Watchmen

Director:
Zack Snyder

Writers:
David Hayter and Alex Tse

Cast:
Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach
Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian
Matthew Goode as Ozymandias
Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre II
Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl II

Released: 2009
Studio: Warner Bros.
Box Office: $107,509,799

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 64%
IMDB Score: 7.9

Date Seen: July 24, 2009
Format: Blu-ray

In the fall of 2008 I saw a teaser trailer for a new movie called Watchmen. I thought it looked weird and didn’t think anything else about it. Around February 2009 I purchased Watchmen the graphic novel and instantly fell in love with it. I have since read it 3 more times. I had high hopes for the movie and I must say that I was not disappointed. Zack Snyder made a very faithful adaptation. He stayed very true to the look and feel of the comic which was the only comic book named to Time’s “100 Greatest Novels of the 20th Century.”

It is not a typical super-hero movie. It not like Spiderman with a clear, well-defined hero and villain. The good guy doesn’t necessarily win in the end. The heroes are not perfect like Superman. They all have deep emotional and psychological problems. They quite honestly may be worse for society than many of the criminals they put away. The Comedian is a very interesting character. He is violent, brash, and a murderer and rapist. He is simply the reflection of the dark underbelly of society. Rorschach is the uncompromising, unforgiving vigilante who through his journal, depending on your view, either causes the salvation or the destruction of man. Dr. Manhattan is the physicist who gains seemingly god-like powers but loses his touch with humanity. None of them could be called role models or heroes that any living person should look up to.

This film is a deep look at what would you be willing to compromise for your own survival or for the survival of all man kind. It is shot in a very stylish way. The sets and costumes were pulled straight out of the book. The casting was near perfect. I felt like Malin Akerman was the only actor that gave a poor performance.

Favorite Performance:
Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach

Favorite Quote:
Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre II: The most powerful thing in the universe… still just a puppet.
Dr. Manhattan: We are all puppets, Laurie. I’m just the puppet who can see the strings.

Grade:
A-

Recommendation:
If you are a fan of the book, see it.
If you’ve never read the book, read it first.

Next Review:
When Harry Met Sally…