Watchmen

Like most of the other fangirls (and boys), I wanted to feel pummeled by Watchmen. Somewhat unrealistically, I had hoped that the film would leave me feeling sore from a punch to the gut, just like the graphic novel did. And while Watchmen features plenty of violence, I left surprisingly unscathed and almost unimpressed.

I say "almost" because there are some amazing moments in Zack Snyder's film, especially in the first few scenes. The moment of Comedian's (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) murder is incredible, due in part to the excellent acting by Jeffrey Dean Morgan of Grey's Anatomy fame (does the man always die?!?) as well as the brutal ballet that precedes the actual death. The opening credit sequence establishes the world of Watchmen in a gorgeous way as the photography-in-motion action interacts perfectly with the text of the title and credits. There are scenes that fit perfectly with my memory of the source material, particularly the genesis of Dr. Manhattan, aka Jon Osterman (Billy Crudup).

As a whole, the acting swayed me, with Morgan in particular creating a marvelously human (and not a little flawed) Comedian. Jackie Earle Haley, a former child actor best known for his masterful return as a pedophile in Little Children, is chilling as the vigilante hero Rorschach. Those who were freaked out by Heath Ledger's turn as the Joker have much to fear in Rorschach, and he's (kind of) one of the good guys. Haley's Little Children costar Patrick Wilson is perfectly bland as Dan Dreiberg, aka Night Owl II. That sounds like an insult, but his all-American good looks and normal-guy persona fit well with the Dreiberg character.

Watchmen is the third film from director Snyder, who cut his sharper-than-sharp teeth on gorefest (and solid remake) Dawn of the Dead and fight-filled action hit 300. And like those two films, Watchmen is visually audacious and never lacks in style. It also features more of Snyder's romance with violence, crafting each scene with such loving care that it almost contrasts with the bashing and gnashing onscreen. But it's becoming more and more clear: Snyder can't direct a scene that doesn't have any action in it. If it's just talking, watch as things fall flatter than Dr. Manhattan's abs, and wait for the incredibly loud music to cue you in to start watching again.

The soundtrack is one of Watchmen's greater failings. With the exception of the use of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A'Changin'" in the title sequence, each classic song from Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence" to KC & the Sunshine Band's "I'm Your Boogie Man" serves to take the audience out of the moment, distracting them from the action at hand.

And while Morgan, Haley, Wilson, and even Crudup are well-suited to their parts, Matthew Goode and Malin Akerman drain every scene they're in (when they have to actually act, and not just look pretty and powerful). Both of them have turned in watchable performances before--Akerman in a variety of comedies, most of them bad, and Goode especially lives up to his name when he plays against type in The Lookout--so the problem may not just lie in their acting abilities but in the casting itself.

The screenwriters behind the film do deserve credit for distilling such a complex work into such a relatively short film (it runs 2 hours and 40 minutes, but feels remarkably fast). The plot of Watchmen isn't your standard superhero film, which is certainly one of its assets. The setting is an alternate 1985, where masked heroes are a normal--if recently outlawed--part of society. Nixon is still president, thanks to a law abolishing term limits, and the Cold War is reaching a fever pitch with everyone dreading a fast-approaching nuclear war. In this tense atmosphere, aging hero the Comedian is murdered, and another "hero," Rorschach, begins to suspect that his death is part of a conspiracy to eliminate all of his former contemporaries: the superhuman Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl II, Silk Spectre II (Akerman), and Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias (Goode).

There are elements here of the conpiracy film, murder mystery, thriller, action, and horror, thanks to the very graphic depictions of violence. Watchmen is almost unspeakably bleak film that doesn't comment favorably on humanity. Like the residents of Gotham City in last summer's superhero hit The Dark Knight, the citizens of Watchmen's New York are getting the hero they deserve. The grimy, crime-ridden city is well-matched in its heroes, who are largely human and far from perfect, blurring the lines between good and evil.

Watchmen has earned some criticism for being too complex, but its lack of black-and-white simplicity (even watered down from the subtlety of the graphic novel) makes for fascinating, viewing. Like its heroes, Watchmen is massively flawed, but that makes it all the more interesting to watch.