DVD Review #15 Watchmen

Watchmen (2008) Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman Directed by Zach Synder

I read about a thousand bad reviews for this film when I was contemplating going to see it in the theaters...whether it was USA Today or Entertainment Weekly I was led to believe that this film was not good. However my two most trusted rating sites gave it a 7.9 out of ten and a B (IMDB and Boxoficemojo respectively), but sadly those were probably the only two reviews I didn't check at the time. After viewing the Watchmen on my TV I sort of wished I did see it in the theater. I didn't love it, but I certainly admired the attempt to tell a complex and layered superhero story. I also thought Zach Synder (best known for directing 300), made another film that was great to look at. I am not familiar with the graphic novel, so like many viewers of this film, I was being introduced to characters like The Comedian, Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl, and Rorshach. This group of not so super (except for Dr. Manhattan) hero's who fight crime, vigilante style in a not so cool alternate future America (a future where Nixon is serving his fourth term, the USA won Vietnam, and USA and Russia are on the brink of Nuclear War) is an interesting one. But because the story is pretty complicated, it is difficult to follow both the introductions of these characters and the story progression. The acting is Hit and Miss Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre II) is very pretty but not a great actress yet, Dan Dreiberg (Nite Owl II) is whiny, Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhatten) is stone cold...(BTW Billy Crudup so good in Almost Famous has not impressed me in long time Trust the Man was good but more so for Duchovny I suppose...the last time I found him really likable was in a Daily Show interview), and really the only two guys who make a good effort of getting into character are Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Comedian...best known from his role as Denny in Grey's Anatomy) and Jackie Earle Haley (Rorshach)...who guides the story with his narration. The alternate 80's setting provides some great scenes of Tricky Dick, Kissinger, and Pat Buchanan...and the soundtrack is awesome. When two superheros have sex with Hallelujah playing in the background as they take off their capes and masks...it is so strange and foreign that it works perfectly (like imagine what it would be like to see Batman sleep with Catwoman and struggle to get his utilty belt off, crazy right??). On the flip side there were a few other things that didn't work so great, like Billy Crudups blue penis flopping around the whole time...maybe dude put like some superhero shorts on or something. At the end though I was happy enough, having the bar set low from all those bad reviews may have played a factor here, but its ok..sometimes that's how it works. I recommend viewing it at least once to see a truly unique perspective on the superhero genre.

Crudup gets another chance in a cool sounding thriller for 2011 called Trust with K Sutherland and Guy Perice. Akerman has the Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau (um they wrote Swingers together) written comedy Couples Retreat to look forward to. And Zach Synder has an animated owl flick called Guardians of Ga'Hoole in 2010 and soon after the 300 sequel which has yet to be titled. Also I'd like to just throw out there the Drew Barrymore directorial debut movie Whip It, for which the trailer has just hit the Internet...it has Ellen Page among many others playing roller derby...and looks really really good.

(The Shawshank Scale 1-10) Blue Penis, Nixon "four more years", Superheros "doing it", and a cool soundtrack warrant at least a 6.5 rating...I may have given it more the re-watchablity factor hurts it a bit.