Watchmen Review

The Watchmen (2009)
Rated R
Runtime 163 minutes

Based on one of the most popular graphic novels (that’s comics for big kids) of all time, the Watchmen has also become the most anticipated pre-summer movies this year. Once thought to be “unfilmmable” due to it’s complex plot and extended character backstories, it arrived last week at midnight to thousands of eager fans.

While I had no prior exposure to the Watchmen comic, it was the popularity of it and the word of mouth that had me interested in this movie. The original movie preview was so-so, but reading about it seemed like it would be worth the trip, so I eagerly awaited the release in theaters.

After reading the buzz, I figured I’d be completely lost on the complicated plot and characters and would possibly flat-out hate it. Reviews prior to the release ranged from insanely stupid to insanely awesome. My final verdict puts it somewhere in between, which I believe most moviegoers would agree with.

The Watchmen is set in 1985 in a parallel reality where Nixon is in his fifth term as president, we’re on the brink of nuclear war, the US won the Vietnam war, and a group of masked citizens known as the Watchmen worked with the government throughout history, but have now been banned. None of these “superheroes” have powers, except one, Dr. Manhattan, who has turned into a naked blue guy. He is used by the US government as the ultimate nuclear deterrent, since he can vaporize matter at will. The film starts off with the death of one of the Watchmen and the uncovering of  a plot to change the world.  The purpose of the Watchmen, in part, is to unravel the superhero image of a Spiderman or Superman  and put a different understanding on it.

With these expectations in place, instead of a deeply complicated and incoherent plot, I found a pretty easy to understand storyline with a solid, and unexpected ending. Unfortunately, the film was supposed to spin my head off my shoulders and have an ending that blew my mind. It didn’t do that, but I enjoyed the colorful characters and the moral gray area that the film explored. Unfortunately it was far less intriguing than I had been led to believe.

In the end, it’s a mixed bag that weighs a little heavier on the good. The acting’s ok, the special effects are (being from the makers of 300) excellent, and the plot is interesting, though somewhat past its time as it was written before the Soviet Union peacefully imploded.The characters are well done, and pretty interesting. Their back story seems even more interesting, but the film doesn’t do much to really explore it like you want.

So there’s good production value, and it’s worth seeing in the theater. But leaving, you can tell it’s trying to say something new and amazing about society, but you figure out pretty easily what they’re saying, and pretty sure their anti-superhero fantasy has as much that relates to our reality as Spiderman 3 did.

Check it out and see what all the fuss is about, but be warned it clocks in at under 3 hours, there’s some disturbing violence, and a lot of blue male nudity.

* * * out of 4 stars