So the advertisements looked awesome. I wasn’t sure what to expect. And I’m still not sure what to think.

Watchmen

Starring: Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Ackerman, Javier—I mean, Jeffery Dean Morgan, Carla Gugino, Matthew Goode, and Patrick “The Ass” Wilson.

Rated R: Graphic violence, big blue appendages, and an amazing two minute sex scene set to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

IMDb Rating: 8.3 (Top 250: #132)
RottenTomatoes: 65% Fresh

Sample Review:

…a strange and gorgeous beast indeed, not without problems, a mesmerizing epic folly of the sort hardly anyone attempts any more. It is absolutely sick with ambition…

This was my favorite review because it truly encapsulated my feelings on this movie. I had not fully read the graphic novel before going to see the film, so I was simply mesmerized by the awkward pacing and interjections of random characters throughout.

It wasn’t until hours after seeing the film that I took another look at the book, and I was amazed how sincerely accurate it was. Snyder literally translated the comics, frame for frame at some points, to the screen. Where my feelings for the movie had been mixed before, I found myself respecting his efforts. The movie is still far from perfect, but it certainly becomes more enjoyable if the viewer is familiar with the source material.

But this is also where I have a problem with the movie. It’s three hours long. Obviously much of the movie-going audience hasn’t read the Watchmen series. So why would Snyder make a film so devotionally geared toward fanboys and fangirls? It’s equally surprising that the film earned top spot at the box office this weekend. Such a grand, three hour epic based on amoral superheroes doesn’t seem like the type of fare to compete with “Medea Goes to Jail.”

The saving grace of this strangely plotted, unevenly paced movie is that the characters are all interesting, each being flawed in some way. Rorschach, played brilliantly by former child actor Jackie Earle Haley, is perhaps the best feature. At times dryly humorous and downright insane, this heroic psychopath unites the film’s occasionally flimsy storyline. Patrick Wilson, and his amazing butt, also does a good job as the square, nerdy Nite Owl II.

Dr. Manhattan is an interesting character, as well. At first, I was put off by the big, buff, blue giant and his soft, effeminate voice. But he eventually grew on me, in part because he suffers from a bad case of the emo. If I were an indestructible human, I don’t think I would be nearly that sad all the time.

I was extremely disappointed in the female lead, Silk Spectre II. Malin Ackerman is horrid in this movie. She can’t act. Perhaps she does well as eye candy, apart from her humongous mole, but she really needs to learn how to deliver lines properly. She was even more distracting than Dr. Manhattan’s exposed smurfy genitals.

The film is an extremely faithful adaptation of the beloved graphic novel, and is definitely worth seeing. I might have to watch it again, just to fully appreciate it.