Review of Watchmen (2009) by Rowdyr. — 07 Mar 2009

Entertaining if you don't think about it too much and just go with it. I have never read the "graphic novel" (apparently a fancy word for a comic book) so keep that in mind. There is fun to be had here.

The Comedian is a well realized character, as is that Owl dude and Rorschach (?), even though the Owl dude is just a poor man's batman in reality. The main bad guy is a little boring and fey. The Blue Guy and his Wife are pretty much boring and you never really care about them.

The script is convoluted and did not make a lot of sense to me. Some parts of the movie are just flat dumb....why does Blue Dude have that circle on his forehead? Instead of just leaving it unexplained (like this is the only thing in this movie that needs an explaination) there is a scene where he uses his finger to draw it on his forehead.

..oh! ok, now I understand! The overall look of this movie was so-so....nothing really innovative here, and some of the effects I thought were pretty bad (like the whole blue man effect) and really nothing innovative here (300 was better).

The make-up was REALLY BAD (I saw it in Imax)...lots of really apparent goofy wigs and latex noses and wrinkles. The use of "popular music" was poorly executed. At times they try to use the music to frame the time events are happening (like using "99 ballons" for a scene from the 80's) but then the suddenly also start using music from the 60's and so this was in-congruent and they were not very innovative in their music selection (took too many obvious choices.

.e.g. Sound of Silence during a funeral scene). If you don't try to make sense of the script you will be ok. Some of it seems really campy...imagine a world where Richard Nixon is Still President! Although this might have seemed creepy back in the 80's, now it just seems dopey if you are trying to frame a "disturbing alternate view of the world" (and considering what we have all just gone through with Dubya, it almost seems like a comforting notion).

Most of the actors are well cast and do good jobs. I guess it is an "adult comic book movie" because there are boobs and people have sex. But I am immensely confused about the whole premise of the Watchmen.

So, they started out as cops who started dressing up (so they are normal guys) but in this movie they start doing Superhuman things (running up walls, punching through them, etc.) so that to me does not make any sense.

Anyways, like I say, don't think about it too much, go with it, and you will have fun, but don't believe the hype about what a sophisticated take on superheroes this is.