Watchmen
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino
Rated: R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language.
Parental Notes: This is not a suitable movie for youngsters. This is a strong R rating and the plot is a very grim one.
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Coming Up In Film Got a film event you want listed? Email reviewer@ealasaid.com with details. MARCH * March 14, Sensory-Friendly Films: Race to Witch Mountain at AMC Mercado 20 and AMC Cupertino Square 16 (10am). Film screening catering to families affected by autism-spectrum disorders. See www.autism-society.org for details. * March 22 (11am) & 25 (7pm) at Camera 7: “Don Giovanni” (Mozart, 2 acts), recorded at the Salzburg Festival, Austria. See www.cameracinemas.com/operas.shtml for details. APRIL * April 3 – Deadline for application to MHS Film Festival. Email darrintoy at gmail for more information. |
If you’re a diehard fan of the original “Watchmen” graphic novel, you’ve almost certainly seen the movie already. So this review isn’t for you. This review is for folks who read the graphic novel once a few years ago, or who haven’t read it at all, and are wondering what all the fuss is about and whether to see the film.
“Watchmen” is not your average superhero film. For one thing, it’s based on the graphic novel which essentially started the American comic trend of the flawed superhero — and that’s flaws as in “failings” rather than flaws as in “vulnerable to Kryptonite.” None of the characters are perfect, especially the heroes. For starters, the narrator is a bigoted and violent sociopath and the one hero with actual superpowers is so disconnected from humanity that he’s not sure it’s worth saving (after all, the particles in a body are the same regardless of whether it’s alive, so what’s the difference?). Some will complain that the flaws in the heroes of the film make them unsympathetic, but I would argue the opposite. These heroes may be deeply flawed, but they try to do the right thing anyway. They don’t always succeed, but at least they try.
We learn as the film opens that folks started dressing up in response to gangs of criminals using goofy costumes to disguise themselves. But over time, the public got fed up with caped and masked heroes, and vigilante crime-fighting was outlawed. By the time the film starts, it’s 1985, the Cold War is in full swing, and the group who used to fight crime together as The Watchmen are slowly softening in retirement.
Then one of The Watchmen, The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), is brutally murdered. The one hero still running around in a mask and costume in defiance of the law, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), begins to investigate and becomes convinced that someone is killing off former heroes to pave the way for some diabolical scheme. Given that the United States and the USSR are locked in a nuclear standoff which has the Doomsday clock inching ever closer to midnight and world annihilation, his paranoia is understandable. He goes to see his old compatriots to warn them, and winds up drawing some of them out of retirement.
“Watchmen” is a rich and complex movie, full of big ideas and little throw-away gags (from “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky” being said during the moonwalk to a muzak version of “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” playing quietly in the background during an aggrandizing monologue), and the visuals are straight out of the comic book. This is a film that rewards multiple viewings — provided you can get past the graphic violence, nudity, and sexual content.
The fight sequences let you see exactly what’s going on, right down to the way skin splits when joints are bent the wrong way. Dr. Manhattan is so disconnected from human conventions that he generally doesn’t bother to wear clothes (the matter-of-fact way those scenes are shot, without either coy attempts at blocking the view of his genetalia or lascivious lingering, is downright refreshing). The sex scenes are about as graphic as befits an R-rated movie, but after years of PG-13 superhero movies, they may be a bit unexpected. Caped and masked heroes do not guarantee a kid-safe movie, and “Watchmen” is definitely not one for the tykes.
Ultimately, whether you enjoy “Watchmen” or not will depend on what you’re looking for. If you are interested in philosophical, grim films with deeply flawed heroes, it’s well worth checking out. If you just want a big superhero movie, it is probably not for you.