Watchmen (2009)

In 1986-87 Alan Moore and David Gibbons published a series of comics that eventually formed a graphic novel called Watchmen. The novel became one of the most highly acclaimed graphic novels of all time, and received an honor of being the only graphic novel to win a Hugo-award. So, the pressure on who'd take the story and make it onto the big screen was huge.

Director Zack Snyder (300) was not afraid of the challenge and created a movie that is very loyal to the original work, both in its story and visual style. Watchmen is a challenging work of art as a novel - it requires its reader to really work through the story, every single frame has so much information and there are parallel stories that need the reader's full attention. The film does not differ that much from the novel: it is also challenging to watch. During its three hour duration one will see rape, murder, very graphic and bloody violence not that common in comic book movies.

Watchmen is a story of a former group of masked superheroes. Masked heroes have been made outlaws in the US, and only very few still continue their work on the streets. Many of the ex-Watchmen are already aging, retired from the superhero business, and then suddenly one of them (The Comedian played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) gets brutally killed. Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) suspects someone is killing off masked heroes and starts investigating. At the same time the world is falling towards the World War III between the Soviet Union and the US.

The story is very complex and to even try to describe it here would not make any sense. Due to the complexity it is strongly recommended to read the novel first and only then see the movie. That way the viewer will get the most out of the movie as well, because there are many things that are not thoroughly explained.

The Watchmen cast is brilliant. Billy Crudup as the blue Dr Manhattan has just the perfect amount of the god-like behaviour in him, but does not fully forget he was once a human. Haley as a socially incompetent Rorschach is as perfect as in his creepy role in Little Children. Haley's Little Children colleague Patrick Wilson brings vulnerability to his shy-ish Dan Dreiberg, and Malin Akerman is just too sexy in her latex costume as Laurie. Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt first feels a bit too "weak" for the character, but eventually he grows into the proportion required for the "world's smartest man".

Watchmen is a comic book movie but it is no Fantastic Four. It is complex and does not necessarily open up to a person not familiar with the original story. It is challenging in both its story and visuals. It is dark and grim, but visually mesmerizing, and it gives something to think about, and also a reason watch it again.



Directed by Zack Snyder
Written by David Hayter and Alex Tsu, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Gibbons
Cast Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Goode, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Carla Gugino
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/