Ground breaking in many ways, but still makes you hark for old time superhero movies

Rating: 7/10 (24 March 2009)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
For many years, the 'Watchmen' guarded society and took care of the bad guys, until public opinion turned against them and they vanished from the public eye. Now, in 1985, former frontline member The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is found murdered and the old team start to wonder why. When an even bigger conspiracy to maybe murder more of them is unraveled, former members and some of their off-spring team together to search for the culprit before he strikes again, taking them down a deadly path where people they thought they could trust may turn out to be their deadliest enemies.
300 director Zack Snyder's take on the apparently (I don't think I was around when they came out!) hugely successful graphic comic books puts a subversive slant on the comic book genre. This market, almost exclusively aimed at the younger end of the cinema going population (and understandably so) is here given a lengthy, back story trouting treatment, saturated with blood splattered violence, graphic sex and strong language. The fantasy characters, with their masks, capes and costumes can't help but keep the viewer entrenched in the child like world the comic book is aimed at, and getting it such an adult rating is a risky gamble that could backfire as much as it could pay off.
Despite running in at nearly three hours and having little in the way of a discernible plot, Watchmen still managed the trick of never keeping me bored or looking at my watch during it. The visuals, special effects and action sequences are fantastic, and by the end you've certainly stuck with it long enough to feel thoroughly immersed in these character's histories, emotions and memoirs. But the film is following a modern trend by deviating away from the main story and taking up a lot of time digging up the history of the main characters to keep us involved in the story at hand, which only ends up serving the exact opposite, weighing the audience down with long winded mouths of dialogue that fail to flow off the tongue properly.
Comic book movies, even if they stretched in just over the two hour mark, used to be simple escapist entertainment which required no brain power, mainly for the under twelves who's minds were more suited to the fantasy element. Now they're all trying to be deep and meaningful, with most of the focus on back story and trying to be all clever and cynical at the same time. If they carry on like this, there's a real risk they could alienate some devoted followers who'll feel their market has been violated. ***