Character-focused superhero epic is a cut above the rest

Rating: 8/10 (2 December 2016)

Despite being a big, overblown, bloated and occasionally dull film, WATCHMEN is one worth watching. That's because director Zach Snyder has been as faithful to Alan Moore's original graphic novel as he was to Frank Miller's when he made 300. This is a film made by a fan for the fans, so it's no surprise that those of us who don't read comics are going to be slightly bemused when watching this in places.
Anyway, it's a superhero movie that provides a refreshing change from the mild-mannered likes of Spider-Man and the X-Men franchises which are geared at a child audience. This one is a bleak, nihilistic adult production all the way, filled with graphic violence and sexuality in a complete turn about from your typical superhero yarn. It's also far more interesting in getting into the psychology of the characters and showing what's making them tick. The surprise is that these guys aren't good guys at all: they're either too human or hardly human at all, and as a unit they're hard to like. I can't help but think this a more realistic portrayal of what the role of a superhero would actually do to a person's mind than we usually see in cinemas.
Acting-wise, the cast is great. Honours especially go to Jackie Earle Haley, whose character Rorschach is a complete sociopath and yet the movie's most appealing character. Next up is Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who dies in the first scene but whose ethos and personality dominate the rest of the movie to come; he's fantastic. Kudos should also go to Billy Crudup, who undergoes the motion capture routine most famously used by Andy Serkis in his portrayal of Gollum in the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy; Crudup's cold, impersonal Dr Manhattan is one of the most bizarre and intriguing characters ever put on screen. I was less happy about the angsty problems faced by romantic couple Malin Akerman and Patrick Wilson, but there you go.
Of course, there are highly choreographed fight scenes here, as well as ships flying around and wonderful monuments on Mars; all of the trappings you'd expect from the genre. But it's the touches of character that make this difficult and worth a watch. Rorschach's confrontation of a serial killer in his home is a highlight, as is his brief sojourn in a tough jail. Okay, so the film ends with a whimper rather than a bang, and there are flaws that inevitably come from making such a hugely epic movie, but WATCHMEN is the intriguing oddity of the year.