Rated: R (NOT FOR THE KIDS!!! Also... wang alert.)
Running Time: ~3 hours.
Politics: Ludicrous
Cast:
Malin Akerman: Silk Spectre
Billy Crudup: Dr. Manhattan
Matthew Goode: Ozymandias
Jacki Earle Haley: Rorschach
Patrick Wilson: Night Owl
So, the year is 1985 in an alternate Earth where Richard Nixon has been president for a LOOOONG time. An outlaw "super-hero" named Rorschach is investigating the death of fellow costumed vigilante, The Comedian. What he finds is a labyrinthine puzzle of conspiracies involving retired super-group "The Watchmen," the American government, and a mysterious corporation that employs ex-super villains and assassins. To make matters worse, he only has a few days to unravel the mystery before Nixon initiates a nuclear war.
The movie is beautifully put together, oozing with scenes I wanted to clip out and frame. Even the gore in the movie had a sort of twisted beauty.
About the gore... This movie is BLOODY. Chunks, bones, and assorted body parts get flung about on a fairly regular basis. Generally, I'm not a fan of such things, and my girlfriend gets even more squeamish. We would never go to see "Hostel," for instance, and I was quite disappointed when "Hannibal Rising" went to overboard gore instead of the implied, psychological horror found in "Silence of the Lambs." My girlfriend got mildly nauseated by one part of the film, and I confess I didn't keep looking at the screen during that part. But, I will give credit where credit is due and say that the gore is generally appropriate. Dr. Manhattan makes people explode, but he maintains a calm demeanor when looking at the mess he made. They want you, however, to get a full appreciation of what isn't bothering the good doctor. Likewise gore is used in a scene where a man's mind breaks in the face of horrors, and to show the callous disregard certain villains hold for human life.
Less appreciated was the amount of man-parts in this movie. Gigantic... blue... johnson. My girlfriend wasn't complaining (quite the opposite, actually), and I'm not saying that I can't endure the sight of male genitalia if it's appropriate to the film, but it just wasn't needed. Okay... I get it... Dr. Manhattan is a being of god-like power who is losing touch with humanity and doesn't see the value in things like clothing. That doesn't mean I need to see Smurf wang over and over.
Now, if you can handle blood and blood sausage on the big screen, this is a phenomenal movie. In addition to being gorgeously shot, the characters are excellent, three dimensional individuals. Despite the politics (which I'll get into soon), the characters drive the story forward powerfully. Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan are well acted and compelling characters, but even the poorly developed Silk Spectre and Ozymandias hold your attention. Night Owl is an under developed character, but ends up being the most sympathetic and charming member of the cast.
Now for the politics... Wow. Alan Moore really hated Richard Nixon. As previously mentioned, America is ruled by a many-termed President Nixon, or at least a clownish parody of Nixon. Sure, Nixon was kinda crooked and definitely lacked a degree of personal charisma, but this movie turns him into an utter buffoon/villain (or, how all liberals see every Republican president). In an early montage, a group of soldiers line up on a peaceful group of hippy anti-war activists and blow them away, clearly a perpetuation of various lies about the "Kent State Massacre." As the Soviets prepare to invade Afghanistan, clownish generals cheerfully advise Nixon to respond with... Nuclear Armaggedon! To justify their suggestion, they offer a "best case" scenario in which East Coast liberals bear the brunt of the Soviet response and weather patterns will blow the fallout mostly into Mexico. Oh ho! Surely a Republican can't pass up a chance to sacrifice liberals and Mexicans!
Well, at least this finally confirmed why the libs had no faith in the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction. They never thought the Soviets would launch first. They thought Republicans would.
Ultimately, the movie does not try to justify these absurdities, it simply works with them. The personal stories of the characters are largely non-political in scope, and are the better (and better written) part of the movie. So, despite the annoyances, I really loved the movie and my girlfriend was happy. Good times.