Movie Dad

In my youth I participated in many things young boys like to do. Like many of them I collected baseball cards and comics. I use the term baseball cards loosely because even though I played baseball I collected Star Wars character cards (GEEK!!!). Now when it came to comics I was a big Marvel fan. I enjoyed their characters better. Mutants! Who does not like mutants? Because of this I did not get into the DC Universe like many of my friends. I was aware of the characters, I watched the cartoons and discussed cross-over possibilities with my peers. I stopped collecting comics just before I graduated high school which was almost a full decade after Watchmen hit the shelves and in that time I never knew they existed. So when you read this review I want you to know that I am a recent fan of a classic.

When I heard they were making a comic movie called Watchmen I said to myself " Who are the Watchmen?". A quick Internet search turned up a bevy of information that I just absorbed. I had to read this thing. The only problem was my lack of focus and short memory span. The more details that emerged from the making of the film, the more I wanted to read the novel. It was not until we started carrying it at my job that I was able to pick up a copy. I read it in my spare time, which was not plenty because I was fixated on my pregnant wife and getting things ready for baby, also reading makes me sleepy, even if it is a comic.

Months pass, Watchmen is released.

I did not go to the midnight release like most fans, I waited for the Saturday afternoon matinee. Between the midnight show and my show I tried to read as few reviews as possible. The ones I did read covered the spectrum from loving every aspect of it to completely loathing it, calling Watchmen "unfilmable". I take all these review with a grain of salt.

I enter the movie house with some expectations but none like the fan-boys have. After a couple of kick-ass trailers for Terminator:Salvation and Star Trek the movie begins. The title sequence covered a portion of the book giving details of the original Watchmen back story with minimal story telling. Perfect. The actual movie takes place in an alternate 1985 in which Richard Nixon is serving his 3 term as president and we won the Vietnam war with the Vietnamese surrendering to us and "Masked Heroes" are outlawed. After the credits one of the Watchmen is murdered, for what reason we do not know but it is one hell of a fight. From there on it progresses staying true to the source material save for one minor change in the end. The characters are real and grounded but poses "powers" in the realm of believability, except Dr. Manhattan. He is the only one who has "super powers. He can manipulate matter with his mind. He is also blue. I don't mean he is depressed, I mean he is actually the color blue. And he glows. The rest of the characters are pretty cool in there own right. Nite Owl, the lonely bachelor who pines for the only female member of the team. He took over the persona after the original Nite Owl retired.He also seem to be the gadget geek. Silk Spectre, said female who takes on the role left vacant by her retired hero mother. She is married to Dr. Manhattan. Ozymandias, billionaire playboy who uses his fame as an outed masked hero to make more money. The Comedian, the only active member of the original Watchmen to join the new team before they were outlawed. Rorschach, by far the coolest of the Watchmen. He hark ens back to the old detectives like Philip Marlow and Sam Spade complete with trench coat and fedora. He continues his crime fighting despite his outlaw status. He wears a white mask with ink spots that continuously shift symmetrically depending on his mood and situation. All members have superior fighting abilities and skills to those of us regular folk. The story plays out like a noir film of the 40's and 50's, dark and foreboding. The world is in turmoil and on the brink of nuclear war.

From start to finish I was completely engrossed and mesmerized by what transpired on screen. The visuals were top notch. The score was fitting. The acting was respectable. A couple of the actors stood out in their roles. Billy Crudup played Dr. Manhattan as perfect as I perceived the character to be. No emotion and out of touch with the world. Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach deserves an award. He plays the character with complete disdain for humanity. His main goal is to rid the world of filth and he does not care how it gets done. He is a tortured soul looking for an outlet. He found that outlet in crime fighting. Haley brings a lot of emotion to the role and it shows on screen.

At a running time of about 2 hr 40 min. it may seem long but i could have used more. There are some plot points that were omitted but do not affect the outcome of the story. I do know that the director's cut of the film does contain 30 to 40 more minutes of footage. I am hoping that these scenes were filmed and put back in it may help smooth things out a bit, answering a couple of minor questions the viewer might have. Overall I give Watchmen high marks on all levels and reccommend it to all who want to see a perfectly executed film based on it's source material.