Watchmen

Starring: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson
Directed by: Zach Snyder
Adapted from graphic novel by: Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons

The movie starts off with Edward Blake aka The Comedian, a member of the defunct masked hero group The Watchmen, getting assaulted and killed in his apartment. The motive of the death of The Comedian is a mystery, but Rorschach, another member of The Watchmen starts to investigate the incident. He warns the other members such as Nite Owl 2, Silk Spectre 2, Dr. Manhattan, and Ozymandias to be aware that there might be a plot to kill masked superheroes. As Rorschach probes deeper, he uncovers something more gruesome that will shake the very core of their own group.

I haven't read the graphic novel before I saw the movie, but I was very much aware of the reputation of Alan Moore's classic. Touted as the greatest graphic novel ever, it has garnered critical acclaim from comic fans to the mainstream press.

And I have become a big fan. I can say that this is probably the best "hero movie" I've ever watched, edging out the Dark Knight. But that can attribute more because of the story of The Watchmen which was adapted straight from Moore's graphic novel. Yes, Zach Snyder has done a wonderful job of staying faithful to the comics, and that's a lot to say since The Watchmen was touted as "unfilmable"--and here's Snyder's adaptation which have done the comics justice, but with faults of course.

About the actors, I had mixed reactions. The guy who played the Comedian (Morgan) and Roschach (Haley) were great! The others were decent, but Goode's Ozymandias didn't quite cut it for me (he's still my favorite Watchmen though). All in all, its ok.

Then the cinematography. Now this takes the cake. This is Snyder's specialty. He captured most of the memorable parts of the comics and adapted it into the movie faithfully! Though his slo-mo fight scenes might be a "love it or hate it" thing to others. I myself loved it!

And then the best part of the movie is, of course, the story. This is Alan Moore in his finest (even though he doesn't want anything to do with the movie adaptation). The whole story is so multi-layered and that the characters were developed with such depth. The Watchmen are not your typical superheroes: one of them is a rapist who shoots pregnant women dead, one is a murderous psychopath, and one is impotent! These 'heroes' pretty much reflects society. They are just normal human beings (with the exception of Manhattan who have genuine powers caused by an accident) who deals with society's issues. They are so fleshed out that you can't decide whether to hate them, or love them.

All in all, Snyder pretty much stayed faithful to the original story but with modifications (to be able to cram it into a 3 hour movie). For the die hard comic fans, sad to say that the "squid" is not in the movie... but another "squid" was included as a nod to the original.

I, personally, liked the film. It's three hour long but it kept my interest for the whole duration of the movie. And that's saying a lot since I was sooo tired that day we watched the movie... I was actually telling myself to go sleep nalang since I can watch it again next time naman, pero I was so engrossed with it that my sleepiness went away. Hahaha!

For the casual movie goers and people who haven't read the comics, they might not like the movie as its 3 hour long and might get lost with the plot (i just heard from a friend that she didn't like the movie because "mabagal ang pacing"). It is, after all, a 12 issue comics crammed into a 3 hour movie. Also, as I've said, this is not your typical superhero movie. People tend to get disappointed when they expect something like their "friendly neighborhood hero" who never fails to save the day. This movie is VIOLENT, have SEX SCENES and NUDITY, and the heroes doesn't always do good (they might even do the opposite). Definitely deserves the R-18 rating! I love it! ;p Score: 10/10.

**Read the comics after watching the film! ;)