The Guardian

"How do you choose who to save?"
"I swim as fast and as hard as I can, for as long as I can. And the sea takes the rest."

After losing his team to the sea, lauded Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Ben Randall (Costner) is benched from active duty.  With his marriage to Helen (Ward) in ruins, and unstable emotions, he is ordered to serve as the lead teacher, the Master Chief, of the Rescue Swimmer school.

At the school Randall throws his students into the deep end, making them tread water for an extended amount of time and testing other skills they will need as a Rescue Swimmer.  If they can't keep up, they get cut.

"Can you die from chlorine poisoning?"
"I can't feel my legs. I'm serious."
"I don't know about you guys, but I feel good."
"This Randall guy, he's operating on some whole other cylinder. What is it, two weeks, and he's failed half the class already?"

The best student, beating every record, is Jake Fischer (Kutcher), who can't seem to get on Randall's good side.  With a no-tolerance policy, will anyone survive Randall's teaching methods and graduate Rescue Swimmer School?


Have the tissues handy for this one... there are a few tear inducing moments.  Don't try to hold it in, everyone else with a heart will be crying as well, especially if this is your first time watching the film.  Maybe it is a tad formulaic, like most of this genre, but it works here.

The acting is alright... Costner and Kutcher aren't great actors, but they do alright here.  The female characters, Sela Ward as Costner's wife Helen and Melissa Sagemiller as Kutcher's love interest Emily, don't get to do much.  They are around to love the men and give them a reason to survive their dangerous jobs.  The rest of the cast doesn't get to do much either, but there are some funny and memorable sequences at A-School.  A decent movie... always enjoyable.

The Guardian (2006) 139 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Director: Andrew Davis
Starring: Kevin Costner as Ben Randall
Ashton Kutcher as Jake Fischer
Sela Ward as Helen Randall
Melissa Sagemiller as Emily Thomas
Clancy Brown as Captain William Hadley

The Slammin' Salmon (Broken Lizard)

"The Champ is going to kill me. There's no way I can get out of last place."
"Donnie, he's not going to kill you."
"Didn't you hear? Last place is a broken rib sandwich!"
"Well, you see? Breaking your ribs won't kill you."

The Slammin' Salmon restaurant is owned by heaveyweight champion Cleon "Slammin" Salmon (Clarke).  His employees live in fear... especially the wait staff who call him "The Champ".  When the Champ needs to raise $20,000 by the end of the evening to pay a Japanese businessman.  To reach the goal, he puts the wait staff in competition.  The waiter with the most tips will win $10,000 in cash and the loser with receive a "broken rib sandwich" compliments of the Champ.

The scores are tallied by mousy manager Rich Parente (Heffernan), who will get punched if they don't reach $20,000.  The competitors are...

-Nuts (Chandrasekhar), the awkward waiter who is medicated to keep his alter ego Zongo under control
-Connor (Lemme), the actor who was recently fired from the popular TV show CFI: Hotlanta
-Guy (Stolhanske) the tanned narcissistic ladies man
-Mia (Bowlby), the pretty ballerina who uses her looks to get bigger tips
-Tara (Smulders), who has the job to pay for Medical School
-And the new guy, Donnie (Soter) got the job because his brother Dave (also Soter) is the head chef.  It's Donnie's first day, and he gets promoted from bus boy to waiter to compete with the rest of the wait staff

Will they make enough money, and who will get knocked out by the Champ?


This is Broken Lizard going mainstream... or at least trying.  It has the same feel as their previous films (Puddle Cruiser, Super Troopers, Club Dread and Beerfest), but lacks the raw, unbridled quality.  There is minimal nudity and no gratuitous female nudity...which is a good thing, all the nudity is annoying in other films.

There are more well-known actors and actresses popping up in brief cameos, and regulars returning to create quirky minor characters.  These additional characters work, but many are drawn out too long... such as the sequence with Sendhill Ramamurthy, which is drawn out much longer than necessary.  The female characters don't get to do much, and serve as romantic interests to the Lizards.  The main bright spot in the film is Michael Duncan Clarke as The Champ.  He has a catch phrase, which I won't post here, and other hilarious lines / moments.  He alone can't save the film, but he puts up a good fight.

Not a knockout, but not the worst in the Broken Lizard arsenal (that would be Puddle Cruiser... blah). 

The Slammin' Salmon (2009) 90 minutes

Rating: R for pervasive language and sexual references

Director: Kevin Heffernan

Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar as Nuts

Kevin Heffernan as Rich Parente

Steve Lemme as Connor

Paul Soter as Dave / Donnie

Erik Stolhanske as Guy
Michael Duncan Clarke as Cleon Salmon
Cobie Smulders as Tara
April Bowlby as Mia

Beerfest (Broken Lizard)

"This is that moment that only exists in sports - where the coach gives a speech on the jumbotrom to get the hometown fans fired up! We're the bad guys and they're the good guys, and I'll be damned if we let the good guys win!"
"Uh, we're the good guys and they're the bad guys..."

When their beloved grandfather, Johann (Sutherland), dies, brothers Jan (Soter) and Todd (Stolhanske) are sent to Germany to put his ashes in the family burial ground.  They arrive in Germany in time for Oktober Fest, and they discover the secret underground Beerfest for hardcore beer drinkers... the penalty for telling others about Beerfest is death.  After the German victory, the brothers learn they are related to the German team... but there is bad blood between the families: they accuse the brothers great grandmother, Great Gam Gam (Leachman) of being a whore and a thief.

The brothers return to the states bent on revenge.  They want to put a team together to take on the Germans at Beerfest.  They recruit 3 old friends: drinking machine turned competitive eater Landfill (Heffernan), science / alcohol whiz Fink (Lemme), and drinking games expert Barry (Chandrasekhar), and begin training for Beerfest.  With only a year to train, can they really beat the Germans and defend the family honor?


After the mediocre reception of their previous film Club Dread, the Broken Lizard Comedy Troupe really stepped it up with this film...  The writing is better and there is a consistent storyline.  Yes, there is still a unnecessary amount of nudity and some of the jokes fall flat, but overall this story works.

The German team adds to the fun with their over the top performance.  The combination of Will Forte, Nat Faxon, Eric Christian Olsen, Ralf Moeller, and Gunter Schlierkamp is comedy gold... specifically the performances of Forte, Faxon, and Olsen (Forte and Faxon have appeared in other Broken Lizard films).  Cloris Leachman is a riot as Great Gam Gam, but not on screen enough.

Super Troopers is still better, but this is a fine return to form!

Beerfest (2006) 110 minutes

Rating: R for for pervasive crude and sexual content, language, nudity and substance abuse.

Director: Jay Chandrasekhar

Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar as Barry

Kevin Heffernan as Landfill

Steve Lemme as Fink

Paul Soter as Jan Wolfhouse

Erik Stolhanske as Todd Wolfhouse

Cloris Leachman as Great Gam Gam

Club Dread (Broken Lizard)

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Coconut Pete's Pleasure Island. You have the right to fun. If you choose not to have fun, fun will be provided for you."

For spring break the place to be is Coconut Pete's Pleasure Island in Costa Rica.  Coconut Pete (Paxton) is a washed up rocker who runs the island resort in the mantra of one of his songs.  The staff enjoys a life of partying and sleeping with the guests, until they start being brutally murdered.  The surviving staff are giving orders by the killer, via a blackboard, to do their jobs and keep the secret from the guests or they will be next.  But who is the killer?  Is it

• Coconut Pete, unwilling to actually give ownership of the resort to someone else?
• Is DJ / stoner Dave (Soter) still bitter about the death of his parents?
• Is arrogant tennis pro Putman (Chandrasekhar) really crazy?
• Is diving instructor Juan's (Lemme) checkered past catching up to him?
• Is masseuse Lars (Heffernan) using his "magical" hands for harm and not good?
• Is it the trigger-happy tequilla shooter, Fun Police Officer Sam (Stolhanske)?
• Or it is exercise guru Jenny (Daniel) who inherited an exercise empire under shady circumstances?

No one is safe...


An intriguing concept... a comedy slasher flick.  Sure it's been done (badly) many times (think the horrible "Scary Movie" films), but I was hoping this film would break the tradition and actually be good.  Sadly, this film had potential, but wasn't good enough.

The main characters are well developed and have some funny lines interspersed...  Not as funny as the Broken Lizard's previous film (Super Troopers), but still better than other comedies.  The beginning is blah, but it does get better later in the film.

Too much nudity... and the film drags on too long.  It's an o.k. film, and you will probably laugh, but it won't crack your top 10 comedies.

Club Dread (2004) 104 minutes

Rating: R for violence/gore, sexual content, language and drug use.

Director: Jay Chandrasekhar

Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar as Putman

Kevin Heffernan as Lars

Steve Lemme as Juan

Paul Soter as Dave

Erik Stolhanske as Sam

Brittany Daniel as Jenny

Jordan Ladd as Penelope

M.C. Gainey as Hank

Bill Paxton as Coconut Pete

Super Troopers (Broken Lizard): 300th Review

FRAY'S 300TH MOVIE REVIEW*

After over 3 years of writing movie reviews I have finally reached my 300th review.  Once again I will be reviewing a film by a well-known comedy troupe.  To celebrate 100, I wrote about my favorite Monty Python film... and for 200, I wrote about my favorite Marx Brothers film.  This time I chose to write about a film that was made during my lifetime...

"But our shenanigans are cheeky and fun!"
"Yeah, and his shenanigans are cruel and tragic."
"Which... makes them not really shenanigans at all."
"Evil shenanigans!"

A group of Vermont state troopers spend their days messing with the drivers on their stretch of highway and fighting with the local cops.  With budget cuts coming, the state troopers need a big impressive bust and to keep their antics under the radar, until the governor (Lynda Carter) makes a decision about the finances.

When a dead body is found in their section of the highway, it is up to Captain O'Hagan (Cox) and his boys to save the day: the "serious" leader of the squadron Thorny (Chandrasekhar) who everyone thinks is Mexican, the rookie Rabbit (Stolhanske) who is the recipient of many pranks, Mac (Lemme) the uninhibited daredevil who likes to start fights with the police, Foster (Soter) can't grow a mustache and is secretly in a relationship with police officer Ursula (Coughlan), and obnoxious Farva (Heffernan) is on permanent radio duty after an altercation with a school bus.  Can they catch the killer and outsmart the local drug lords to keep their jobs?


The first 10 minutes are the best... the film opens with Thorny and Rabbit terrorizing a group of college age stoners and then chasing after a suspicious redneck vehicle.  It sets up the film and the relationships between the team.  And the ending brings back this sense of fun and mayhem and the same characters.  The rest of the film isn't quite as good, but there are standout moments.

This is the breakout hit of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe.  The writing, acting, and production is better than their first film Puddle Cruisers.  The cast look like they are having fun... especially when they are pulling pranks.  Steve Lemme seems to be having the most fun as Mac, the craziest character.  You really don't know what he is going to say or do next.  Kevin Heffernan, who also directed this film, also gets to go over the top as Farva.  The remaining Broken Lizard's do a good job, but can't compete with the crazy.  It is funny, but some jokes don't work...  I would suggest watching it on TV where they cut out the unnecessary nudity and off color jokes that detract from the joy of this film.  Not perfect, but worth a look.

*yes, I already celebrated my 300th post, but this is my 300th movie review.

I have had 10 non-review posts.

Super Troopers (2001) 100 minutes
Rating: R for language, sexual content and drug use.
Director: Kevin Heffernan
Jay Chandrasekhar as Thorny
Kevin Heffernan as Farva
Steve Lemme as Mac
Paul Soter as Foster
Erik Stolhanske as Rabbit
Marisa Coughlan as Ursula
Brian Cox as Captain O'Hagan
Daniel von Bargen as Chief Grady

Puddle Cruiser (Broken Lizard)

"Greetings earthing. At the lazor please record your communication... And take me to your leader." 
"That is the funniest message I've ever heard."

Felix (Lemme) is an average college student, content to mock his slacker friends and troll for hot girls.  He finally meets his match in the beautiful Suzanne (Butler).  She has a boyfriend at another school, Traci (Selby), but they begin an affair anyway.  In addition, she is serving as the defense counsel for Felix's slacker friends, Matt (Soter) and Grogan (Heffernan) who were caught stealing food from the cafeteria.

Meanwhile, their friend Zach (Chadrasekhar) is trying to call the girl of his dreams (Mia Perrson), but only has 6 of the 7 digits for her phone number.  And the druggy mailroom guy, Freaky Reaky (Stolhanske) dolls out advice, secrets, and occasionally mail... while chasing after the resistant Emily (Clapp), who tries to do everything continues to fail.


The film that started it all... back in the day, the men of Broken Lizard met at Colgate University.  They performed stand-up routines together, and decided to tackle the world of film.  Sadly, their first effort is an epic fail.

It just doesn't work... the characters have little glimmers of something funny, but don't deliver.  The exception is Erik Stolhanske's Freaky Reaky.  The character is outrageous, over-the-top, and not on screen enough.  The chemistry between Matt and Grogan is good, and they have funny moments.... like their discussion with the prosecutor, "No book bag no deal! No book bag no deal!" and when they tried to defend themselves in court.  The rest of the characters border on obnoxious, specifically the female characters.  The ending is subpar and makes you feel like you've just wasted 102 minutes of your life that you will never get back.  Skip it, unless you're a hardcore Broken Lizard fan.

Puddle Cruiser (1996) 102 minutes
Rating: R for language, sexual content and brief drug use.
Director: Jay Chadrasekhar
Starring: Jay Chadrasekhar as Zach
Kevin Heffernan as Grogan
Steve Lemme as Felix
Paul Soter as Matt
Erik Stolhanske as Freaky Reaky
Alison Clapp as Emily
Kayren Butler as Suzanne
Jamison Selby as Traci Shannon

How to Train Your Dragon

"Most people would leave, but not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues."

In the Viking town of Berk everything revolves around killing dragons: your status, occupation, etc. centers on the ability to fight and gut a dragon.  Hiccup (Baruchel) is an unusual Viking: he doesn't possess super strength (he can't lift the weapons) and his "helpful" inventions tend to cause more harm than good.  His father, Stoick (Butler) is the leader of their tribe and the strongest, toughest dragon killer around.  One night Hiccup tries out a new invention and hits the most feared of all the dragons: a Night Fury, but no one believes him.

With most of the adults going away to find the dragon's nest to destroy it, Hiccup discovers the injured Night Fury.  Instead of killing it, he uses this opportunity to learn about the dragons... and eventually help the Night Fury, which he names Toothless, fly.  Meanwhile, back at the village, he is placed in Dragon Training led by Gobber (Ferguson) the blacksmith.  Gobber believes the best way to learn about fighting dragons is to be thrown in the ring with dragons.

While the rest of the class is...

• Smarter: Fishlegs (Mintz-Plasse) who knows random facts about every dragon
• Stronger: Snotlout (Hill) who trash talks everyone else
• Tougher: twins Ruffnut (Wiig) and Tuffnut (Miller) who fight each other more than they fight the dragons
• Faster: Astrid (Ferrera) the love of Hiccup's life who is the best in the class

Hiccup has a secret weapon: he actually spends time with a dragon.  Will Hiccup ever be accepted by the tribe, or will he and Toothless be banished?


What a cute movie!  The characters are funny, without talking down to the audiences.  The dragons are fun and funny, especially Toothless.  Toothless is adorable, and my roommate now wants to own a dragon...

The voice talents are great... I figured out some of the characters right away (Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler and Jonah Hill), and others stumped me.  I was pleasantly surprised when I learned the identities of the remaining main characters.  The story was good, the animation was good.... good job non-Disney people!

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) minutes

Director: Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders

Starring: Jay Baruchel as Hiccup

Gerard Butler as Stoick

Craig Ferguson as Gobber

America Ferrera as Astrid

Jonah Hill as Snotlout

Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs

T.J. Miller as Tuffnut

Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

"What does it mean, industrable?"
"In-des-truct-i-ble. It means it cannot be destroyed."

Many centuries ago the elfin king, King Balor (Roy Dotrice), created an indestructible Golden Army for his battle with humans.  They kill without mercy, which leads the king to destroy the crown which controls them and create a truce with the humans.  In modern times, King Balor's delinquent son Prince Nuada (Goss) wants to put the crown back together and awaken the army.  He gathers the first piece of the crown from an auction.

Meanwhile, Hellboy (Perlman) and the other BPRD (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) Agents, his girlfriend fire starter Liz Sherman (Blair) and fish man Abe Sapien (Jones), are called to the auction house to figure out what happened.  Hellboy yearns for life outside the bureau and gets his wish when he is dropped into headlines.  At the same time, they offer to protect the elvin Princess Nuala (Walton) and the last piece of the crown  from her brother Prince Nuada.


Again, director Guillermo del Toro knows what he is doing... sticking close to the source material of the Hellboy comics.  Most of the characters are the same.  The main exception is the character of Abe.  In the first film Doug Jones was the character, but David Hyde Pierce provided the voice.  In this film Doug Jones is the character and the voice, which is a little disarming at first... but as the film progresses you realize that his voice suits the character.

This film deals focuses more on relationship: the relationship between Hellboy and Liz and the potential relationship between Abe and Princess Nuala.  The Hellboy and Liz relationship is interesting and works well, they have good chemistry.  The Abe and Princess Nuala relationship had potential, but just didn't work.  Some of the new characters are weird, but the effects are good.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) 120 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and some language.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Ron Perlman as Hellboy
Selma Blair as Liz Sherman
Doug Jones as Abe Sapien
Luke Goss as Prince Nuada
Anna Walton as Princess Nuala
Jeffrey Tambor as Tom Manning

Frozen

Best friends Dan (Zegers) and Lynch (Ashmore) have a skiing tradition: convincing the lift operator to give them free rides on the lift.  This time Dan's girlfriend Parker (Bell) intrudes on their guy time.  At the end of the evening, they convince the lift operator to let them have one more run.  But when he gets called away, a mixup leaves them stranded on the lift.  With bad weather approaching, and the resort closed for the next few days (it is Sunday and the resort isn't open again until Friday), what will they do / how will they survive?

TERRIBLE MOVIE!

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME

A friend rented this, not knowing anything about the film.  We just knew it was supposed to be a horror film.  We were less than impressed... when it was over we looked at each other and said "well, I just lost an hour of my life."

• Sub-par acting (sooo bad)
• Stupid characters... you will literally scream at the screen throughout because they are soooooooo stupid (that's your best idea?  REALLY?)
• Really gross... I can handle blood in movies, but this was just nasty.  Not overly gory, just really disturbing
• The writing... I know it's just an indy horror film, but that's really the best you could do?  Booooo

Why would you write this?  And even better, why would you give someone money to make this crap?  Apparently the writer / director, who I refuse to honor by writing it here, is supposed to be the next big thing, but I'm not really seeing it.  I'm adding him to my "don't watch" list.  I would give it negative stars for the time I lost watching it.  

Frozen (2010) 93 minutes
Rating: R for some disturbing images and language
Director: Adam Green
Starring: Emma Bell as Parker O'Neil
Shawn Ashmore as Joe Lynch
Kevin Zegers as Dan Walker

Don't watch this film... especially don't watch this film at night.  Regardless, watch something happy after this, because you will need something incredibly uplifting or you'll be depressed for awhile.

I feel better now.  Venting about crappy movies is great therapy.

Hellboy

"I hate those comic books. They never get the eyes right."

During WWII leading Nazis turn to the occult in an effort to win the war.  The notorious Grigori Rasputin (Roden) opens a portal to a hell dimension to unleash unspeakable evil on the world.  But before anything can come through, he is thwarted by the Allies... lead by occult expert Trevor "Broom" Bruttenholm (Kevin Trainor).  They are able to close the portal, taking Grigori along, however since the portal was open for a few minutes, something did get through: a small red creature with a penchant for Baby Ruth candy bars.  The soldiers name him Hellboy.

Sixty years later Hellboy (Perlman) works for the United States government in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD), as the leading agent, known as Red.  He is joined by fish-like man named Abe Sapien (Jones, voice by Pierce), who is incredibly intelligent and telepathic.  The third member of the team is fire starter Liz Sherman (Blair), who is living in a mental hospital and trying to learn to control her powers.  They work with Broom (Hurt), who Hellboy calls "father."  Broom is old and in failing health, so he procures newbie FBI Agent John Myers (Evans) to be Hellboy and Abe's guardian / caretaker.

Meanwhile, a blast from the past, Grigori, his ageless Nazi girlfriend Isla (Bridget Hodson), and top assassin / masochist Kroenen (Ladislav Beran), returns to unleash new terror on the world.  Soon it is up to the BPRD to stop Grigori from destroying the world.


Apparently I'm on a comic book kick lately (Scott Pilgrim, Kick-Ass, Watchmen...).  I've seen parts of this film before, but never really understood what was happening (it helps to have a basic understanding of the comic book).  But watching it now... knowing a little more about the directors style and doing a little more comic book research... it makes more sense.

It is obvious director Guillermo del Toro enjoys the Hellboy comics... he sticks close to the original material, only changing a few aspects of the story for the film.  The tone and styling work well; del Toro does well with fantasy settings and crazy characters (apparent in his  film Pan's Labyrinth).  The casting is excellent.  Ron Perlman looks like he's having a blast.  Snarky and consistently puffing a big cigar, the character is fun and funny, while still showing lots of heart (with his little kittens).  The character of Abe is also a delight, despite only appearing in a few scenes.  The combination of Doug Jones performance and David Hyde Pierce's voice work well together.  And Jeffrey Tambor tries to steal the show as the frustrated head of BPRD Tom Manning.  He doesn't get respect and isn't supposed to be a character you like, but he manages to win you over.  Selma Blair is ok, but the character is gloomy and doesn't get to do much.  The only sour spot is Ruper Evans' John Myers.  The character / actor don't really add much to the film.  He's o.k., but doesn't help.  The villains are interesting, but there is not much focus on their characters.  Hopefully they will find a way to bring them back in subsequent sequels.

The creatures are cool, the CGI is pretty good... the story itself is a little scattered, but overall everything works together to make you want to spend more time with Hellboy and the gang.

Hellboy (2004) 132 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and frightening images.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Ron Perlman as Hellboy
John Hurt as Trevor "Broom" Bruttenholm
Selma Blair as Liz
Rupert Evans as John Myers
Karel Roden as Grigori Rasputin
Jeffrey Tambor as Tom Manning
Doug Jones as Abe Sapien
David Hyde Pierce as Abe Sapien (voice)

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