Watchmen

Review By: Tom Herrmann
TomHerrmann@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: A-

Watchmen was something that I had been waiting a long time for. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading the novel, so this review might not satisfy the fanboys out there, but that’s just fine. By definition any fanboys will see the movie regardless of what I or anyone else has to say about it, so no worries there.

For everyone just going to see the movie, Watchmen takes place in 1985 in what seems to be a universe parallel to ours. Everything is exactly the same, except that Nixon keeps running for president, and at one point there was a group of superheroes called Watchmen. The film develops two main stories along with several side stories meant to develop the remaining Watchmen. The main plotline revolves around someone killing off The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) trying to figure out who was behind it. There is also a large focus on Cold War tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.

The opening scene was phenomenal to say the least. To say the most, it was a brutal but elegant fight scene between ex-vigilante The Comedian and an unknown assailant. Nat “King” Cole’s Unforgettable plays in the background as the two duke it out, with camera speed switching back and forth from slow motion to normal pace. All of these factors together create a brawl that plays more beautifully than any dance sequence between lovers.

This outstanding scene is followed by the opening credits. To my surprise, the credits were almost as good as the fight scene. I don’t think I have ever been more captivated by credits in all the movies I have ever seen. They give an overview of the history of the Watchmen. We see from their start all the way to their downfall with still shots that really capture the events. My personal favorite was Mothman, a member of the original Watchmen group, who was forced into a paddywagon to an insane asylum.

Don’t worry; more stuff happens after this point. The really interesting thing about Watchmen is how so much seems like real life and so much seems fake. Even though it sounds inconsistent, it has a very smooth flow to it. When Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman) and Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson) talk about their old jobs as if they worked in an office together, just trading stories and laughing about the crazy people they encountered, it plays for lack of a better term, very ‘real.’

The realism though is quickly thrown out the window with the character Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), who has nearly infinite abilities. He sees past, present and future simultaneously and be in multiple places at once. He is not omniscient, though: he can only see his own future. Even a character as ludicrous in the real world as Dr. Manhattan would be somehow fits the diegesis of this film.

Watchmen isn’t without its draw backs, though. The ...