Zack Snyder's Watchmen was a mostly faithful adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' graphic novel, but the one place it veered off from the source material was with the exclusion of that giant squid. Instead of heading down that route, the filmmaker decided to have Ozymandias frame Dr. Manhattan for the attack on New York City by using his energy signature.
It worked in the context of the movie, but HBO's recent Watchmen series proved that the squid can work on screen. During an interview with Uproxx, Snyder confirmed that he hasn't had chance to watch that series yet, and explained his approach to not including the squid in this movie.
"I love Watchmen. I have no regrets. I love that movie 100 percent. It’s exactly what I wanted," he tells the site. "And in some ways, I think there’s a great college class that someone could teach on the difference between Dr. Manhattan and the squid. And why we would have chosen Dr. Manhattan and how thematically that works as it relates to the climax of that book."
Despite that, Snyder would go on to admit that he'd now consider adding the squid if he were to make the movie today.
"But I would also say, that based on doing the movie that I just did, Justice League, I might consider it. Only because I feel like it would have required a slightly longer movie to do the squid, than say, Dr. Manhattan."
"I think that to have the squid in the movie that I made, the movie would be a little bit longer," he added. "We had Manhattan already, so we didn’t have to set him up or anything."
It's certainly interesting to hear the filmmaker's take on the squid this far removed, especially when what is now deemed acceptable in the genre has changed significantly since 2009. Aside from that, Snyder's take on Watchmen was a faithful one, and Dr. Manhattan replacing that "alien" creature definitely left us with plenty to talk about at the time (both good and bad).
What's your take on Snyder's Watchmen explanation?