Watchmen: Review

If The Dark Knight was the thinking-man's blockbuster then Watchmen is a character film wrapped up in blockbuster clothing. Based on the worshipped Alan Moore graphic novel, Watchmen is set in an alternate reality, where Nixon is serving his fourth term as president, Russia is poised on the nuclear button, and several former costumed heroes are adjusting to life hiding in plain sight.

Played by a film stealing Jackie Earle Haley, Rorschach, who makes Batman look like a girl guide, plumbs the depths of his righteous, empty, humanity to investigate the murder of former costumed vigilante, The Comedian. Propelling the narrative, the murder mystery uncovers the costumed heroes past and deconstructs them into the fragile, twisted, human-beings that hide beneath their masks.

Along with Haley, Patrick Wilson also gives a nuanced performance as the nebbish, inadequate, Nite Owl. And fan's of Grey's Anatomy may be shocked to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan brilliantly chewing his way through rape and murder as the existentialist Comedian; Hollywood, please give this man his own movie!

With each character lovingly cared for by director Zach Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, 300) their stories resonate with emotional honesty. In fact, it is within the extended set-pieces, usually the lynchpin of the "Summer Blockbuster" that the film occasionally falls flat; an over-the-top sex-scene set to Leonard Cohen's magnificent Hallelujah being particularly grating.

However, these are minor quibbles. Like the narrative, the art design is wonderfully dense and is itself a character within the film; from the bold title colours, to the ridiculously-sublime costumes, and a set design that has you breathing in the scent of rain-drenched pavements, this film screams class.

The squeamish should be warned that the film does not pull any punches; with Dr Manhattan's giggle-inducing, Day-Glo blue, super schlong, and scenes of brutal violence, the film has definitely earned its R-rating. But, everyone else should get themselves along to the cinema and err, watch the Watchmen (Sorry, I couldn't help it).