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Plot Summary
"Watchmen (Director's Cut)" promises 24 extra minutes of action-packed, effects-laden scenes never before seen in theaters! This multi-layered adventure unfolds as scenes present in the graphic novel finally make the leap to film. A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, "Watchmen" is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the Doomsday Clock--which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union--moves closer to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion--a disbanded group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers--Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity...but who is watching the Watchmen?
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
65%- Reviews Counted: 294
- Fresh: 190
- Rotten: 104
- Average Rating: 6.3/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: Zack Snyder's film version of Watchmen is a grim and grisly excursion into comic-book mythology.
Fresh: I think Snyder and his writers channel moments of the humanity and humor that's always present in Moore's work.
Fresh: Snyder's film is a breath-taking epic, a compelling thriller and an ensemble character piece, far beyond our expectations of the genre.
Fresh: The film is a ballsy, brainy, and thoroughly bloody examination of human nature, pop culture and 'the good old days' that never were.
Customer Reviews
Dark, disturbing, and every inch a story ahead of its time
The Watchmen was dystopian view of its own time period set in a groundbreaking graphic novel format. adapting the superhero genre to a more adult setting, Alan Moore's vision took his then young readers on a trip through contemporary allegory giving them a hippie's-eyeview of the great conspiracy where the illuminated elite are wrapped in plans to save us from ourselves whether we like or not. We are shown the scarred underside of the American dream where the superior among us fracture before our eyes proving that masked bravado never really hides what we truly are. The story was long considered unfilmable and Alan Moore even distanced himself by removing his name from the production but Zack Snyder succeeded in putting the essence of the story on screen in such a way that even diehard purists applauded his approach. I saw the movie before I bought the book and I am glad I did. The book is dense with subtext, inferences, and stories within the storyline, some of which don't update well to today's audiences but, were novel and even shocking when Jim Kirk was dashing and a tin-foil bikini and green skin made titilating pop culture history. Perhaps you'll agree with me, that, while the giant squid didn't make the cut, the heart of the story very much did.
Groundbreaking Novel? Yes. Movie? not so much....
Visually this is a great movie. The little bit of action that you see is in the style of 300 (seeing as how this has the same director as 300) and so that's always fun to watch. But, the story --based on a Groundbreaking Graphic Novel--is not anything groundbreaking in itself when put into 'movie' form. I speak from a movie-goers point of view and not from a fanatics point of view. I'm judging this movie based, of course, on its movie self and not on its success outside of the cinema. I am rating it on how well it was put together on film, and it wasn't very well. The story dragged by, making you sit through many flashbacks. 90 percent of the movie is flashbacks.... It tries getting through to you the human emotions of each character but only succeeds so much before it has to go into another flashback to fit the time frame. All-in-all the entire story seemed rushed and every scene seemed to be cut short just when it was getting interesting. I don't blame the film for being rushed, because the novel had so much substance and depth in it that the film makers wanted to put onto the screen, but in the end they couldn't succeed. The whole movie seemed to jump from scene to scene, from set to set, and a lot of shots felt like a television sitcom put onto screen with the small sets. The jail scene in particular (which was one of the most pointless scenes in the movie) had a very cheap feel to it. And the jail brake was very pointless and seemed just like another excuse to sneak some action into the movie to put into the movie trailer. In the end the movie itself wont be getting any new recruits onto the bandwagon of new, loyal, Watchmen fanatics like the novel did. It lacks the depth, the patience, and the honor to human nature that the novel was so graciously praised for. And, for that, I give it three stars.
Awesome
Watchmen is without a doubt the greatest graphic novel of all time. This film was done beautifully, and more importantly, accurately. I felt that all of the characters were portrayed well, the best being Rorschach. Of course, there were a few inconsistencies with the graphic novel, (No giant squid.) but they were few and far between. I recomend this movie to all fellow fans of the graphic novel, and anyone else who appreciates true genius. Alan Moore is one of the greatest authors of all time, and this film does his work justice. I'm going to be watching the Watchmen for a long time. (PS- Rorschach is amazing in this movie. Props to Jackie Earle Haley)
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- $17.99
- Genre: Action & Adventure
- Released: 2009
- © 2009 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation and Legendary Pictures. All Rights Reserved. WATCHMEN and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and DC Comics. Smiley Logo: TM The Smiley Company.