Rated R, 2 hrs. 43 min. Directed by: Zack Snyder. Release Date: Mar
06, 2009.
****REPOSTED FROM THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH ADDITIONAL COMMENTS AND EDITS****
"Who watches the
Watchmen?" appears in several parts of the movie, and it seems to be a
very relevant question for the movie in general. Like, really, I get that LOTS
of people watched this movie, but I can count on one hand with some room left
over how many people I know that liked it.
What gives? For me, this was the
superhero movie let down to end all let downs.
The movie is FILLED with problems
for us layfolk who have not spent years obsessing over the much-acclaimed comic
books and/or graphic novel. The alternate history causes problems all across
the board, but does not attempt to explain real world problems they caused.
Such as if we won Vietnam, why weren't we more aggressive in Cuba? Or, how is the
presence of superheroes able to violate the laws that a president can sit in
the Oval Office for no more than two terms? In the movie, Nixon presides over
matters of the American state for approximately 12 years, and in one point of
the "present" story line (1985), there are visible posters with
Nixon's face on them declaring "four more years." After some additional research, I learned that in the "present" story
line, Nixon was well into his FIFTH term as President of the United States, so
I guess that clears up... nothing.
The background information is almost
completely gone. The audience receives snatches here and there to help fill in
moderate events, but we don't understand how the relationships between any of
the characters have formed (for this, I imagine, one would need to read the
books). We find our heroes in a legally-enforced disbandment, all attempting to
shell out some semblance of a normal life. There is little discussion of how
the relationships between Ozimandias, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan, Night Owl,
and Rorshach formed and were maintained in the years since the Watchmen were
disbanded. We only know they used to work together and now apparently are
friends, or at least friendly.
Super powers: Where are they? Of the
entire cast, only Dr. Manhattan has obvious super powers. Arguably Ozimandias
is ridiculously fast, not like the Flash, but just in his ability to move out
of attacks. The rest of the team just seems to have attitude and ninja skills.
Night Owl is a flagrant rip off of Batman, just swap the "bat-erangs"
for "owl-erangs".
There is so much plot and
counterplot here, some if it involving personality quirks and relationships
that were not covered on screen, that it is occasionally difficult to figure
out why people are doing what they are doing. There was also the question why
Dr. Manhattan couldn't just make everything right, but that goes back to the
weak discussion of super powers.
Finally, the last problem I had is
with the way the filmmakers exemplified Dr. Manhattan's psychological
separation from humanity. While the movie trailers show him wearing both
conservative suits and a brownish banana-hammock, but the hard reality is he's
generally hanging in the breeze. Literally. I got what they tried to do here,
but being constantly inundated with his nudity was excess (and I'm not even
going to talk about the scene that pans out from the guy's sphincter and exits
in a rear direction). Dr. Manhattan is not the only nudist in the group: both
the second Silk Spectre and Night Owl appear in various states of nudity, so I
guess they felt the need to underline the sexually-charged facet of the comic
book, although it wasn't really needed for story development.
The good thing about this movie were
the fight choreography and the special effects, particularly the use of Dr.
Manhattan's powers, were EXCELLENT. Comic booky without being ridiculous, these
scenes were all very well done. The fight choreography was a little like the
choreography for T.V.'s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so if you liked that,
you'll like this.
