Who watches the Watchmen?
Watchmen is a complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, the film is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the Doomsday Clock - which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union - is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers - Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity... but who is watching the Watchmen?
Special Agent Matti
Watchmen is like X-Men but with a whole extra dimension: cynicism. These superheroes, most of whom don't actually have superpowers, are ordinary people with an extraordinary job. They don't always do it well but they do keep plugging away.
I like the production values. The costumes fit the eras perfectly, the world is neither brave nor new, the science is astounding and there's a blue man. I like blue. I could go a man who glows (blue) in the dark. Even if he does have a silly-looking prosthetic penis (although, size does matter). Billy Crudup is hot. Rorschach, however, is just plain creepy.
Even though it runs a good 23 minutes too long, Watchmen is a fun dip into the dark pools that are the minds of Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore. It's a good thing that they take their weirdness out on comic books rather than human beings.
The adventure, mystery, superhero movie Watchmen is directed by Zack Snyder and stars Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode.
MA 15+ (Strong violence and sex scene)
161 minutes (2:41 hours)
Film: 5 March 2009
