Please note that this blog contains movie spoilers. You Have been warned.
So after a looong wait, I finally got to see Watchmen and I must say, it did NOT disappoint. The story basically follows the comic book to a T, except I slightly think I prefer the movies version to the comics. It takes place in a time where the doomsday clock is 5 minutes to midnight on a clock that predicts the chance of a nuclear holocaust and where America and the Soviet Union are inches from going to war. The only thing stopping the war so far is Dr. Manhattan, a science accident gone wrong. This walking H-bomb was once teamed up with a group of costumed adventurers; Ozymandias, The Comedian, The Silk Spectre II, Rorshach, and Nite Owl II. But the Keene Act has since outlawed masked heroes and they’ve gone their separate ways. The murder of The Comedian leads Rorshach to think that someone is out to kill their old group, The Watchmen, one by one to keep them from stopping something. This suspicion is backed up when Dr. Manhattan is accused of giving everyone he was close to cancer and is harassed by the public, along with an attempt on Ozymandias’ life. Manhattan leaves Earth for Mars, thus somewhat provoking the Soviet Union to increase their nuclear threat in Afghanistan. The Watchmen (at least, Rorshach, Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II) regroup and hunt down who could possibly be out to kill them. They are led to Ozymandias, whom replicated Dr. Manhattan’s powers and set him up to make him upset and leave Earth. Ozymandias then causes an intense explosion in the most populated cities in the world and blames it on Manhattan. This causes all major world powers to come together in peace against Dr. Manhattan. The Watchmen know that if they tell anyone that it wasn’t Dr. Manhattan, then war will begin again, so they have to keep quiet. Except…Rorshach did have that journal..
This movie was intense. Breathtaking. Sexy. Powerful. The first thing that caught me was the atmosphere of the movie. It fits the novel and the movie perfectly. The music and the sound effects worked together to make an extraordinary union. Then the violence and action and gore was awesome. It made me cringe. It made me drool. It made me want to take martial arts lessons and save the world. The character development was very well done. It made me feel personally connected to the characters in a way. And the actors were amazing and perfect in their roles. The overall flow and pacing of the movie was very well done and was easy to follow without taking baby steps to get to the plot rolling and without leaping in head first like a flaming cannonball. The relationship between Nite Owl II and Silk Specter II was brilliant. It made me wish I was in love too. The actors had an irresistible chemistry on screen.
So Watchmen is definately in the running for Best Movie of 2009 so far. I give it a 4.5 out of 5. Catch it in theater all this month.
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