Watchmen - REVIEW

If you want to read a fully educated comic book fanatics review of the most celebrated "graphic novel" of all time, you may aswell stop now. I have never seen/heard of the Watchmen comic book before the release of this film and im not going to bullshit anyone otherwise. I did however catch director Zach Snyder's 300 adaptation and it happens to be one of my favourite films. Many reviews have posted that you have to almost have a degree in Watchmen-ology to understand this film, and whilst il agree it certainly must help tie a few things up, fundamentally it doesnt stop you enjoying what is a brilliant, entertaining story.

This is by no means perfect and certainly not the omega of comic book films fanboys were crying out for, there will still be just as many people out there who love Spiderman and the Xmen et al more than these currently lesser known commodeties. But full credit in my opinion has to go to the director Zach Snyder. You cant please everyone, but boy does he try. The film is not short, an arse numbing 3hours almost, and by the end attention spans would be forgiven to wander. But what Snyder does produce is a film that packs in as much detail of each major player as possible, without taking away from the singular narrative. Their is a common story, the war of capitalism against communism, that ties everyone together, but what this really is, is an ensemble piece that (though set in a parallel universe) makes importanat political comment on our own views of life, love, death, war, peace and what it is to be human.

But all the credit cant just go to the director. The cast is made up of relative unknowns , some are off key, Patrick Wilsons Night Owl seems like a poor-mans Batman after the Dark Knight, and Malin Akerman's Slik Spectre is like a hash between X-mens Rogue and Trinity from the Matrix. Needless to say the love story between these two characters is not the most gripping relationship element of the film. Others though give performances so gripping it makes this feel like a genuine deep catalogue of characters rather than lifted players from a comic book page. But its Jackie Earle Haley's Rorschach that steals the show. His performance as the man with the ink -blotted mask is so engaging and perfect on tone with his character that it is reminiscent of when Hugh Jackman first played Wolverine in the original X-Men. His monologues that tie the film together after the death of the comedian, have more than a hint than Sin City's Marv to them, which can never be a bad thing.

Watchmen can be confusing at times but by the end all the important plot elements come together and the conclusion feels more satisfying than some long winded epics that just fizzle out. Certain characters will seem distant to the viewer throughout but in Dr Manhatten's (BIlly Crudup)case this is perfect and makes his slip away from humanity all the more believable. What is most impressive over the course of the film however is how it does what it set out to do and provides something different unseen in a comic book adaptation before. Comic book films often always fall into set categories, "bubble gum" style heroics in eleaborate costumes aimed at kids, similar flicks with a little splash of sex or violence for teens or realistic and grityy full blood and guts "how revolting can we be with our 18 certificate" mahem strichtly for adults. Watchemen manages to combine costumed hero's with depth and at times humour with this adult orientated graphc nature. The Dark Knight raised the bar on character depth and story telling for comic book films and thankfully Watchmen doesnt resort back to previous form, it looks onwards and up. The film has all the gore and bloodshed you would expect from the early Blade installments but doesnt become a film dependent on this to satisfy the audience. This is used to dramatic effect rather than as a repeated mechanism and thus it makes the events when they happen more impactful.

Watchmen is not your typical mind numbing entertainment, this is not a regular comic book = flying around and blowing stuff up marathon. It is an intelligent and relentless film that questions the audience as much as it provides eye candy for them. It provides entertainment for a variety of diffent genre lovers and against what some would have you believe is accessible to people who have never read a comic in their life. I cannot say how truthful it remains to the novel having never read it, but my only criticism of the film is that it sometimes feels a little stretched with many scenes included that could easily have been cut. In such places i cant help but wonder if scenes remained through fear of fan wrath at their removal, but for me they drag on the narrative when it doesnt need to be.

All in all Watchmen is a very enjoyable film, its not quite a masterpiece but it has cult classic written all over it. It definitly will not be everyones cup of tea, especially those who have gotten used to watching generic comic book films churned out by the studios every year and are expecting the same stuff here. The Visuals are stunning and the story telling is engaging even if a little perplexing. But given a chance and an open mind, Watchmen proves itself to be a thouroghly enjoyable film, comic book fan or not.

Action Flicks Rating 8 / 10