“Who watches the Watchmen?”

Filmgoers will answer this question, proposed by Alan Moore’s 1983 graphic novel The Watchmen, in February of 2009 when Warner Bros. Pictures releases director Zach Snyder (300, 2004’s Dawn of the Dead) movie adaptation in theatres nationwide.

The film stars Matthew Goode (Match Point), Patrick Wilson (Angels in America) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (popularly known for his work on the TV shows “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Supernatural”) among others and is currently in post-production.

The oft-lauded graphic novel follows the murder investigation of one the last active masked heroes in a parallel universe version of the 1980s. The world is well past the golden age of heroes and may soon sink into the brink of nuclear destruction.

While ostensibly a comic book about super heroes and the struggle between good and evil, Watchmen is equally compelling as a complete deconstruction of the super hero mythos. The 12 issues that make up the novel run light on frantic action and heavy on intellectual dialogue.

Furthering the difficulty of the transition from the page to the film are plot lines following tangential characters, a comic book within the comic and the inclusion of source material from the fictional world. While these things might sound like unnecessary complications, the impact and depth of the story would suffer greatly without them.

Following the ongoing the success of comic to movie transitions, it is probable the film will see financial success. This summer’s The Dark Knight proved audiences are willing to tackle dark issues with their blockbuster entertainment. Appropriate, due to the obvious similarities in subject matter, the first Watchmen trailer premiered before the mega-blockbuster, though Moore’s work occupies a far more morally ambiguous grey area. What is uncertain is whether it will impress fans. Considered by many to be one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, some may wonder what a film can add to the story when condensed to a 2 to 3 hour experience.

In many ways, the film version of Watchmen appears to be the antithesis of the subject matter of 300, Zach Snyder’s previous success. 300 appeals to the human machismo for war with a simplicity of us versus them morals. Its constant action easily lends the original art to the big screen.

On the opposite side of things, Watchmen (if the graphic novel is any indication) proposes the type of intellectual and moral challenges that stir men’s minds, not their primal instincts.

I have refrained from mentioning many details about Watchmen here. I feel strongly that any spoiler might detract from the experience of reading a great literary achievement.

Once the film opens and details of the plot leak into the mainstream media and the worldwide film community connected via the Internet, the power of the material may be dampened. So, while those impressed by the trailer hype themselves up for the big screen version of a masterpiece, it may be the more timid fans of the graphic novel who draw the most from the film version of one of the last century’s greatest works.