The key question for Guardians: Chapter I (now streaming on VOD services like Amazon Prime Video): SQUID OR NOT SQUID? Previous adaptations of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ groundbreaking and influential DC graphic novel (read: comic book for people old enough to buy cigarettes) have wrestled with the question of whether or not to drop the infamous giant cephalopod on NYC – Zack Snyder’s 2009 film Guardian while Damon Lindelof’s HBO sequel series focused on the strangeness and explored the consequences of chaos. This version of Guardian is such a straightforward animated adaptation—directed by Brandon Vietti, who has directed several DC direct-to-video animated films, and written by longtime comic book writer J. Michael Straczynski—that it stays so faithful to the original that we’re almost certain to see it COMPLETELY AS A SPACE SQUID. But we won’t find out until Chapter II debuts in 2025, though. So I guess that’s a moot point. Excuse the digression. Now let’s talk about whether the first half of this endeavor is worth tackling.
The essentials: The year is 1985, in an alternate timeline where Nixon is still president and the U.S. won the Vietnam War (those two things seem very closely linked). Superheroes were ostracized and labeled vigilantes in 1977—rightly so in some cases, because some are OK, others, well, not. One of the latter was The Comedian, aka Edward Blake (Rick D. Wasserman), and note the past tense. He was pushed out of the window of his high-rise apartment and fell to the sidewalk. Did he deserve it? I don’t know, but as we learn in flashbacks, he was basically a fascist psychopath. One of his former teammates in the superhero squad, Rorschach, née Walter Kovacs (Titus Welliver), a smelly weirdo in a trench coat and morphing inkblot mask, suspects that Comedian was the latest in a series of murders aimed at taking out former superheroes. Well, Rorschach is a madman who keeps a diary or tells stories as if he had assumed the wrong things from the beginning. Taxi driverand his theories should definitely be questioned, but he could be right. There is something fishy going on here.
Rorschach’s sleazy “investigation” involves blackmailing jokers at a local bar (breaking his fingers until he gets answers, even though he doesn’t really get any) and seeking out his former comrades from the Watchmen: Nite Owl/Dan Dreiberg (Matthew Rhys), a slightly sloppy middle-aged guy who seems aimlessly retired. Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt (Troy Baker), an egotistical multi-billionaire who runs his own mega-corporation and sells action figures of himself. Silk Spectre/Laurie Juspeczyk (Katee Sackhoff), who is having a bit of an identity crisis since she is married to Jonathan Osterman/Dr. Manhattan (Michael Cerveris), a perpetually naked and seemingly omnipotent and immortal atomic body who can manipulate matter at will and does not experience time linearly like the rest of us, and who is therefore subject to U.S. government jurisdiction and often acts as a cold observer of human suffering, except when his very existence seems to avert nuclear war with Russia. I have a feeling Laurie needs more than just a divorce lawyer.
Amid the deaths, funerals, and reunions, a deeply dissatisfied Laurie moves out of Dr. M’s apartment and reconnects with Dan, while Rorschach makes his rounds, tracking down clues like a noir detective. We see several flashbacks to horrific moments in Watchmen history: the Comedian torching children in Vietnam, the Comedian sexually abusing Laurie’s mother, the first Silk Spectre (Adrienne Barbeau), etc. In the present, Dr. Manhattan learns that he may be—oops!—toxically radioactive, Dan and Laurie feel their superhero powers returning after being cornered by street thugs, Veidt broods in his gilded tower, and Rorschach pays a visit to an old retired supervillain. Meanwhile, the world around them is slowly spiraling out of control as tensions between the US and Russia escalate and prophets of doom walk the streets with “The end is near” signs.
What movies will it remind you of?: The Guardian is damn similar to DC’s two-part animated adaptation of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in the sense that they adhere slavishly to the visual style of the source material and take very few liberties with the story and tone. (And both original stories are pivotal, groundbreaking moments not just in comic book art, but in fiction in general.)
Performance value Watch out Hearing: Notice how Welliver’s interpretation of Rorschach changes between flashbacks and the narrative present, from light sandpaper to downright raw throat sounds.
Memorable dialogue: Nite Owl and The Comedian break up a crowd of protesters in a flashback:
Nite Owl: What happened to the American dream?
The comedian giggles: It’s come true!
Sex and skin: Dr. Manhattan’s hastily scribbled penis, a quick shot of Laurie’s backside.
Our opinion: The puzzle of adaptation Guardian is: How do you justify the translation into audiovisual media without compromising the powerful, resonant themes? This animated version is conservative. It is essentially a “motion comic” version of Moore and Gibbons’ original work, retaining the book’s myriad points of view (e.g. Dr. Manhattan’s self-told origin story, Rorschach’s hard-hitting narration, and Laurie and Dan’s stabilizing and relatable plot line) and changing neither the text nor the subtext. Admittedly, the density of the book requires some tightening, so Guardians: Chapter I feels like a Cliffs Notes version. The octopus is almost certain.
But it’s a reasonably engaging Cliffs Notes version. The animation is solid but not exceptional, which is par for the course for DC animated films. And Vietti skillfully builds dramatic tension and stages action sequences with admirable power. Screenwriter Straczynski makes the smartest move here by choosing not to leave anything out. The black freightera comic in Guardian Narrative that embeds a metaphor about survival and human nature that enriches the story; something less gifted minds would superficially consider dispensable, although in fact it is indispensable.
Some will inevitably say that Vietti’s unwillingness to take creative liberties Guardians: Chapter I makes it difficult to justify its existence, but the story remains potent in a modern context where fascism has crept back into the political and social spotlight and old existential anxieties have been revived. The way Moore’s story deals with quasi-patriotism, international tensions and general earthly instability seems too painfully relevant. In an ideal world Guardian would feel old-fashioned and outdated, but unfortunately it is not.
Our call: STREAM IT. Guardians: Chapter I is a very watchable mishmash. Fans of the comic — many of whom derided Snyder’s film version, which I will continue to defend as “Better Than You Remember” — may like this animated version, although it’s more of a rehash of the source material than an adaptation. It lives up to expectations and that’s about it, as is the approach of DC’s direct-to-video animated films.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
