Watchmen: A Movie Review

Based on the graphic novel that is apparently on Time magazine top 100 books of all time, Watchmen follows the adventure of outlawed masked vigilantes and a radioactive electric blue naked man named Doctor Manhattan. The plot is pretty much that one of them is killed, the extremely neurotic one goes on a rampage to find out who did it, Dr. Manhattan goes away to Mars, and this other dude is trying to start a Utopia. Having finished the novel two days before seeing it, I remembered a lot of key plot points and the movie seemed to stay faithful to the book. But it was glorious as a movie as well.

I never told my parents that it was rated R...if they had been there, they would have thought: "For good reason." I am usually not a squeamish person, but I had to close my eyes and flinch a little during some scenes. Some I tried prepping for, such as the scene with Rorschach's first criminal investigation, but that did not work. But I am sure there are PG-13 rated movies with the same amount of gore and violence. Therefore, the real reason why it was rated R: Doctor Manhattan's blue penis. Not the rampant sex between various characters and the easy hookers walking down the streets of 1985-Manhattan. It was that blue penis. If there's any way to make most people uncomfortable, just unleash the penis. In the words of Forrest Gump: "And that's all I have to say about that."

The music was phenomal too. I mean, it was so appropriate during some scenes, especially the opening sequence. During others...it was hysterically funny. For those of you who have seen the movie, remember "Hallelujah"? The best though, was the "Flight of the Valkyries" theme when Doctor Manhattan destroyed people and things while in Vietnam. It was so epic and so appropriate but for whatever reason really funny. Speaking of the radioactive electric blue naked man, I liked his voice. Reading the novel, I sort of imagined it as distant and sort of innocent but marred by something dark. Billy Cruddup had the best voice for it, hands down. Initially, it might seem a bit awkward, considering his character is massively ripped. It works though.

Overall, I really liked the movie and would recommend it to anyone. The novel is great too...so great, that I used it in my SAT essay.

Rating: 9/10