Snyder proves he has nothing to offer beyond visuals

Rating: 3/10 (28 July 2009)

As comic book movies have become more and more popular over the last decade or so, there has been a push to make them more "adult" in the sense that the audience can take the "drama" of the movies seriously. Of course, the standout example is "The Dark Knight," a movie many don't consider an action movie at all, but rather a "crime drama." Regardless of what people think of TDK, it is a movie that truly transcended the comic book fan - many people were interested in it, and dare I say pleased with it, who would never be interested in seeing the latest X- Men, Spider-man, Watchmen, etc. Putting comic book fans, and Alan Moore fans, aside, there is a general attitude towards comic book movies that they are something to be taken with a grain of salt - no matter how serious they may be or how much they have "grown up" while making the transition from page to screen.
Snyder is a true example of the MTV generation at work, and an example of how truly shallow this generation can be. "Watchmen" very badly wants to be an intellectual thriller driven by drama and acting more so than action - and it fails miserably.
This is a long movie. It is at its best when it turns into a music video, which is often. There are no flaws visually, but it is impossibly hard to take this story seriously (of course, Moore has to take some credit for that). The overall plot is not very sophisticated, despite the movie believing desperately that it is, and the drama just cannot be taken seriously. Imagine if Sam Raimi believed that emotional scenes between Tobey MacGuire and Kirsten Dunst were the most important aspect, and the aspect audiences most cared about, in Spider-man and you can pretty much imagine what this movie is about.
Quite frankly, it's dumb, which is 100% okay, but if Snyder just embraced this and carried himself like the "all visuals, no substance" director he truly is, this may have been a great movie. It's worth "seeing" this movie, but it would probably be more interesting as background visuals at a rave party than as an actual movie worth sitting down to watch. At least in that context, you might be spared Snyder's sad attempt to pretend he is Martin Scorcese and all the classic rock that serves as movie music, which only proves Snyder is a person that throughout his life has merely bought what is sold to him, but somehow thinks he is now a profound artist.
Good fight scenes, when they actually happen.