Review of Watchmen (2009) by Rohan M — 28 Aug 2014

Watchmen Spoiler Free Review.

Story: The basic plot of Watchmen was about a group of retired vigilantes (superheroes) who are now required to come out of retirement in order to face the crisis of possible all out nuclear war between the USA and the Soviets. Normally this would be a pretty standard plot about a team of heroes who must come back together however making it take place during the time of the cold war really put a new spin on that concept which was a huge plus for the story. The structure of the movie is that it shows a bit of present day then it shows some flashbacks, it then continues to proceed like that. So you end up seeing a couple minutes of present day then a couple minutes of flashbacks.

Protagonist(s): The protagonists are a team of former heroes known as the Watchmen. The team consists of Rorschach- a masked detective, Ozymandias- a billionaire genius, Silk Spectre- a girl who knows how to fight, Dr. Manhattan- production of a nuclear physics experiment accident, and Nite Owl- a low budget Batman. Nite Owl is seen as the least interesting character in the beginning but is an important character as he is the only reasonable and down to Earth character while the rest contain flaws. Rorschach is extremely judgmental, Ozymandias is arrogant, Dr Manhattan lacks empathy, and Silk Spectre is a whore. The one who stands out is Rorschach as he is truly one of the greatest badasses in fiction and has lots going on with him psychologically which gives him the most layers. The actors play their parts well with the exception of Silk Spectre, however she was not terrible just not as good as the rest.

Action- The action in this movie is amazing. The thing that makes the action great is not the creativity (although that was a plus) but the visuals. Visually this movie is amazing in just about all aspects. Some scenes are gruesome and could possibly get under the skin of some people.

Villain- All good comic book movies need a villain. Because the villain is shrouded in mystery however I will not be talking much about him. I will say this that he was a good villain and does a very good job.

Music- The original score has nothing that special about it however it uses many songs in general that help make the tone darker and more gritty.

Other aspects-This movie has a ton of satire in it. It talks about society, about government, and of course about how countries interact with each other. It also contains many great quotes, which can be applied not only to everyday life but also to entire nations and society as a whole.

Cons- For the most part this movie was very enjoyable. The only thing that bugged me was Silk Spectre. She was annoying however that was primarily because of the actor that portrayed her. I feel as though if a better actor was used the character could be carried out better.

Conclusion: With a dark and gritty tone Watchmen delivers both story wise and visually. The only problem that it has is that it tries to cram the graphic novel into one movie which can sometimes make the movie feel a bit rushed. My recommendation is to watch the directors or the ultimate cut which help the movie flow better.