A stand-out superhero movie

Rating: 9/10 (30 July 2009)

Few days back I watched the movie "Watchmen". I had picked that movie purely for lack of other choices because I didn't want to see another super hero movie. To my pleasant surprise I loved this movie.
To start with, I was taken-in with the concept that all the super heroes no more than mortal humans with imperfections embedded in them. They were mere vigilantes dressed up in funny costumes. There is of course one exception to them, Dr Manhatten, who out of an accident in a nuclear laboratory becomes something of a super human with quantum mechanical powers.
To truly love this movie you need to have some knowledge of 1970-1980 history. You need to know about President Richard Nixon, Secretary Henry Kissinger, the cold war tension between US and then USSR and about the Vietnam war. You also need to have some idea of quantum mechanics. The movie stands out from rest of super hero movies in its portrayal of characters. There is no evil-minded villain from whom the heroes have to rescue the world. The heroes do not subscribe to the idea that every human life is equally valuable. But they all in general try to have rational and moral view of their own albeit the minor differences in opinion. Although I would not totally agree with the ending, I would still prefer such an ending to a run-of-the mill childish super-hero saved the day ending.
To summarize, the movie is not for the regular super-man or spider-man loving fans. This is for somewhat more rational fans who are perfectly OK to accept imperfections in their heroes.