Watchmen (R-2009)

"Watchmen" is not your normal "comic book" movie. It is very adult, dark, brutal and sexy. This one is not for the kids, not even close. "Watchmen" takes many of the superhero standards and puts a completely new spin on them. These characters are completely complex and have major psychological issues. Each and every one of them is a "tortured soul" in one way or another. Right from the opening, they let you know what you are in for. The opening scene is a brutal battle, ending with one of the characters, known as "The Comedian" (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) being thrown out of a high-rise window. The credits sequence rolls, showing history from 1940-1980 being played out through the eyes of the Watchmen. This title sequence is amazingly well done as they recreate events such as the Kennedy assassination and the lunar landing, but many more. Then, the movie begins as we follow "Rorshach" "(Jackie Earle Haley), who believes costumed heroes are being taken out and is determined to find out who killed "The Comedian". The story of the Watchmen is told through flashbacks as the characters reminisce about the past. The moral ambiguity of these characters, who are on the side of "good" while doing some very bad things, is incredibly well written. An example of this is the part where one character shoots a pregnant Vietnamese woman in cold blood...and he is one of the "good guys"! Haley's performance as "Rorshach" is simply amazing as he conveys the vicious, uncompromising brutality of a man bent on justice both while in the mask and without it. The sequence where Rorschach does some time in prison is classic stuff. If you can't tell yet, I absolutely loved this movie. One the one hand, it is like no other costumed hero movie you have ever seen, but is also like no other movie, period, you have ever seen. It does an amazing job blending classic comic book themes with dark and gritty film noir. It does not hold back on the violence, the brutality or the sex. This movie earns its "R" rating. By the time the movie ends, you have seen the requisite super-villain do the most horrific thing you can imagine, then explain why it was actually a very good thing....and you sort of start to buy it. I could have done without the full frontal male nudity that is prevalent ("Dr. Manhattan" (Billy Crudup) is a blue man with atomic powers from a nuclear accident...and he rarely wears clothes), but, hey, it was in the novel that way, so kudos to the filmmakers for not compromising the issue. While this was a ground-breaking movie that is a visual masterpiece, it is certainly not for everybody. If any of the scenes described above bother you, I have only scratched the surface. On a final note, I saw this in "IMAX" and I am officially an IMAX snob now. If a movie is coming out and it is available in IMAX, I must see it that way. The huge screen, the explosive sound, the sharp picture: it is simply amazing.

Grade: A+

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