watchmen

Watchmen

Starring:

Billy Crudup, Mathew Goode, Jackie Earl Haley, Malin Akerman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Dan Dreiberg

Director: Zack Snyder

Genre: Action/Drama/Sci-Fi

Rated: R

Watchmen takes place in an alternate version of 1985. The cold war is raging, Nixon is president for his 5th term and superheroes or “masked vigilantes” have been outlawed by the keene act. A former member of the Minutemen the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) Is murdered and now the only “Masked Vigilante” still working Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) tries to uncover what happened to him and find out why former Masked Vigilantes are being murdered.

Director Zach Snyder stays true to the roots of the Graphic Novel and even lifts shots directly from it to give the movie an Authentic Watchmen Feel.  The film does not stray very far from the source material however the comic within a comic “tales of the black freighter” has been omitted although Snyder is supposed to include it in the DVD release. Also the Ending has changed, people familiar with watchmen will either love it or hate it. It doesn’t change the outcome just how they get there. The film is dark, sometimes violent and does possess a lot of the tone of the graphic novel.

The shining light in this movie is clearly Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach when he is on screen the film is great and you get lost in the universe of the Watchmen.  On the other hand there is Ozymandias (Matthew Goode) who is horribly miscast and is an epic failure as the worlds smartest man, He is supposed to be the embodiment of perfection both mentally and physically however Mathew Goode conveys neither, every time he comes on screen you are taken out of the film by how awful he is.  The rest of the cast does a really good job Billy Crudup as Dr Manhattan the only person with actual powers as well as Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl, Malin Akerman as Laurie Jupiter seems more like a secondary character than a pivotal love interest between Dr Manhattan and Nite Owl.

Studios have been trying to make this film for over twenty years and have not been sure how to do it unfortunately they still have not figured it out. The graphic novel is so multilayered with a back-story on each character (these are all characters being introduced for the first time). As well as the comic within a comic, the themes of the cold war and nuclear destruction.  For Fanboys of Watchmen or people that have read the Graphic Novel they may very well love this film since they know the details and motivations of each character; However if this is your introduction to the Watchmen Universe you are probably not going to enjoy this. First timers will be confused about what is going on who each character is and why the movie takes close to 3 hours but explains very little. Ultimately Watchmen tries real hard to pull off the graphic novel but does not succeed and much like the Keene act in the film banning Masked Vigilantes  a similar act should have been made banning this movie about masked vigilantes.

Watchmen Creator Alan Moore has gone through great pains in distancing himself from movies that have been made from his work you will not find his name on the credits. I wasn’t sure why at first until you watch the watchmen and realize that not every work should be transferred from one medium to another.

Watchmen has Great Visuals, a long running time as well as a hard to understand narrative for those who are not familiar with the source material. If you are previously familiar with the story then you should see it, if you are not familiar take a pass and wait for complete story to be released on  DVD.

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