Asleep on the Watch

Rating: 4/10 (14 March 2009)

WATCHMEN may be the most ambitious, sweeping superhero movie yet produced. It combines an almost painfully realistic social viewpoint, clearly drawn characters, and more than enough sound and visual effects to fill in the cracks. But at 163 minutes, the plot is often bogged down in flashbacks, and the plot itself can be flabby, at times. As for the action...I can't recall the kind of bristling excitement as for BATMAN RETURNS or IRON MAN; there are several strong sequences, but they lack a dimension of detail.
The action occurs in an '80s alternative historical context when Richard Nixon is going through his fourth term - a terrifying idea for any movie - but the make-up for nearly all the characters, including the commentators from Washington Week in Review, seem doughy and unreal. Only Henry Kissinger seems comes off as relatively realistic.
This was maybe the first time when I've been underwhelmed by an IMAX adaptation. In fact, both sound and visuals seem identical to what one would expect from a standard digital screening, with a dimension that at times seems almost analog.