Movie Review: Watchmen

The Coffee Shop
1

Let me start off by saying that if you’re a fan of the graphic novel, then nothing I say will affect whether or not you’re going to see this movie, or what you’re going to think of it.

Second, let me say that this is not, in any way, a kid’s movie; not that that stopped any of the audience at this afternoon’s showing from bringing their little kids to a wildly innappropriate film for children.

Now, all that aside, this was a pretty damn good movie. Watchmen pretty much lives up to the graphic novel. It is a “comic book” movie, with a lot of the accompanying cheese and camp, but it is much different from a lot of the standard comic book superhero movies, just like the graphic novel was different from everything else when it was written.

Watchmen is the story of a group of semi-defunct costumed heroes, and it approaches the idea of the superhero from the perspective of what heroes would be like if they weren’t the paragons of morality found in traditional comics, but were real people. The heroes in this movie are flawed, arrogant, out of touch, and at times, disgusting, with sexual dysfunctions, sordid pasts, and uncertain motives. The movie opens with one of the original heroes, The Comedian, being murdered in his apartment, and his murder touches off a sequence of events drawing the world to the brink of nuclear disaster. Set in a mid-1980’s alternate reality in which Nixon has recently been reelected to a third term, the United States and USSR are pitted against eachother, with the countdown to nuclear war in it’s last minutes. Can the Watchmen stop the nefarious plan that is being hatched under their noses? Are they even willing to stop if they can? Is humanity worth saving?

Watchmen does not strictly follow the graphic novel. The original was so packed, it would be difficult, at best, to include everything. As most fans already know, there is no giant squid, but the director wraps up the plot smoothly enough without it. There is also no pirate comic sub-plot, but that will be coming out soon. Overall, however, most of what you remember from the book is found in the film, and the stuff that is gone won’t bother any but the most die hard fans.

Watchmen is packed with action, as you would expect from a superhero movie. It is also packed with violence. There is quite a bit of blood and guts and broken limbs and exploding bodies. There’s also some sex, a little nudity, and a lot of dudity (dude nudity). As I said, not a kids movie. The effects are good, but nothing so special that you’ll walk away wowed by them like people were when Matrix came out. The acting is about what you’d expect. No Oscar worthy performances, but nobody is terrible.

Overall, Watchmen is an entertaining movie, especially for those who love the original. For a movie that had a lot of trouble getting made, this turned out pretty good. For comic fans, it’s a can’t miss experience. For everyone else, it’s still an action packed ride that’s bound to pack people into the theaters this weekend.

2

The heroes in this movie are flawed, arrogant, out of touch, and at times, disgusting, with sexual dysfunctions, sordid pasts, and uncertain motives…

…like the rest of humanity…we can all be heroes now.

Good review. I’ll see it tomorrow.

3

That’s really funny because I thought it was dull in general. Way too long.

My husband is a Watchman fan and he found it slow moving but pretty true to the book.

Interesting how different people have different perspectives.

4

That’s really funny because I thought it was dull in general. Way too long.

My husband is a Watchman fan and he found it slow moving but pretty true to the book.

Interesting how different people have different perspectives.
Totally. Just got back from seeing it with my wife. I’m a total comic geek and have been waiting for this film to be made for years. She is not a geek, but has enjoyed seeing the spidey, x-men and ironman movies.

I loved it.

She HATED it.

5

The only moment I liked was when they’re heading away from Mars and you hear ‘all along the watchtower’…5min out of 2h40…

6

The only moment I liked was when they’re heading away from Mars and you hear ‘all along the watchtower’…5min out of 2h40…
Come on…you did not like “I’M not locked up with YOU! YOU’RE locked up with ME!” :wink:

7

OK, that was kinda funny… :wink:

8

Best line in the film, no doubt.

9

Went and saw it with my girlfriend and I loved it and she thought it was a crude combination of ultraviolence and softcore porn. My only beef was the lack of giant transdimensional psychic squid monster destroying NYC. Framing Dr Manhattan almost apologizes for the original comic book ending.

10

I liked it but wouldn’t call it action packed by any means.

11

The trailers I saw before Watchmen were:

-Terminator Salvation
-X-Men Origins: Wolverine
-Public enemies

now these look fantastic!

12

Good review.
I read the book after I saw the original trailer and have to say, it would have been impossible to be 100% faithful to the book. It would have been a 5 hour, unwatchable movie. I think Zack Snyder did a good job of balancing being true to the book and making a film that will be understood by the masses. I think he did the right thing by changing the ending, the ending in the graphic novel would have been very cheesy and would have required an additional subplot. The 2nd time I watched it I did see an homage to the original ending (I won’t spoil it).
As for the acting, Jackie Earle Haley was incredible, he absolutely nailed his role. “You don’t understand, I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with ME!” was the best line in the movie. Patrick Wilson and Jeffrey Dean Morgan were also very good. Malin Akerman isn’t the strongest actress but it didn’t detract from the movie too much.
My wife didn’t read the book but liked the movie, my boss hated it. All a matter of taste I suppose.

13

I agree that the actors playing Roaschach, The Comedian, and Nite Owl put on pretty good performances. For the movie, I felt the movie was a bit slow in places but I kept hearing that the source material would be very, very difficult to make into a movie and I feel that they have done a pretty damn good job at making it into a watchable movie. No, it isn’t going to appeal to everyone, but they didn’t make it completely cheesey. I haven’t read the graphic novel (yet) so I don’t many of the main changes. Oh, I did pick up the random, gruff redheaded guy that popped up a couple of times early on in the movie and put it together when it was revealed.

Oh, I’m still surprised that the budget for this movie was $130 million. I can’t believe that they greenlit that much money for it, but hopefully the studios will feel that it was a decent investment. As for the story, some of it was pretty cliche but some of it I thought was pretty damn relevant. Some of the issues aren’t exact issues that we are facing today, but they lessons learned are applicable today.

14

WOW!!!

I knew zero about the Watchmen and I wasn’t expecting a lot, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Many interesting and very “real” themes going on. Awesome character development, plot, and pacing.

Saw Slumdog last week… two great movies in a row…

15

That’s really funny because I thought it was dull in general. Way too long.

My husband is a Watchman fan and he found it slow moving but pretty true to the book.

Interesting how different people have different perspectives.

Just be glad you didn’t see it at midnight Saturday like I did – it was an extra hour long with the daylight savings time change. It was kind of weird going in at 11:55 and coming out at 3:45am.

I actually had no problem with how long it was. It was kind of slow at times, but I really enjoyed it.

16

Now, all that aside, this was a pretty damn good movie. Watchmen pretty much lives up to the graphic novel. It is a “comic book” movie, with a lot of the accompanying cheese and camp, but it is much different from a lot of the standard comic book superhero movies, just like the graphic novel was different from everything else when it was written.

I’ve never seen or read the graphic novel, but I understand its creator dislikes what’s been done to it on celluloid, so that’s something to be taken into consideration, I guess.

I myself found the movie to be a bit of a disappointment in a number of ways. It seems to me that it left a major question unresolved by the time the movie came to its predictable conclusion.

I think that it, in its simultaneously deep-yet-shallow presentation, tried to ask a question that civilization struggles with on a daily basis, which is at what point – if ever – is a purely objective evil ever permissible if some greater, more altruistic, good is the end result? It examines this from the perspective of several different characters in the film, most notably through watching the actions of Eddie Blake, “The Comedian.” It seems to me that by film’s end, he’s almost the most sympathetic character in the story, though he certainly at first may seem its most debased and shallow.

This is a movie about process, though, more than about much of anything else. And a great deal of its storytelling is predictable and standard fare for action movies of this genre, though most of the rest of them probably cost much less to make. It has several time-tested, and effective, action movie devices such as variations on the “RDR” (Red Digital Readout), which is always counting down to some sort of personal or general doomsday or another. It also has at least one version of what film people call “outrunning the fireball.” I guess when you’re an action hero, it’s generally possible to do and, besides, it makes for a good movie when it’s pulled off convincingly, which it is in the case of “Watchmen.”

Perhaps the most disappointing part in the mechanics of this movie is the biggest cliche of all. And that’s when the movie’s “villian” (or perhaps its smartest and most-complicated hero?) has to explain, for the benefit not only of the film’s “heros” but also its audience, why what’s occurring needs to happen. The truly best films need no character explication to help the audience along in its understanding of the movie, I think.

There’s also a mildly interesting subplot in the main female character’s relationship with her mother, the complications in it being explained in a not-too-surprising manner by the end of the movie. Interestingly, the movie takes some care to explain the motivations behind the behaviors exhibited by another main character, Rorschach, who actually is in need of no physical mask, other than to conceal the psychic pain he must feel at every turn of his existence. In the end, he knows there’s only one way he can resolve this pain, and that it indeed happens the way it must is both unsurprising and visually dramatic.

I don’t think that “Watchmen” really knows what sort of movie it intends to be. It’s too shallow to be a completely textual examination of a philosophical question that we’ve been examining since the days of the Buddha, at least, and which is even more important since the attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent “interrogations” of Al-Qaeda suspects and other detainees. My feeling is that most people who understand that question won’t be satisfied with the lack of depth in the movie’s treatment of it, but I also think that pure action junkies will also feel as if they only got half-a-bite of the sandwhich. Don’t get me wrong; the action that does occur is lovingly, and graphically, depicted and there’s one sequence which takes place in a back alley that can make even the most hardcore devotee of Chinese “Wire Fu” movies clap his hands in appreciation.

Was it worth the price of admission? Undoubtably. Would I pay to see it again? I don’t think so. And this is a movie which at once revels in its blood-gore-vigilantism yet in the trailers tries to come off as a “safe to take the kids to” sort of movie, which it most definitely is not. Overall, two stars.

T.

17

As for the story, some of it was pretty cliche but some of it I thought was pretty damn relevant.

This is the difference between the comic and the movie. In the comic, these cliches come off as witty and intentional. In the movie, they come off as typical. I don’t think it is possible to make this story into a movie and retain the dark sense of irony / humor the original series had. This is purely due to the medium in which it is being presented.

18

I’ve never seen or read the graphic novel, but I understand its creator dislikes what’s been done to it on celluloid, so that’s something to be taken into consideration, I guess.

That’s not entirely accurate. The author refuses to have any part of the movie or accept any money from the profits and claims that he will never watch it. He was very unhappy with movies based on his other books (V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentleman) and has distanced himself from Hollywood.

19

" The author refuses to have any part of the movie or accept any money from the profits and claims that he will never watch it. He was very unhappy with movies based on his other books (V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentleman) and has distanced himself from Hollywood. "

Also, that’s just the writer (Alan Moore). The artist (Dave Gibbons) has participated in the movie and the various publicity stuff associated with it.

20

Most of the time, the conceptual and artistic folks who generate the literature are never too thrilled by what’s been done in order to make it something watchable as a movie. Except for Stephen King, apparently. He’s loved everything that’s ever been done to his books and novellas, including “Maximum Overdrive,” which was based off of his short story “Trucks,” I think.

T.