Not all superheroes are nice

Rating: 9/10 (13 August 2011)

When I saw just how long this film was I nearly decided to give it a miss but I am glad that I didn't as the two hours forty minutes flew past. Set in an alternative 1980s where President Nixon is in his third term and superheroes exist. This is not a happy reality though; the superheroes have retired and for the most part are living ordinary lives assuming they aren't dead or insane and the world is in the brink of nuclear war as the Soviet Union prepares to invade Afghanistan. Against this backdrop 'The Comedian' one of the heroes is murdered. Another of them, Rorschach, is determined to track down the killer before any more of them are killed. As he searches we are introduced to the rest of his group of superheroes, known as The Watchmen; we are shown their back-stories as well as learning what they are up to now; Dr. Manhattan is working on an energy source with his assistant the beautiful Laurie Jupiter, Adrian Veidt is the world's most intelligent man and Dan Dreiberg is living a comparatively normal life. Their search will lead them into extreme danger as well as teaching them some things about themselves that they did not know.
I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed this film; I really liked the film noir aesthetics such as the voice-overs and the consistently dark tone. These heroes may be super but many of them are not nice; in fact more then one of them are bordering on being sociopaths! There was a time when superhero films were for children; this certainly isn't as it includes some fairly extreme violence, swearing and even some sex and nudity. The acting was pretty solid throughout and the special effects were great; all to often the CGI used in action films looks too unbelievable but here I didn't find my suspension of disbelief broken even during the most impossible scenes. I can't comment on how true the film is to the original characters and story of the graphic novels as I haven't read any of them but as a stand-alone film I heartily recommend it.