The Watchmen

Kmac Review:

This movie had very good music.... Ok I probably need to say more than that. There were aspects of this movie I found very enjoyable, namely the first 10 minutes. The intro to the movie lays out a world in which superheros have risen around the age of World War II changing our history and the fallout from these changes. The history nerd in me enjoyed this greatly and it sparked much debate over how we would have thought an alternate history would have progressed. That fun aside, the movie was not for me. It is shot beautifully and based on one of the most influential graphic novels ever released. The storyline is rich and full of drama and it is fun to compare the superheros with their more famous counterparts they call back to. You can look at the Batman stand in, how is he the same, how is he different, and what is it supposed to say. I think I would probably enjoy reading the novel so there is enough in the movie to make me interested in this world, the problem is how the world is brought to life.

I have never claimed to have a strong stomach when it comes to violence and movies based on graphic novels seem to trade in it. Accordingly it was hard for me to watch this movie when I always had an eye peeled for the other shoe to drop, or the other head to roll. Unsurprisingly for the genre it features women fighting in outfits I just don’t feel are that practical and the inevitable nudity. I’m not prudish but sometimes nudity seems a part of the story and sometimes it seems there so everyone can talk about how hot the leading lady was. This seemed the latter. It also lacked humor to cut through some of the darker parts which is great for lovers of drama but I need a little funny with my darkness.

Overall this is a movie genre you either like or you don’t and your mileage will vary accordingly.

I give this movie 2 out 5 impractical Lycra bodysuits.

Jmac:

The Watchmen does have an extremely good soundtrack, but it is also visually stunning. If you smoke you should definitely watch this movie as baked as possible.

The movie is set in an alternate universe where we won the Vietnam war and where Nixon won a third election afterwards. (One of my master’s degree professors would platz, because he was always railing about how Nixon should have been impeached for toying with the Russians by flying B-52s at the Russian border, which in his mind, and maybe not incorrectly would have started world war 3) This is really one of the over arching themes of the movie. We all fear ‘the bomb’. The only problem I have with this notion is that the movie puts a great deal of emphasis on the ‘Doomsday Clock’ kept by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which didn't even move during the Cuban missile crisis, which in reality was the closest we were to “midnight” and total atomic destruction.

The main characters of the movie are the alternate universes ‘superheroes’ such as those that look like Batman and Captain America. The movie shows rioting in the streets and an a clear slant against the masked ’superheroes’ which are seen as puppets of the right wing regime. (Speaking of the right wing regime.... Pat Buchanan is the biggest political joke of our time, even though my mom wanted to vote for him).

While the superheroes believe they are doing good, and in a certain extent are, the public disagrees with their motives and and sees them as symbols of a bygone era that disenfranchises the people and leads us closer the the brink of nuclear Armageddon.

In the end the populace is sort of proven right but still saved by the very superheroes they have cast out. Dr Manhattan is a god among us... which does not fit with the movies right wing government... another of the movies inconsistencies.

 The best quote of the movie is “What happened to the American Dream... it came true.... you're looking at it.” As we see rioting in the streets and everyone believing that freedom means anything thing goes in the face of police strikes. Like I said movie is visually and auditorily stunning.

I give the Watchmen 4.4 violent tokes out of 5.

The movie does have a left-wing tilt, but it does have a point when it comes to alternative energy resources, that are shut down by the big oil and natural gas companies, that block ever attempt at a real scientific study about alternative fuels.... because oil and natural gas are American and we cant possibly use anything else...... (I just want an unadulterated study about both sides.....) 

I was wrong... the best quote is by Rorschach "Remember I'm not trapped in here with you... you're trapped in here with me."