Rated R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language.
162 Minutes

Directed By: Zack Snyder

Written By: David Hayter and Alex Tse

Staring: Malin Ackerman, Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Crudup, Matthew Good, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino, Matt Frewer, Stephen McHattie, and Laura Menell

I heard a joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he’s depressed. Says life is harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world. Doctor says, “Treatment is simple. The great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go see him. That should pick you up.” Man bursts into tears. Says, “But doctor… I am Pagliacci.” Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains. -Rorschach

Review:

At first I was a little conflicted about Watchmen. I waited a day or so to write my review because I wanted some of it to sink in before I decided exactly how I wanted to describe my experience. Overall I really enjoyed it. It was incredibly smart, had far more depth than I had anticipated, was stylistically incredible, and still managed to have that epic feel. The acting was solid and characters very fleshed out, yet I feel like something was missing. What? I don’t know, but overall I’m impressed. It’s nice to see a different direction being taken in that genre. Superhero movies and action films get an unfair stigma with them, and frankly I think they often have a lot more to offer then a straight forward drama. Watchmen is one of those movies, because it still has me thinking.

The end of the world is near.  Richard Nixon is surviving his fifth term of presidency and the cold war has only escalated to the point of nuclear war.  The result of this war will doom the world.  No survivors would be possible.  Some of the Watchmen, a group of superheros that used to protect the United States, have come out of retirement and shown their identities in order to stop the nuclear holocaust, but even the not-so-human Dr. Manhattan has little hope they will be able to stop total destruction.  Only Rorschach, another Watchmen suspects their is something more going on, and the death of a retired Watchmen catapults an investigation and revitalization that can’t be stopped.
I’m just a fan of Zack Snyder.  With movies like 300 and Dawn Of The Dead on his resume I had to believe Watchmen was not only going to be visually remarkable, but also have a great story.  With so many characters and so many elements of the graphic novel being integrated it was a large task to take on and overall I felt like it was a success.  The film was indeed long and perhaps too much time was taken on each heroes intense back story but that is essentially the only real negative aspect I felt throughout the long tale.

300 is probably the most amazing film I’ve ever seen visually with CGI.  The graphics in that film were second to none and while Watchmen wasn’t overwhelmed with it’s graphics.  It was an incredibly beautiful and very dark film.  The cinematography gives it a life of its own.  When dialogue is missing the tone is easily interpreted threw the feel of each scene, each building, and picture that has physically been drawn for us.  The ominous score in the back round isn’t always obvious, but it ties in nicely when there isn’t talking or action.

The acting was really impressive as well.  The story was seriously character driven so to have a solid cast was just as important as the script, the special effects, and all the other amazing work it took to make this film work.  Jackie Earl Haley impressed me in Little Children to no end.  It is one of the most under recognized performances that I can think of in recent years, and his role as Rorschach in this film only furthered my appreciation for him.  He was amazing and the glue that clung the rest together.

The heroes of these “Watchmen” are riddled with humanity, full of flaws and imperfection.  What I found most appealing was by the end of the story there was this feeling that even the smartest man in the world, and all these superheroes couldn’t fix what was wrong with humanity because they themselves suffered humanity as well.  Being super beings had given themselves no insight on how to correct themselves let alone save the world, which explains where the story begins, with most of these “Watchmen” in retirement.

What I truly adored was the different direction the tale took.  There was a great depth to the films theme that wasn’t handed out in candy coated symbolism, some of the topics were outright discussed.  Mans nature to destroy itself was the main topic up for discussion.  For being comic and fantasy inspired there was a very tangible realism at work throughout.  The characters were so genuine, and the roots of the conflict so authentic, there was a feeling that you had a personal stake in the outcome of everything.

The world is filled with lies, violence, and hatred, but one of the things Watchmen really looked into was how misplaced some of humanities anger truly is.  It explored this ideal which has been discussed and looked into with songs and film for decades, but what I enjoyed was that it wasn’t patronizing in it’s lessons, and never swayed from the story it was telling.  Even Rorschach was flawed, but these flaws of humanity are all subjective.  I fully appreciated some of its ambiguity, and loved how double layered everything was.  Watchmen was massively complex, yet a viewer sitting down for a simple story with some action, could fully appreciate this as well.  It’s not an adrenaline rush like “The Dark Knight” was, so don’t expect that, but it had it’s own sense of infallible urgency that constantly pushed the lengthy film ahead.  By the end I was convinced this was a phenomenal movie, and I realized a few days later that it wasn’t anything about the movie that bothered me, it was that I agreed with the ending, and even now it bothers me that I do because if I was better I wouldn’t, but we can’t all be Rorschach, and I guess that’s what makes us human.

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