Watchmen (2009) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA 2009
Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Åkerman, Patrick Wilson, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Stephen McHattie, Carla Gugino
Rating: R
Release Date: 6 March 2009
Running Time: 3 hours 5 minutes

The Movie Review

Watchmen film still 1


WATCHMEN
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If we're talking about superheroes, the first thing that probably comes to mind is how good they are in kicking some bad dudes' a*ses or making them whimper like little dogs. However, recalling the meaning of Foo Fighter's song that it's hard being a superhero, fans might come to realize that Superhero basically human too. And some movies like Spider-man trilogy or The Incredible Hulk have successfully depicted the human-side of superheroes, however the stories in those movies still refrain self from giving the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

What is missing in the superhero stories? Sex. One of the most humane aspects of any living being. And fellas, Watchmen is the movie to give you precisely that! A superhero movie with dark and somber twists.

USA, 1985. A group of vigilantes who have retired from their job fighting the crime is forced to back on the job after one of their friends, The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), got murdered in a mysterious and shocking way. The group dates back to the 40s and has 2 generations of crime fighting squad. Some of them have died in horrible ways because of their indecent lifestyle or revenge from the crime himself. But there is still one vigilante named Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) who always keeps tab on his fellow superheroes, but seeing no hope's left to count on the other now-normal-living vigilantes, he turns to his fellow partner, the 2nd generation Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson of Hard Candy (2005) & The A-Team (2010)) and to the strongest member, the blue scientists known as Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup of Big Fish (2003) & Eat, Pray, Love (2010)) and his girlfriend the 2nd generation Silk Spectre (Malin Åkerman).

In 1985, however, Dr. Manhattan is caught up with something else much more important on his mind, the imminent danger of devastating nuclear war between the USSR and USA, which if it happens, will mean the huge annihilation of human being living in this world. Furthermore Rorschach finds that there is an intricate plot to kill off all the vigilantes. What is the purpose of the killings? And who these vigilantes really are?

Watchmen was made by some filmmakers that guarantee a good filmmaking. And although this is not my most favorite superhero flick, but the movie sure is giving us different viewing experience with so many aspects which us normal people can relate to. So I think I better lay out the bad things first. Well one thing for sure is the running length! It's way too long mate! Two f*ckin hours and 40 minutes and even to almost 4 hours?! C'mon guys what are you trying to convey here? Anyhow what makes it feels too long is because for a considerably big amount of the time the scenes revolve only around philosophy of the vigilantes and about life. Something that probably will only appeal to the fans of the original comic book series. Watchmen is the 3rd movie of director Zack Snyder, the one who brought us the remake Dawn of the Dead (2004) and the super awesome 300 (2007). Watchmen still retains his unique style concept, which means Watchmen was made to be stylish, but since it's stylish it also means slow-motion. It's ok if it's not too much, but in this case it is too much.

But I guess many good things of Watchmen makes this movie worthy of watching. The CGI and visual effects are great, that's obvious. The characters, thanks to the original writer of the comic series, are even greater with a very unique approach in describing their personalities that are much more logically accepted for broader audiences. And probably the highlight of the characters are the intimate scenes between the Silk Spectre II and Nite Owl II, and the harsh rape scene of Silk Spectre by one of the superheroes (I won't spoil the surprise). Fans of Marlin Akerman (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), Heavy Petting (2007)), might be excited to know that she appears nude and topless in an unlikely scene, which I have to admit visually stunning, if not corny actually. And the gore... Oh it's present alright. Mm-hmm... it's always a nice surprise to see the bad guys endure harsh treatment by these vigilantes. Blood apparently is an obvious content in Watchmen. And majority of these blood-spurting moments are thanks to the strongest (in personality) and the most memorable character in Watchmen, Rorschach.... This guy rocks! Hard! Jackie Earle Haley's performance is probably the main thing that I feel lucky for having watched this superhero movie.

All in all, Watchmen is surely worth renting and it's even worth buying for the fans of the genre. But considering the uniqueness of respectively Watchmen and Kick-Ass (2010), some might consider, Kick Ass to be a whole lot more entertaining movie in many aspects. Well, it's your call...