Watchmen
Starring Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson and Robert Downey, Jr. Directed by Zack Snyder. Adapted from the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon. But you probably already knew that.
If you're into blockbuster, over-the-top, sci-fi-ish movies, there are probably a few you were waiting for this year. Watchmen, Wolverine, Terminator, and the Star Trek reboot. So how does the first one (Watchmen) fare? It's got a *whole lot* of the source material in it, a modified ending, and it's missing a lot of key little things that made the graphic novel great. If you're a fan of the graphic novel (comic book, for those that aren't sensitive to the term), you know all of that already. You cussed, discussed, and/or praised the movie for its "brilliant" or "lacking"
adaptation. This review is for everyone else.
Watchmen is set in the 80's in an alternate world where masked vigilantes have been running around for decades. They have had an affect on world events. They're just like you and me, only well trained and capable doing things no human beings can do. (We'll call this plot problem number one:
These people are supposed to be ordinary folks, with one exception, but some of the action pretty much screams "superhero".) They've played a vital role in shaping our common history. Helped win in Vietnam. Nixon is still president. Oh and they're banned from doing their thing. That's the history.
The plot is set off by the murder of one of said superheroes. The Comedian (Downey, Jr.) gets tossed out of a high rise window, which sets Rorschach (Haley) on a mission to find out who, how, why, etc, etc. Along the way he gets all of the other heroes back in gear, twisting along the plot until the "surprise" ending pops its head out.
This movie does some things really well AND really poorly, and they all pretty much revolve around this: It's pretty faithful to the source material.
C+
