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Just before I first saw Watchmen, expectations were very high and when I did see it for the first time at the cinema, I was incredibly disappointed by it due to its very confusing dialogue, it became quite flat throughout most of the film and I wasn’t very impressed with the acting either although I do admire the director. However, after that second viewing when it was on DVD, I actually really enjoyed it a lot more but I still notice some more of the flaws but not half as many this time. I think the reason for that being was because I understood the story a lot more this time than I did before.
It is something that does have its similarities with the Spider-Man trilogy but the main differences are that it is a team of superheroes and it has a very dark and a very adult friendly story. I was stunned at how great the effects were and also the art direction, costume design and cinematography. Why they weren't possible contenders or even nominated for Academy Awards in those categories, I have absolutely no idea! Understandable, I gather why people perhaps wouldn't like this because of its complex dialogue like I didn't previously why I saw it the first time but I have gathered in films that it sometimes, not always, makes a film more powerful and makes the makers more talented but that can be the case with films and having basic stories so it just depends on the specific film, really.
"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 - is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag 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?"
Watchmen has a great cast of actors who, in my mind, do give at least a satisfying job but I think for me the best performance will be either Billy Crudup as Jon Ostermon/Dr. Manhattan or Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Edward Blake/The Comedian. Malin Akerman was decent as Laurie Juspeczuk/Silk Spectre II. Malin may have been absolutely gorgeous in it but I don't think she quite bought the complete charm or emotion to the character as suggested in the graphic novel. I like Billy Crudup in general and I think his role in this film is another that I think was great from him. I like the character but I think that there were some moments where I was thinking ''Uhh.. ok'' and slightly lacked the believability of the character. Jackie Earle Haley was great as Walter Korvacs/Rorschach who reminded me a lot of Marv in Sin City who was portrayed by Mickey Rourke due to his unique and rather violent attitudes towards others because of a certain event or a series of events that have occurred in both their pasts. Patrick Wilson was pretty good as Daniel Drieberg/Nite Owl II. Wilson also starred alongside Haley previously in Little Children.Jeffrey Dean Morgan was great as Edward Blake/The Comedian. We only really see him in flashbacks seeing as he was murdered right at the very start of the film (don't worry, it isn't a plot twist, it was in the plot synopsis anyway).
Zack Snyder is a director more of eerie visual effects and very dark and adult stories so in many ways, it is typical that he decided to direct Watchmen seeing as he previously directed Frank Miller graphic novel 300. It is weird because I think where Snyder has his flaws as a director (a bit like Michael Bay but nowhere near as bad as him), is that he just tries too hard and thinks about the effects visually more than the dialogue of the story and the script and I feel that Snyder tries too hard with Watchmen by making it as successful as 300 (regarding box office performance but not completely critically) and I am predicting that he'll do the same with the upcoming film Sucker Punch. I am not saying that he is a bad director, he is just a director who tries too hard at doing almost the exact same thing. There was one thing about Watchmen where I think it has its main weakness is that it is unnecessarily too long. I mean, it is 162 minutes long including the credits and I think it could have been at least 120 minutes (2 hours).
Overall, Watchmen is a very enjoyable film that does have its weaknesses but has its great qualities also. If there are any sequels going to be planned in the future like how the film ended, I would be up for that. I think you really need to stick with the story to fully understand it and perhaps needs to be viewed twice for you to fully understand it especially if you didn't like it the first time you watched it. Great film to watch and I preferred it over Snyder's previous work 300 even though I didn't before.
8/10
