Watchmen - the movie

The night before he left for Cape Cod, my nephew and I sat down to watch a movie. After a few minutes Lisa called out from the other room.

"That music is cool," she said. "What are you watching?"

"Watchmen," I said.

"What's it about?"

"Basically, superheroes are illegal, but when one of them is murdered a group of retired heroes gets back together to solve the crime."

There was silence for a moment.

"So, it's a violent The Incredibles?"

And that, Dear Reader, is the problem. Watchmen was innovative in the '80's, and a thousand stories owe a debt to the monumental graphic novel. But the market is so saturated with knock-offs that the original seems almost mundane. It's something I first wrote about in my review of the comic itself.

The movie itself is a visual treat, and for the most part follows the novel blow-for-blow. Aside from the stilted acting of Malin Akerman, I thought it was very enjoyable, and Rorschach's scene in the prison cafeteria was worth the price of the rental all by its lonesome.

The bad? The graphic novel is a long read, as such things go, and the movie seems to drag as it sticks close to the source material. Then they inexplicably change the nature of the threat in the closing minutes, altering the logic (and effectiveness) of the whole exercise.*

Still, if you can push past the feeling that you've seen it all before, it's worth a look.

2.8 out of 4.


* SPOILER: if it isn't an 'outside' threat that destroys the cities, what's the point? I mean, Dr. Manhattan is still a (rogue) U.S. employee right? If he blows up Tehran, I'm thinking the Iranians still have a legitimate grievance against America, no? So what did it all accomplish? Nada, not in the 'real' world.