Watchmen

"Once a man has seen society's black underbelly, he can never turn his back on it. Never pretend, like you do, that it doesn't exist."

In an alternate 1985, masked superheroes known as the Watchmen have been outlawed.  After years of protecting the people and averting / ending wars, it is illegal to wear a mask and dispense justice.  Most of the Watchmen have retired their masks and try to live a normal life, but everything changes when one of their own is murdered: "A Comedian died last night, and nobody cares."  Masked vigilante the Comedian, known as Edward Blake (Morgan) is brutally murdered in his home.

Rorschach, (Haley) the only active Watchmen, believes someone is targeting people in masks and contacts the rest of the group: nerdy Dan (Wilson) known as Night Owl, super smart businessman Adrian (Goode) known as Ozymandias, blue scientist with superhuman abilities Jon (Crudup) known as Dr. Manhattan, and his girlfriend Laurie (Akerman) known as Silk Spectre.  They think Rorschach is paranoid until Adrian, the only Watchmen to reveal his secret identity, is attacked and former foes turn up in unexpected places.  And Dr. Manhattan relocates to Mars when longtime co-workers blame him for giving them cancer.

With the US and USSR on the verge of a nuclear war who wants the Watchmen out of the way?


I'm familiar with the comics, although I have not read them all... yet.  I am far from an expert, or super fan, but I was looking forward to this film.  That being said, the film was too long (3 HOURS!!).  It would work better as a mini-series, that way you could watch in sections or be a crazy person and watch the whole 3+ hours in one sitting.  It would also appease the Watchmen purists who were miffed that certain sections of the comics were axed or condensed.

The casting was decent.  Jackie Earle Haley shines as Rorschach, giving him a mesmerizing voice that conveys all the emotion (since his face is covered by the ever changing ink blot mask).  And Jeffrey Dean Morgan steals most scenes with his morally ambiguous Comedian: he's a jerk and he knows it, and you kinda love him for that.  Everyone else works, but they don't stand a chance when on screen with Rorschach or the Comedian.


Overall, the film worked well.  The filmmakers tried to style the characters and scenes as they appear in the comics, and they were able to pull off some cool scenes.  But in some ways they missed the mark, do people not familiar with the Watchmen world really understand what happened (and what the writers are trying to achieve) or are they let down by an ending they don't understand?  Good, but they could do more.

Watchmen (2009) 162 minutesRating: R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Malin Akerman as Laurie Jupiter / Silk Spectre II
Billy Crudup as Jon Osterman / Dr. Manhattan
Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias
Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach / Walter Kovacs
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Edward Blake / The Comedian
Patrick Wilson as Dan Dreiberg / Night Owl II