Movie Review: Watchmen

Watchmen

Watchmen is a tough film to call. As a fan of the graphic novel, the first time I saw it there were a couple things I didn't like about the movie. For instance, the ending has drastically changed, but this alternate ending makes sense since the novel's original ending wouldn't translate easily to film, and would have required an hour more of plot to an already three hour movie.

The second time I went to watch the film I did my best to forget about the comic, and I ended up liking it a whole lot better. While there are some major changes, the director Zack Snyder was able to stay remarkably true to the source material throughout most of the story. Questions over ethics and human nature, which made the comic great, are still there.

Set amid an the tumult of the Cold War, the movie starts off with a vicious, well-choreographed fight between the aged superhero "the Comedian" and an unknown assailant, which ends with the Comedian being thrown out the window of his New York apartment. Then, the credit sequence kicks in, set to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin" (a great choice to underscore past years in the alternate universe of the Watchmen). The credit sequence depicts images of prominent past events and their relationship toward certain superheroes. For example, the Comedian is depicted as being the second shooter on the grassy knoll at Kennedy's assassination, and Dr. Manhattan is shown as being present at the first moon landing. This introduction is perfect. Shortly after, viewers are taken to the Comedian's funeral, where through a series of flashbacks we learn his back-story in relation to those attending the service.

Jeffrey Morgan is awesome as the Comedian, delivering all the right cynical tones of the character. The Comedian recognizes humanity's savage nature, and his response is to become a living parody of it. His scene in Vietnam (a war we won in this version of history) is especially good and provides a lot of insight into his character. Other standouts in the cast include Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach, a psychotic hero who views the world as morally black and white and thus would rather murder criminals than bring them to justice. Rorschach's narration mimics Robert De Niro's tone in "Taxi Driver." Rorschach views humanity as a disease, and his character's brutal actions toward the unjust are probably the best scenes of the film. Billy Crudup plays Dr. Manhattan, the only hero who has superhuman abilities due to an accident that ends in his complete disintegration. His death and subsequent re-birth, as a god among men, is a haunting scene, as is his inability to relate to anyone after becoming the all-powerful being.

As the team of retired heroes reunites in an attempt to discover who is killing and discrediting members of their fraternity, they also must to come to terms with impending nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Toward the middle of the film, the movie begins to slow down a bit, but there are some brilliant sequences in between all the filler. The central theme of the story is all about morality; do the ends really justify the means? Ironically, Rorschach ends up being the most righteous of all the heroes, by refusing to compromise. A few of the film's downfalls include Malin Akerman's acting as the Silk Spectre II (despite her incredible hotness), awful slow-motion sex scene (Zack Snyder loves filming those), and a horrible makeup job on an obviously youthful actor playing the role of an old Richard Nixon. There were a lot of laughs from the audience when Nixon appears on screen. Still, Watchmen definitely is worth seeing. Not everything about the film works, but it's completely different from any other superhero movie out there.

Verdict: 7.5 / 10