Deep Meaning

Rating: 9/10 (19 March 2009)

I never read the graphic novel and ended up seeing the movie twice because I enjoyed it so much. The second time I caught the nuances I missed the first time around. This movie was truly thought provoking with its "Who's Watching the Watcmen?" theme and questions about the meaning of life itself. The meaning of life question was really embodied in the character of Dr. Manhattan, who was so powerful that he evolved to the point where mankind was less than nothing to him. He had a great line to Ozymandias, "the world's smartest man", at the end: "The world's smartest man is no more a threat to me than its smartest termite." Ozymandias takes extreme measures to save mankind, such as giving people cancer, killing a former teammate, and obliterating 15 million people and framing Dr. Manhattan in order to "save billions"! This begs the question raised in the beginning of the film: Who's watching the Watchmen? Who was he to judge which lives could be sacrificed to save mankind? Dr. Manhattan raised even deeper questions: If mankind did get wiped out, would the universe care or even notice? I recommend this for people who enjoy thought provoking movies and not just mindless drivel like the Fantastic Four or Transformers. There's plenty of action (Rorschach was my favorite character)...I would call this movie a cross between the Matrix and Sin City.