about things Moloch couldn't make sense of. It turns out Moloch has cancer, and when Dr. Manhattan does a TV interview, he's ambushed with the news that several other people he had close contact with also have cancer. That includes Janey Slater (Kari Wahlgren), Dr. Manhattan's former lover. When he learns of this, he teleports himself to Mars. Meanwhile, Dan and Laurie reconnect as old friends, and when the government kicks Laurie out of the home she had shared with Dr. Manhattan, she goes to stay at Dan's place. And when Rorschach goes to talk to Moloch again, he finds him dead, and is then chased, arrested, and unmasked by the police. (He turns out to be a guy we'd seen a number of times throughout the film without his mask. Of course I knew the whole time that that guy was Rorschach, but I have to wonder how much of a surprise it might have been for people who didn't already know the story.)

Throughout the film, we see flashbacks set over several decades. And we hear former masks such as Hollis Mason, the first Nite Owl and a close friend of Dan's, giving radio interviews, or whatever. Anyway, the film is mostly pretty bleak, and while all the events involving masks are going on, the U.S. and Russia creep closer to possible nuclear war. Dr. Manhattan had been the only thing really preventing that, and now he's gone. And watching this movie in 2025, everything feels frighteningly similar to real world events. Just swap out Afghanistan for Ukraine, and President Nixon for Trump, and the government cracking down on protests, etc., it's all just so... bad. Call it life imitating art, or simply history repeating. Either way, it helps make the movie even more uncomfortable than it otherwise might be. (Oh yeah, and I also can't help wondering if Rorschach would have voted for Trump. I can't imagine him voting for a Democrat.) And I guess I don't know what else to say, except that I look forward to watching Chapter II, one day soon.

So, Rorschach (real name Walter Kovacs) is in prison now. He talks to a psychiatrist, and we learn about his past through flashbacks. Meanwhile, Dan and Laurie become lovers, and go out doing some superhero-ing in Nite Owl's airship. Dan starts believing Rorschach's theory that someone is out to eliminate masks, and does some investigating of his own. He also decides to break Rorschach out of prison, with Laurie's help, during a prison riot. Throughout his time in prison, Rorschach is attacked by inmates who hate him, but he always gets the best of them. This includes a crime boss known as Big Figure (voiced by Phil Fondacaro), whom Rorschach eventually kills. Dan also surmises that the elimination of masks is somehow tied to the impending nuclear war. Dr. Manhattan returns from Mars, and takes Laurie back there with him, giving her a chance to debate him on whether or not humanity is worth saving. He no longer feels any ties to humanity, himself, but in the course of their conversation, Laurie makes a realization about herself that leads to Dr. Manhattan finding a new appreciation of human beings. Meanwhile, Dan and Rorschach figure out who is behind everything that's been going on, and go to confront him. Eventually, Dr. Manhattan brings Laurie there, as well. And I don't want to spoil who was behind everything or what their plan ultimately was, and why. But this definitely follows the plot of the graphic novel a lot more closely than the 2009 film did. It's a horrifying plan, but it leads to the question of whether the end justifies the means. Most of the characters reluctantly agree that it does, and agree to keep it all a secret from the world, but Rorschach dissents.

And... I guess that's all I want to say about the plot. However, I do want to say there are parts of this movie that I don't remember from the graphic novel, so I'm not sure if they were present there and I just forgot, or if at least some of these things are actually original to this movie. Either way, they helped me appreciate the movies' story more than I thought I would, when watching Chapter I. I still don't love these movies as much as the graphic novel, and in fact I rated the 2009 movie higher than I rated this. But these movies are probably a better retelling of the story than that movie was, and if I ever re-watch the movie, I might consider lowering my rating a bit. I don't know. But I'm fairly comfortable with my rating of this movie.