What is a superhero? What would it be like if superheroes were real and integrated into culture?
Welcome to the world of Watchmen.
The year is 1985, Nixon has been elected for a third term and Russia is invading the Middle East with ease. Tensions are high, the Doomsday clock is 5 to Midnight and society is collapsing under itself. In the midst of all this a former Watchmen is murdered.
From there a conspiracy begins to go into motion and the only Watchmen still active, Rorschach, is the only one investigating. Believing that someone is targeting costumed heroes, he goes to warn all the Former Watchmen.
That's the summary of the plot of this wonderful movie based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), which reinvents the way we look at the superhero. A plot with a deep meaning, many twists and lots of character development Watchmen is one of the best, if not the best, comic book movie I've ever watched. Let's break this down shall we?
None of the characters except for Dr. Manhattan, has any powers. As much as I enjoy Spider-man, X-Men and all those other comic books about characters with powers I found Watchmen far more interesting. Alan Moore has stated that Watchmen are REAL superheroes(Except for Dr. Manhattan, he got his molecules pulled apart and reassembled himself) which means that it makes the characters more believable. The philosophy of the characters is also brilliant and truly entertaining to experience. From Rorschach only believing in black and white and dealing absolute, from Dan representing how bleak most heroes are out of their costume to Dr. Manhattans lack of humanity, and The Comedian representing the true face of the American Dream. The last time I was watching characters this deep I was playing the Metal Gear Solid series. I believe Zack Snyder to be a very artistic director and the perfect choice to direct Comic Book movie adaptations. The movie is 85 % accurate to the Novel, leaving out anything that diverts from the main story and switching minor details around; it was still amazing to watch.
Two performances were above the rest, Jeffery Dean Morgan as The Comedian and Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach. Jeffery Dean Morgan( Played the main characters father in Supernatural) becomes The Comedian perfectly and accurately, even if he's only in small flashback scenes.
On the other hand, Jackie Earle Haley IS Rorschach. I believe he did an even BETTER job than Heath Ledger as The Joker, and that was the only thing I liked out of The Dark Knight. The man put everything into this roll and it payed off. From his haunting performance in the Prison scene to his stand off with Dr. Manhattan in the antarctic.
The story for Watchmen follows a broken path, much like Pulp Fiction, it will move along and then go into a flashback fleshing out the characters, it does throughout the movie until the climatic showoff at the end of the movie. Also, if you were expecting balls out action(as with most superheroes movies) look else where, Alan Moore believed in telling a story with it's characters rather than have random explosions and Zack Synder honors this in the movie, while he does add two extra fight scenes, it still plays out like the Novel. Like I said, this movie is 85 % accurate.
Some people didn't like this movie, lack of action, 'No Plot'(Which kills me whenever someone says that), to Dr. Manhattan walking around nude. . . . . The man basically has become God, he's detached and withdrawn, he doesn't care for things like clothes because he no longer sees the importance. As for no plot. . . . were we watching the same movie? There was a plot, a plot that kept twisting, and the plot was finding out who was organizing the attacks on costumed heroes, which is a pretty straight forward plot, but it's delivery is sound and it has so many twists that it keeps you watching till the end.
Lack of action. . . (Profanity Alert) WHAT THE FUCK?! Have we reverted to neanderthals? All we want is explosions and explosions to tell a story? A climatic CGI orgasm in which half a block is ruined?. . . . actually that happens in Watchmen. I just think it's bullshit, a good story doesn't necessarily need a whole bunch of pointless fight scenes. Sometimes it's good but for a story like Watchmen that has been given a lot of thought, filling it to the rim with action is just pointless fan service.
For the action scenes that Watchmen does have, it's brilliant though. It's choreographed amazingly and everyone fights nice, and there are some slow motion pieces(Not in all of them just two) it shows you the moves perfectly.
The movie is about Ideology and the changing of times, what does a superhero stand for and how society is when it comes to interacting with one another.
You either didn't like this movie because it hit a bit too close to home in terms of yourself in society. Can't think. Or needs a whole bunch of action scenes to get aroused.
Watchmen gets 4.5 bloody smiley face buttons out of 5. 4.5 because they could have put more information in, sure the movie is 2.5 hours long but it doesn't feel like that, not like The Dark Knight which was TOO long.
"What happened to America? What happened to the American Dream?" - Dan Drieberg/ Nite Owl
"What happened to it? You're lookin' at it! It came true!" - Edward Blake/ The Comedian
"Rorschachs Journal, October 13th 1985 -The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I'll look down and whisper "No." - Walter Kovacs/ Rorschach
"There don't seem to be that many laughs around these days." - Laurie Jupiter/ Silk Spectre
"What do you expect? The Comedian's dead." - Dan Drieberg/ Nite Owl
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