Ask any comic book fan and they will tell you that "Watchmen" by Alan Moore is one of the greatest graphic novels in history. These "fanboys" will also be quick to point out that the source material about tortured superheroes is utterly inadaptable.
The real superhero behind this production is Warner Bros. The studio greenlit an unfilmable project that's rated R with a running time of 161 minutes. To make matters worse, WB had to defend their rights to adapt "Watchmen" from 20th Century FOX.
So is the final product worth it for the embattled Warner Bros.? Yes and no. "Watchmen" will delight comic book fans but will leave non-believers wanting for more.
The film is set in an alternate 1985 America, New York City to be exact. President Nixon (Robert Wisden) is still the Commander-in-Chief, and our country's rising tension with the Soviet Union is symbolized by the Doomsday Clock which is moving closer to midnight. It is a world darkened by fear and paranoia.
Meanwhile, the once-mighty Watchmen now hide from their identities. Watchmen is a handful of superheroes that are more human than super. Except for the glowing blue Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), the rest of the characters are without superpowers.
The story begins with the murder of Edward Blake a.k.a. Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Someone breaks into his apartment and beats him into a bloody pulp. Now, the tortured Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) uncovers a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes.
It's now up to Rorschach to gather the original crime-fighting troop in order to save the world from a cataclysmic event. He must persuade Dr. Manhattan, Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), and Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson) to join his mission.
Directed by Zack Snyder ("300") "Watchmen" is an intriguing concept that is still satisfying even though it's not fully realized. When D.C. Comics released the graphic novel, it was hailed for subverting and deconstructing the concept of superheroes. It even won the prestigious Hugo Award, the first and only comic book to do so.
But in 2009, superhero pathos feels outdated and restrained. If you think Batman has issues, wait until you meet the Watchen. Whereas "The Dark Knight" manages to instill hope through heroism, "Watchmen" imparts an interesting notion of saving humanity through irony.
Adapted for the screen by David Hayter and Alex Tse, the one thing missing from "Watchmen" is its much-needed heart. Sure, a film can deconstruct and reconstruct presupposed theories, but without a heart as its centerpiece, the project can crumble.
But what saves "Watchmen" from disintegrating is its faithful adaptation of the comic book. There are some missing plot points and characters but the film is true to the tone of Moore's work.
I also like the way the movie unfolds using flashbacks as its crutch. The filmmakers made the storytelling more involving. But I would love to tell Snyder to please hold off on using his start-and-stop technique he lovingly used to death during "300's" fight scenes. It worked for that film, but it didn't quite reach its goals for this movie. It's generic, lazy, and overdone.
The actors gave passable performances, although Akerman as Silk Spectre II was a tad cloying in the beginning. But once you know her character better, you will appreciate the actress more.
The scene-stealer of the bunch is Haley. The Oscar-nominated actor for "Little Children" gave a standout performance that dwarfed the rest of the cast. Haley is the only one that gave real depth to his character and he was even wearing a Rorschach mask for half of the movie.
"Watchmen" is bloody and violent with ample amounts of nudity (oh look, a giant blue penis!), but those are exactly the charms of the film. This is not your dad's superhero movie. Moore reportedly took off his name from the credits and vowed never to watch the movie.
But the author should give "Watchmen" a chance. It's an intriguing academic study about people wanting to be superheroes without knowing what being a hero really means. I want to watch the film again to see just how complicated the journey is for an ordinary person to do extraordinary things.
And for that, "Watchmen" gets 3 who's watching the Watchmen kisses