The Darkness of 'Watchmen'

by Joey Paur

Watchmen in Entertainment Weekly

If you have read the graphic novel you know how dark the story of 'Watchmen' is. Zack Snyder has said time and time again that he is going to stay as truthful to the novel as he can and he isn't going to hold back the punches that are in the novel. I recently read an article from ropeofsilicon that talks about one of the major scenes of the book and it's translation onto film.  If you have not read the the graphic novel this is a SPOILER so if you don't want to ruin it for yourself then dont read ahead.

In the article Jeffrey Dean Morgan the actor who plays The Comedian is asked about a specific scene in the movie. The scene takes place in a bar after the Vietnam War has ended. The scene includes The Comedian and Dr. Manhatten. The scene is a very dark, but important scene. It shows us who these characters really are. When Morgan was asked what it was like doing some of these scenes he said:

"Getting into the heads of these characters was kind of an ordeal. The actions of The Comedian are brutal sometimes." He continued, "This is stuff that's a little different than anything I have ever done, and it was stuff that I had a hard time with. There are a couple of things The Comedian does, and I never ever in a million years thought there was something I would have to think twice about, as an actor, but I could make no excuses for it. There were a couple of rough days of filming where I was just like, 'This is tough.'"


Regarding the Vietnman War Bar scene he says:

"Yeah, yeah. It's there. It's tough, that's a tough thing. I think that scene and the [other scene] were two things that I'll forever remember as an actor."


I am not sure I would want to remember them, but after playing them out over and over again how could a person not. Here is a description of the scene.

In the scene The Comedian, a.k.a. Edward Blake, is approached by a pregnant Vietnamese woman. She enters the bar and says, "Now war is over, Mr. Eddie. Now I must talk with you." Blake is far from interested in dealing with a pregnancy as this woman was obviously just a late night distraction he never expected to deal with again.

He dismisses her saying, "We got nothin' to talk about. I'm leavin'!" The woman tells him how she cannot walk away from the pregnancy, she can't forget it to which Blake says, "Well that's unfortunate because that's just what I'm gonna do..."

The woman getts pissed off at him, and smashes a bottle accross Blakes face leaving a deep gash, scarring him for the rest of his life. And there off to the side is Dr. Manhattan, just watching the situation because thats what he does when it comes to any form of human behavior. He just finds it interesting. As Blake's face is bleeding he grabs his gun and points it at the pregnant woman as tears stream down her face.

All Dr. Manhatten can get out before Blake pulls the trigger is "Blake don't..." he finishes his thought while she lay dead on the floor bleeding from a gunshot wound to the chest. "...do it,"

It is a very disturbing scene, but imperative to the story. Dr. Manhattan says something you wouldn't expect him to after this event unfolds, because he has grown so detached from regular humans. "Blake, she was pregnant. You gunned her down." It was like for a moment he actually kind of cared for another human but not enough to save her.

As Blake tends his wounds he acknowledges killing the woman and makes sure he lets Dr. Manhattan know that he could have very easily stopped him from shooting the pregnant woman. Manhattan is virtually the only real superhero in the story with actual superpowers. He has the power to transport people and change the molecules of any physical object. Blake then says to him "You coulda changed the gun into steam."

Mogans goes on to say:

"Yeah, yeah, we're staying very true to this whole thing and yeah, that's there," he said. "It had to be. It's a big time defining moment for my character. It had to be there. It's the history of the scar, the whole deal. You can't take that away man."


It would be so hard as an actor to prep for a scene like this. When asked how Morgan did it he said:

"I don't know how I prepared for that. I wasn't prepared for it. As much homework as I had done and as many times as I read this book, I don't think I was prepared to put a gun to a pregnant woman's head and blow her head off."


The Watchmen movie is going to be different than any other superhero comic book movie made so far. It is darker than any other these other movies including 'The Dark Knight'. It is safe to say Watchmen will get a hard 'R' from the MPAA. It s not just the violence that will get it the 'R' but the subject matter as well. As amazing and awesome as this movie is going to look the people that see it need to understand that there is meaning to the story and a message that goes along with it. And to get the point accross, bad and terrible things are going to happen. I strongly suggest to read the graphic novel if you have not done so already! The knowledge it delivers will serve you well when you see the movie.

If anyone is worried about Zack Snyder hold back on some of these graphic scenes from the novel I think you can lay those fears to rest. It seems like he's got it all covered.

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