Great Movie

Rating: 9/10 (9 March 2009)

The movie looks great and has excellent production values. It's an ensemble piece, with no main central character. The Watchmen are a band of superheroes who live in a violent and corrupt alternative 1980s universe. The film starts with an explanation of the bizarre world in which the story is set. A retired superhero called the Comedian is murdered. A former colleague, Rorschach, investigates his death. The back story of the main characters is explained and the plot slowly unravels. The film takes a while to get going, but it's worth the wait.
The Watchmen as a group are flawed but fascinating. Some of them are not much better than the bad guys they are trying to stop. Having grown up reading Marvel and DC comics in my pre-teen years, I found the Watchmen strangely compelling and more complex and interesting than any superhero movie I had seen recently. Batman and Spiderman seem like angst-ridden teenagers when compared to the characters in the Watchman.
The film has intellectual pretensions and poses some interesting philosophical questions. The acting is superb and Malin Akerman is very hot as Silk Spectre. It's a film that sticks in your mind and I'm looking forward to watching it again. Highly recommended.