Well, hmm. . . Yeah!!!

Rating: 9/10 (9 March 2009)

Since the very first murmur of "Watchmen" being made into a movie, there has been doubt and excitement running around my mind. Doubt, the graphic novel, as many have said, is cruel, down to earth, incredibly dense, and a lot to take in. I heard it described as the riskiest super hero movie, ever to be made. Plus the ending of the film is not for the "Spiderman" and "Fantastic 4" lovers. It's incredibly (love that word) dark, and esoteric in its own sense. Those were my only doubts. My excitement, coming from mostly Zach Snyder, possibly one of my all time favorite director, which each of his films play through my mind constantly. I sometimes watch each one several times a week, just to psycho-analyze it. (yes, I'm a film maker)And he makes a lot of smart moves in difficult places. The other thing, getting me pumped was. . . well. . .Rorschach, I know, I'm a sucker for a bad ass, but he was one a huge part of me seeing the movie. I didn't even pay any mind to the "R" rating until the movie started and went "Woah, how Snyder-esquire" And Snyder used the crap out of his "300" style fighting. Bad thing? not necessarily, it's almost his signature in a way. . . Before I go any further, I just have to ask. . What the hell is with the soundtrack. I don't think I've ever seen a soundtrack. . . as unique as this. I can see what was trying to be done with it, and I'm all for dark humor, and that form of Sarcasm, but the silly music got old after a while. There could have been a better soundtrack for this movie, obviously, me, being a metal-head, could have definitely used a little metal, and heavier music. But seeing as it didn't happen, I'll stop with the "What If's" and move on. The Special effects were jut wonderful, if I ever get excited for a movie, I usually look up info, and videos prior to the release of said film, and I sometimes learn a lot about how it's made. And I have to say, Zach Snyder has always been very revolutionary with his tactics, but this film took it to a new level. The whole time before the movie came out, I was wondering how they would do Rorshach's ever changing mask. Or Dr.Manhattan's. . . glowiness. . .ess. One thing about Manhattan, erm, nudity, was that it wasn't overly accentuated, or wasn't trying to be made vague either, which was very well done. It was a subtle mix between "in your face"(hahaha) "Don't look at his wiener". The violence can be described only as. . . gratuitous (another great word). Again, staying true to the Snyder mantra. It was at time, a bit over done, the prison arm-cutting scene. Made me cringe and smile at the same time. Not a lot of violent scenes can make me cringe. (I'm a Saw fan. . .soooo)Manhattan exploding people was a little twisted (loved it) and Rorshach's less than heroic tactics of disposing of villains. This all spelled "R" ( Not to mention the porno-like "300" style sex scene)But, then again, I don't think a film adaption of Watchmen could be any other rating. In the end, I'm not going to go to deep into it, but I was very impressed with it, not only as a standalone film, but also as a wonderful adaption. Zach Snyder, my good friend. . . Keep it up. :D -Sam Miller