Watchmen

I have been avoiding any reviews of Watchmen so they wouldn't sway my opinion on a film a lot of people think shouldn't have been made. I read Alan Moore/Dave Gibbon's Watchmen years ago and was blown away. It is one of the milestone moments in comics/graphic novel history along with Frank Millers Dark Knight returns. Its no coincidence that the recent spate of serious superhero films are so good because they are influenced by Watchmen and the Dark Knight. These books will be remembered as classics in literature and not just in comics and if you are not used to the format of a comic you should go out and see what the fuss is about. So how does the film fare? The book is deep and layered, it was told over 12 issues in 86/87 and I always thought they couldn't make a film out of it. At least not a good one.



I'll admit I was wrong, Watchmen is a good film, not as great as the book but its a different format and I think Zack Snyder has done a good job. I enjoyed 300 too, I thought it was visually stunning and his Dawn of the dead remake was a rare example of a good reinterpretation.

The film follows the book pretty faithfully, although it is following the trend of long films, with half an hour adverts and trailers you will be at there a bum numbing 3 1/2 hours. I heard a rumour that there will be an extended DVD version which weighs in at an astonishing 4 hours, at least I can watch that home with well timed toilet breaks. Watchmen is based in an alternate 1980's where Nixon is still president and America won the Vietnam war by sending the most powerful being on the planet - Dr Manhattan. The scene where he is enlarged and marching against the Vietcong is astonishing, blowing up the soldiers from the inside out whilst being accompanied by US helicopters looks terrifying. Eventually they capitulate and are seen kneeling before Dr Manhattan like a God. Lets face it though if Supermen existed that is what they would be used for. Not fighting crime and helping humanity but coerced by Governments into winning their wars. This leads to Dr Manhattan developing into a living breathing nuclear deterrent. Keeping the Ruskies at bay as they wouldn't dare attack whilst he's there.



The film is complicated, layered and extremely violent, there are long periods of dialogue and intrigue which would test you average morons attention span and for this fact in itself I commend the director, it was obviously a labour of love and the feel of the book shines through with every scene. The heroes and villains are blurred, both are sociopaths  driven by different needs. Rorschach is especially convincing in his right wing Daily Mail morality man on a mission to clean up the city. The films two main scene stealer's are Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach and John Winchester Jeffrey Dean Morgan's portrayal of the Comedian. He really is a piece of work.Overall a good interpretation for fan boys, I don't really think the unfilmable could have been filmed better. For those not familiar with the book should go and see an intelligent film that doesn't pander to the lowest common denominator audience.



Lowering the tone a little. You do see an awful lot of blue willy in this film and the kid in me wondered all the way through how big it would be when he was giant and the damage a giant blue Dr Manhattan erection could do. Now when you see it you can think of that too.