Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore, Watchmen is the first must see film of the year. I never read the graphic novel and I knew nothing about the Watchmen, but from the trailer I though it looked awesome. It was directed by Zack Snyder; an innovative director whose previous works include 300 and Dawn of the Dead (2004). I really wasn't a big fan of 300 but I thought Dawn of the Dead (2004) was a very good zombie movie so, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.Watchmen is set in version of a 1985 America, in which America is on the brink of a nuclear war with Russia. A war that would ultimately conclude with the end of the world. When the film begins the Watchmen are a group of ex-superheros. When one of them is killed, a few of the others, led by Rorschach, begin to investigate the murder of their friend and believe that this murder was just the beginning of an attempt to kill them all.
The film moves along with flashbacks and narration from Rorschach's diary that gives some of the background of each of the Watchmen. I thought the film did a great job of giving some insight into each of these characters personalities. Rorschach was, by far, my favorite character and I thought Jackie Earle Haley did a great job playing this character. One of my favorite lines of the movie was "I'm not stuck in here with you....you're stuck in here with me". This line was perfectly delivered and really illustrated how badass Rorschach was.
It only seemed like one of the Watchmen had actual super powers. Dr. Manhattan came to be from a science experiment gone wrong. He had the power to control all matter, so basically he can do anything and everything. The rest of the characters just seemed to be exceptional fighters. Besides that there was no evidence that they had any powers. I absolutely loved all the action scenes and I think the violence was very well done.
Besides the spectacular action scenes, I think this film was somewhat a criticism of human nature. I think the scene where the Comedian jumps into the street during the riot personifies my point. Also the comedian specifically says "mankind's been trying to kill each other off since the beginning of time. Now...we finally have the power to finish the job." It seemed to be a theme that ran through the movie and I feel like it gave the film more of a purpose than just a bunch of superheros running around fighting crime.
Watchmen was an epic film with a running time of 2hr 42min but I enjoyed every minute of it from beginning to end. Some of the criticism i hear from the graphic novel lovers is that Ozymandias was supposed to be a hardcore character but in the film he looked like a wimp. I agree that it probably was a bad casting decision but I don't think it really hurt the film.
Watchmen is one of my favorite super hero movies of all time. I think it is 2nd to only The Dark Knight. It is a work of art and I'm hoping to catch it in IMAX before it leaves theatres.
