Watchmen

watchmen

Watchmen
Directed: Zack Snyder
Starring: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley

I have read the comic. I loved the alternate take on 1985 where Richard Nixon had been elected to his third term as U.S. President and the Cold War with Russia was growing stronger every day. The book also dealt with the concept that people would take to the streets as superheroes, even though they were more along the lines of Batman than Superman. They didn’t have any special powers. They just wanted to see justice done. It started in the ’50s with the Minutemen, but then died out. It came back decades later with a different group of people known as the Watchmen. Not everyone was a fan of their brand of justice. They saw them as vigilantes. There was an act passed by Congress outlawing masked crusaders so the Watchmen went into hiding until one of their own was murdered. Was someone killing the Watchmen or was it just someone that hated that one person? Good question!

What I loved about the story was that the people had good intentions sometimes, but not all the “heroes” were necessarily good guys. The Comedian was a complete asshole with not many redeeming qualities. Rorschach bordered on psychotic while Ozymandias had a major ego complex. I think that all came through pretty clear on the screen. The movie had been passed around Hollywood ever since it was written in the ’80s. It was viewed as unfilmable. I didn’t ever view it that way when reading it. I saw parts of it that would need to be cut out, but they could be chopped and still stick the main storyline. That’s what you would do with any story being turned into a movie.

I really think that the main gist of the comics came through in the movie. I thought around the time they were going into Rorschach’s background story, that the movie might be a little bit too long with explaining everyone’s back stories, but I never felt like the movie was overlong. It could have helped that I knew how much longer before it was done. I did love the direction. I have read some people aren’t really a fan of the sudden stop and slow motion that Zack Snyder used in both 300 and Watchmen, but I think it’s pretty damn cool. I thought the movie was very much fun to watch. I also loved the opening sequence. Each scene almost looked like a live-action diorama.
My main issue was the ending was a bit anti-climatic, except that’s how it ended in the comic book. It made sense with the story, but you really thought it was leading up to something bigger. I believe that’s just how Alan Moore thinks so I can’t blame the movie too much on that. I appreciate Zack Snyder staying true to the story that way.

I would be remiss, if I didn’t mention Dr. Manhattan’s blue dangly bits. While it was there in the comics, when you saw it, it was pretty tiny. Not that I was looking for it mind you! Oh no, I just happened to notice while reading. 🙂 Anyway, I didn’t think it would show up in the movie, or if it did, it would be brief, but oh no, it was the opposite of brief! It was large and in charge. I loved how no one mentioned he was naked. It was explained in the comic, but they just ignored he was naked in the movie. I found that hilarious. I will say that I’m glad I did not watch it on the IMAX screen. I’m not sure if I could handle four feet high of blue glowy swinging in my face.

Grade: A-

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