Watchmen (film) Review

Watchmen (film) Review

The graphic novel, “Watchmen”, released in 1986 has not only been called the best comic book of all time, but “Time” magazine has called it one of the most important and influential novels of the 20th century. The “Watchmen” film has been in the works since around 1987 or 1988, and nearly every attempt at bringing the celebrated novel to the silver-screen has ended in failure, and at one point in the development history it was considered to be “unfilmable”. However, director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, 300) decided to take up the project and has succeeded in bringing Watchmen to movie theaters. The biggest question most were asking themselves when the movie received a release date was if it would indeed live up to its comic book counterpart, and would it ultimately be loyal to the original. I must warn any hardcore Watchmen fans who might be reading this review, that I did not read the novel, and I have yet to do so. I did however, read a plot summary of the novel before seeing the movie so, long story short I was aware of the main plot, but didn’t know much about the epic back story…
Watchmen is set in an alternate timeline in the year 1985 during the Cold War, and the U.S. and the Soviet Union are incredibly close to blowing each other away in what seems to be the ever looming, World War III. The Watchmen themselves, were a team of superheroes whom have all retired after the U.S. government makes all costumed vigilantes illegal unless they are working for the government. The film opens with one of these former “heroes”, The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) being thrown out of his apartment window to his death by an unknown assassin in the middle of the night. Another member of the group, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) tries to investigate, and comes up with a theory that someone is trying to kill superheroes so they won’t be able to stop the impending nuclear war. The other heroes helping Rorschach throughout the film are: Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman), Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode). The performances in the film are by no means Oscar worthy, but they aren’t even close to being bad. Watchmen’s special effects aren’t quite as epic or groundbreaking as Transformers, but they are still very well done, especially Dr. Manhattan, who is a character made almost entirely out of CG animation. Taking a cue from The Dark Knight, Watchmen is a very dark and complex superhero film. At first glance, it might seem like DC Comics equivalent of X-Men or Fantastic Four, but Snyder’s adaptation proves looks can be deceiving. In terms of subject matter, this movie makes The Dark Knight look like Spy Kids. Watchmen contains scenes of absolute gratuitous violence, and has a fair amount of sexual content. In fact, Watchmen isn’t really a super-hero movie at all… it is more of a action/thriller that just happens to have super-heroes in it.
If I had any problems with this movie, it would be the fact that there are parts when it moves far too slowly (the run-time is about 2hrs. and 45min.). Unlike The Dark Knight, which was able to justify its length, Watchmen has some scenes that in the end, just seem like filler, and the film’s plot could of progressed without them. Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen isn’t quite as good as The Dark Knight, but it definitely comes pretty close to its quality, with an excellent storyline that might actually make you think (which is something you don’t get often with “super-hero” movies), and attractive action sequences/special effects. I don’t know what the fanboys will think about how it holds up with the original, but I believe it held up well and lived up to the expectations that most people had for it, even though it took about 20 years to make.
The Verdict: 5/5