Watchmen removes the blindfold and puts it all in your face.
Written: Mar 22 '09 (Updated May 17 '09)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Production value, cinematography, talented cast and action.
Cons: It's not suitable for children of any age.
The Bottom Line: Watchman works on an intellectual level for it's adult viewer however it's to visceral for a broader fan base despite it's huge entertainment value.
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| cntaur5's Full Review: Watchmen |
The Watchmen is set in 1985 and begins much like its well publicized trailer with a hero and I’m using this term loosely being killed under extremely brutal and mysterious circumstances. After Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) a.k.a. the Comedian’s vicious demise Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) reinvestigates his slaying and goes to his old friends Night Owl II (Malin Akerman), Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman) and Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode) with his suspicions. Roshacks friends are not convinced however as their lives begin to unravel a spark of validity is discovered. In the interim the characters personal lives fill the story as a bigger story of outlawed superheroes, and world destruction develops with President Richard Nixon serving his fifth term. Russia and the U.S. are headed for nuclear war and since it was the Watchman who helped the U.S. wins the Vietnam War it’s expected that the team will save the day again. There is only one problem; the heroes have all gone their separate ways.
There is a lot going on in this movie. The genetically altered Dr. Manhattan struggles to maintain is humanity and relationship with the lovely Silk Spectre II. Nite Owl II has the hots for Dr. Manhattan’s girl while Ozymandias the smartest man in the world has gone public with his identity and billion dollar financial enterprise. The ever loving tough guy Rorschach serves as the dark knight fighting crime as the inkblot masked crusaders. The adventure, action, intrigue and fight are inevitable and bad things are going to happen no matter how things turn out. Everything expounds on the big screen as this adult themed "graphic novel" unfolds in monumental proportions with all the superhero swagger needed for true Armageddon.
Theatrical presentations were fantastic with each actor delivering a convincing performance. Writers David Hayter and Alex Tse deliver a heavy screen play that exceeds most comic based movies while Larry Fong provides some breath taking cinematography. Director Snyder offers several motifs run through the film including the “live by the sword die by the sword” mantra along with themes of political and social justice, human sexuality and world peace. At times it comes across a bit preachy much like a sermon that’s designed to startle the listener into taking action. The problem Watchmen has is that it never tells the audience what positive action should be taken as evil, bad choices and inhumanity is the running theme that permeates the film like a bath towel left on the wet floor. The film is not suitable for children of any age and offers lots of male frontal nudity, female upper body shots and a few sex scenes that leave nothing to the imagination. The pacing is awkward as audiences are updated sporadically throughout the film about the lead character and their past lives. Unfortunately there are some mind-numbing slices in the movie that stack its 162 minute runtime into a huge pile of pancakes that can’t be digested in one sitting. The boring alternate universe on Mars makes the pacing and script feel like a dull philosophical lesson on life.
Bottom line, "Watchmen" ends up as an ruthless and intermittently clever, but ultimately a disappointing encounter. It's not your typical comic story and that is not it's ultimate design and for me that's the problem. With that said, it’s not a terrible movie and unfortunately it’s not great comic flick either. The problem for me is that the film takes itself too seriously with mature themes and subject matter that hard to grasp. Humor is kept to a minimum with extremely flawed characters who are hard to like. Do I think it’s worth the price of a $10.00 late night movie ticket? Absolutely, as this film offers a lot of adult entertainment. Will I recommend it to all audiences? Absolutely not! Fans of the Watchmen comics will certainly enjoy watching their heroes on the big screen, but others may wonder why a story can’t be told without extreme graphic violence, embellished sexuality, unbridled nudity and earthy language.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Sneak Preview at My Local Theater
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Duration
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