Review of Watchmen (2009) by Dennis M — 30 Dec 2014

(Edited for new RT format 12/30/2014).

The year is 1985. America has won the Vietnam War. Nixon is still president. Eight years previously, the legislature passed The Keene Act, a law banning masked heroes from engaging in acts of daring-do. The Act forces many heroes into early retirement. Some write exposes or cash in on their popularity. Others meld back into the community and sink into obscurity. A few find jobs as mercenaries on the government payroll. The heroes who refuse to give up become vigilantes, working outside the scope of the law.

Rorschach, one of these vigilantes, is privately investigating a case in which a man has been brutally murdered. The police have no leads. When Rorschach determines that the murdered man is Edward Blake, a.k.a. The Comedian, a former superhero, he comes to the conclusion that a "mask killer" is on the loose. He tries to locate and warn his fellow heroes, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. In the old days, Rorschach was considered a loose cannon and incurably paranoid. However, when other former heroes become the targets of murder attempts and frame-ups, the remaining heroes dust off their masks, determined to solve the mystery.

Thus begins THE WATCHMEN, and although my synopsis goes some way in explaining the story, it doesn't do the film justice. THE WATCHMEN, at its heart, is a character study. It's the history of a loose consortium of friends with vastly different psychological profiles who share a common past. Woven into the basic plot is a rich tapestry of past lives, past relationships, and hidden secrets.

It's also an atypical superhero story because, excepting Dr. Manhattan, none of the "heroes" in The Watchmen are heroes in the classic, comic-book sense of the term. They're just a bunch of average joes with exceptional human talents. In other words, they're you and me in goofy uniforms. Okay okay...their pasts are much seedier than most of us can boast. But this is where the movie gets its power. We're not watching the League of Justice here. We're watching a lot of screwed up people trying to make something special out of their lives, then questioning whether or not they're even doing the right thing. In this regard, the film is uncompromisingly brutal.

I loved it. But, I also loved the graphic novel. Zach Snyder, in taking on this project, also took on the overamped expectations of a generation of hungry WATCHMEN fanatics. For my two-cents, I'd say he did an admirable job. The movie's not perfect, to be sure, and I could spend hours debating the decision to leave out certain scenes, or simplify complex storylines, or change aspects of the graphic novel that might have gone down as too 50's kitsch. But it's still a hell of a lot more satisfying than most of the dreck out there, and I'd find it hard to believe that Snyder's version of the story alienated many of the faithful.

And certain parts in the film overwhelm you with their perfect execution. I know it sounds weird to wax poetic over opening credits, but I defy anyone to find a more gratuitously lovely opening sequence than THE WATCHMEN boasts. The action sequences are spectacular. The actors are chosen with care (except, perhaps, Matthew Goode as Ozymandias, who was way more effeminate than I'd ever imagined the character...where's a young Robert Redford when you need him?) And the film's aesthetic is dripping with pathos and ennui. Please, do yourself a favor and see this film on the big screen...IMAX if one is available...before it's too late.