It's America in the 1980s, but not the '80s in our history books. For one thing, Richard Nixon is serving his fifth term as president. There's also some panic in the streets over nuclear arms and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
And a former costumed crime-fighter called The Comedian is murdered, setting his former colleagues on a mission to find out who has it in for masked crusaders.
That's just a snapshot from "Watchmen," the Alan Moore-Dave Gibbons comic-book series that many, including the author Moore, have deemed "unfilmable." After several starts and stops involving directors such as Terry Gilliam and Darren Aronofsky, the film version of "Watchmen" reaches the screen today, courtesy of "300" director Zack Snyder. He is acutely aware that purists may come prepared to hate it and that the uninitiated may not be prepared for a plot that's not just another comic-book movie.
With some help from "Watchmen: The Film Companion" by Peter Aperlo (Titan Books, $19.95 paperback), here are synopses of the key characters:
Rorschach/Walter Kovacs (Jackie Earle Haley) -- Rorschach is "the face" of "Watchmen," on the cover of "The Film Companion," with good reason. His obsessive quest for the truth sets the story in motion.
Behind his changing ink-blot mask is a tortured soul whose mother turned to prostitution to support them and whose relentless pursuit of retribution was sparked by the brutal murder of a little girl.
When the Keene Act of 1977 (referenced offhandedly in the film) forced costumed crime-fighters to reveal their identities and accept government overrule or retire, Rorschach turned outlaw to fight on in his own way.
As the film begins, the murder of the aging Comedian ignites a need to solve the case in Rorschach, and forces him to reconnect with his former colleagues in crime-fighting.
Nite Owl II/Dan Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson) -- Carnegie Mellon University grad Wilson, who co-starred with Haley in "Little Children," portrays Nite Owl II, who took up the cape after the retirement of the original Nite Owl, Hollis Mason (Stephen McHattie).
Dreiberg, heir to his father's fortune and an inventor, created a basement lair and a flying/submersible ship to aid in crime-fighting. He hasn't coped well with retirement and we meet him as a paunchy sad-sack.
Wilson put on more than 20 pounds to "show how he's gotten soft -- physically, politically, sexually," he says in the Watchmen "Film Companion."
Reuniting with Rorschach and Silk Spectre and putting on the suit again re-energize Dreiberg.
Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman (Billy Crudup) -- Accidental exposure inside an Intrinsic Field Separation Chamber rips atomic physicist Osterman apart.
When he reappears, he's big, he's blue and he glows, and he has super powers. He comes to be known as Dr. Manhattan, possessing the ability to manipulate matter and see into the past and future.
Nixon and the U.S. military latch on to Dr. Manhattan as the ultimate weapon. He is nothing like the very human costumed crime-fighters whom he keeps company with, including his girlfriend, Laurie/Silk Spectre. At President Nixon's urging, he intervenes to put an end to the war in Vietnam.
To come to grips with his strange existence, Dr. Manhattan settles on Mars, where he contemplates the nature of humanity and existence while a troubled Earth faces a terrible future.
The Comedian/Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) -- More amoral mercenary than crime-fighter, The Comedian is an old-school vigilante who began his life behind the mask in 1939. Director Snyder says he is "the dark side of what America has the potential to be."
His heinous acts in Vietnam were overshadowed in the eyes of the government by his help in other areas -- including "silencing Woodward and Bernstein to protect his president," "The Film Companion" says.
We see his attempted rape of the first Silk Spectre (Carla Gugino) in a flashback and learn the fate of their relationship as Silk Spectre II faces her past.
Silk Spectre II/Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman) -- Daughter of the previous Silk Spectre, Laurie is pushed into her costumed crime-fighting role by her mother.
Dr. Manhattan leaves his first love for Laurie, but she becomes fed up with their often unnerving life together. Laurie turns to Dan Dreiberg for comfort, and it's their relationship that we see grow stronger, although Laurie continues to play a key role as Dr. Manhattan's lone link to humanity.
Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode) -- Veidt dropped his mask with the coming of the Keene Act and, using his super intellect and fitness, created the huge conglomerate Veidt Enterprises, becoming a billionaire in the process. He is convinced he and only he has the plan and the capacity to conquer the evil in humankind.
There has already been cyber-chatter about why the choice of nipples on the Ozymandias costume. At Comic-Con International in San Diego, Goode discussed another choice -- to play Veidt with a bit of a German accent and give him a back story.
"I thought it was more interesting and in line with the sort of myths that get in comics, and more operatic, if his parents had been Nazis."
At one point in "Watchmen," Ozmandias declares, "I am not a comic-book villain." He says he will not make the kinds of mistakes comic-book villains often make that bring about their downfall.
When you watch "Watchmen," you get to decide.
First Published: March 6, 2009, 10:00 a.m.
