The year is 1985. The impending threat of nuclear war between America and Russia hangs heavy on the thoughts of everyone. President Nixon assures the country is safe from annihilation as long as the super-hero Dr. Manhattan stands behind the USA. Meanwhile, Eddie Blake (The Comedian) is thrown out of his penthouse window. As disaster looms, the masked vigilante Rorschach tries to bring his old group, The Watchmen, together to solve the mystery of who murdered their fallen comrade. But when the world could end at any minute, how important is the death of one disturbed man anyway?Watchmen is a phenomenal movie! Set as a view if super-humans existed in the real world, the movie is a disguised study of the human condition. This is as much a comic book movie as the graphic novel the film was based on is a comic book. Sex, violence, and introspection is prevalent throughout. Underneath all that, Watchmen is also a great crime story as well. For fans of the graphic novel, the movies contains about 85% of the story with very little changes.
Without A-list movie stars, the actors all disappear into their roles. The characters from the novel come to life on the screen. Malin Akerman is smoking hot as the Silk Spectre. As for drawbacks to this film, Dr. Manhattan (played by Billy Crudup) is nude through 90% of the movie. This is somewhat unsettling, but the movie is meant to be disturbing. My only real gripe is the music picked for the movie was a little on the nose. Overall, I highly recommend this movie whether or not you've read the novel. That said, I think a large percentage of people probably won't get an intellectual comic book movie and I probably wouldn't let anyone under 20 see the film. Rated R Run Time:162 minutes Grade: A
