Watchmen Chapter 1

• Directed by Brandon Vietti
• August 13, 2024
• Based on the 1986 to 1987 DC Comics limited series Watchmen co-created by Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore

Voice Cast

• Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II-Matthew Rhys
• Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre II-Katee Sackhoff
• Walter Kovacs/Rorschach-Titus Welliver
• Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias-Troy Baker
• Edward Blake/Comedian, Male Citizen #1, Photographer #2-Rick D. Wasserman
• Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre I, TV Broadcaster-Adrienne Barbeau
• Jonathan Osterman/Dr. Manhattan, Father-Michael Cerveris
• Hollis Mason/Nite Owl I-Geoff Pierson
• Female Knot Top, Janey Slater, Female Citizen #1-Kari Wahlgren
• Knot Top #2, Wally Weaver, Criminal #1-Yuri Lowenthal
• Comic Book Narrator, Security Guard, Bernie-Phil LaMarr
• President John F. Kennedy, Restaurant Cook, Doug Roth-Jason Spisak
• Hooded Justice, General #1, Criminal #2-John Marshall Jones
• Det. Joe Bourquin, Bernard, President Nixon-Max Koch
• Photographer #3-Matthew Rhys
• Minister, Benny Anger-Troy Baker
• Captain Metropolis, Forbes, American Newscaster-Corey Burton
• Edgar Jacobi/Moloch the Mystic, British Newscaster, Photographer #1-Jeffrey Combs    
• Yvonne, Vietnamese Woman-Kelly Hu
• Spanish Newscaster, Female Citizen #2-Grey Griffin
• Detective Steve Fine, Happy Harry-Dwight Schultz

In a 1985 where superheroes exist, the murder of a colleague sets a still active vigilante on the trail of a conspiracy that will change everything.

Watchmen has been a comic book limited series. Then it was a live action film. Now we get Watchmen Chapter 1 which is an animated adaption of the story. Like the film I don’t know how faithfully it adapts the Watchmen comics but it is certainly much darker than most DC animated films. Dark though is not equal to good. The first weakness is that much of what we get here is almost line for line what we got in Watchmen. Some minor tweaks but nothing too new.

As with the live action film and the comics the death of the Comedian sparks an investigation by the exceedingly paranoid Rorschach. Unlike the film there are then future elements like electric vehicles though much of the other technology looks very much in line with that of the mid-80s.

The animation reminds of CGI from an Xbox videogame cut scene. I’m sure there are advantages to it, but it ultimately looks like mid-tier graphics. I hate that. It does allow a better illustration of the fictional Tales of the Black Freighter which was an important part of the source. This bit of a horror pirate comic gets the ink dots displayed in images that look very much in line with comics of the day. I think it may be something that works a little better in the comics than it does in any film presentation. It makes it feel artistic but doesn’t contribute much to the story.

These are not kind and caring heroes. These are some grimy people with serious issues. The Comedian is a psychopathic rapist. He enjoys the violence and the killing. Laurie Jupiter is trying to live up to her mother’s expectations. Nite Owl II is just lost without his heroics. Ozymandias has bought into his own hype. This is less about the cool visuals and super heroics than it is about the characters themselves.

As a deconstruction of the animated superhero film it’s good. I am not a big fan of deconstruction, but I give them credit for making it work in this. Unlike Watchmen it has a tougher time setting up the alternate history. One did it quickly in a nice montage. This feels like it dragged and never completed the job.

The movie is a slow build that just stops. Was this an ending from the comics or was it a decision made by the creatives behind this? Not sure but it was lackluster. All movies need an ending that just does not switch the lights out but rather teases something.

Watchmen Chapter 1 is not bad. It needed more of a cliffhanger and maybe something more to differentiate itself from the previous version.