Watchmen takes place in an alternate 1985. In this universe, President Nixon has been re-elected beyond the two terms he served in our universe. Also, the Vietnam War was won by the United States. Russia and the United States teeter on the brink of nuclear war. And superheroes have been outlawed since 1977, due to the Keene Act. Yes, superheroes. In the 1940s, superheroes came out of the woodwork to fight crime. Consequently, there were also super-villains. However, due to police unrest, the superheroes were outlawed as vigilantes. They had to hang up their masks and tights or face prosecution.
When an old hero, formerly known as The Comedian (Jeffery Dean Morgan), is thrown from his high-rise apartment after an apparent burglary, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), one of his old partners, begins investigating the possibility that someone may be trying to kill off old superheroes. Rorschach begins contacting other members of the team, including Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson) and Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup). Most of Rorschach’s former cohorts think he’s paranoid, but the death of The Comedian prompts some soul-searching for many of them, particularly Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman). Through the use of flashbacks, the team reflects on The Comedian and how his misanthropic view of humanity affected them individually as well as their collective choice of career: trying to save humanity.
It’s pretty heady stuff and that’s what made the original comic series so popular and different from anything that preceded it. Anyone thinking this was going to be the simplistic good-guys-vs.-bad-guys-in-spandex-type of comic book movie is likely to be sorely disappointed and extremely bored. Clocking in at two hours and forty-some minutes, Watchmen is definitely not for the weak-bladder crowd either. If you miss a minute or two, it might be hard to decipher what’s happening due to the constant flashbacks and expositional sequences. Fans of the graphic novel aren’t guaranteed to enjoy it, but they’re more likely to understand what’s going on than the uninitiated.
However, on its own merits as a standalone film, Watchmen tells a fascinating story about what it might be like to be a costumed hero in a realistic world. While only one of the heroes in Watchmen actually has any real super powers, all of them have to deal with the fact that they chose to help people and those people have cast them aside like an old fad. Watching how they deal with that as well as other problems inherent to their situation makes for a psychological storyline more akin to a chatty version of The Dark Knight than an action-oriented film like Iron Man. That’s OK with me, but I can see where those that lump all comic book stories together might have issues with it. The real problem is that parents who don’t pay attention to movie ratings and think Watchmen is just another superhero movie will have a lot to explain to their children on the ride home. Watchmen is extremely violent and has a healthy amount of full-frontal male nudity courtesy of Dr. Manhattan’s proclivity for walking around in his birthday suit.
Watchmen is not an easy-to-digest film. It’s as different from previous comic book movies as the original comic was different from previous comic books. It serves up some incredible images and plenty of thought-provoking situations. If you’re not prepared for the movie’s unconventional approach to the genre, your reaction will most likely be negative. However, with an open mind and an understanding that it’s not trying to be the next Spider-Man, film-goers should be able to appreciate its story of humanity vs. humanity. Reading the graphic novel beforehand wouldn’t hurt either.
4.5 out of 5.0 stars
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