Watchmen (2009)

In an alternate 1985 where former superheroes exist, the murder of a colleague sends active vigilante Rorschach into his own sprawling investigation, uncovering something that could completely change the course of history as we know it.

Director:

Zack Snyder

Writers:

David Hayter (screenplay), Alex Tse (screenplay),

Stars:

Malin Akerman, Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson

5 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Malin Akerman	...	Laurie Jupiter / Silk Spectre II
Billy Crudup	...	Dr. Manhattan / Jon Osterman
Matthew Goode	...	Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias
Jackie Earle Haley	...	Rorschach
Jeffrey Dean Morgan	...	Edward Blake / Comedian
Patrick Wilson	...	Dan Dreiberg / Nite Owl
Carla Gugino	...	Sally Jupiter / Silk Spectre
Matt Frewer	...	Moloch
Stephen McHattie	...	Hollis Mason
Laura Mennell	...	Janey Slater
Rob LaBelle	...	Wally Weaver
Gary Houston	...	John McLaughlin
James M. Connor	...	Pat Buchanan (as James Micheal Connor)
Mary Ann Burger	...	Eleanor Clift
John Shaw	...	Doug Roth

Storyline

In a gritty and alternate 1985 the glory days of costumed vigilantes have been brought to a close by a government crackdown, but after one of the masked veterans is brutally murdered an investigation into the killer is initiated. The reunited heroes set out to prevent their own destruction, but in doing so discover a deeper and far more diabolical plot.

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Plot Keywords:

vigilante | murder | investigation | conspiracy | usa | 

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Taglines:

This city is afraid of me. I've seen its true face.

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Genres:

Action | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Watchmen: The IMAX Experience

Filming Locations:

Bloedel Floral Conservatory, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$130,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£3,243,001 (UK) (6 March 2009)

Gross:

$107,503,316 (USA) (22 May 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Legendary Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

162 min 186 min (Director's Cut) 215 min (Ultimate Cut)

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Zack Snyder based his storyboards for the film on the panels of the actual graphic novel. He has stated that in order to be true to the source when adapting a graphic novel to the screen, the original visual art should be respected as much as the written portion. Snyder personally asked Dave Gibbons, the novel's artist, to design the first teaser film poster. Gibbons enthusiastically agreed and designed the poster to have subtle visual clues hinting at the film's plot. When casting the film, each actor was presented with a script and a copy of the book. They were allowed to carry the latter on set and re-write dialog to better match that of the source material. Dozens of scenes reenact panels from the novel. A good example is Rorschach squatting on the windowsill about to enter The Comedian's apartment near the start of the film.

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Goofs

High Density (as shown by the second hole) 3.5" floppy disks weren't introduced until 1987.

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Quotes

Adrian Veidt: Dan. A world united in peace... there had to be sacrifice.
Dan Dreiberg: No! You haven't idealized mankind but you've... you've deformed it! You mutilated it. That's your legacy. That's the real practical joke.

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Crazy Credits

The company logos are black-on-yellow, with text set in Futura Condensed, the font used for titles throughout the graphic novel and film.

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Connections

Referenced in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: The Back-up Plan/The Losers/Paper Man (2010)

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Soundtracks

"First We Take Manhattan"
Written and Performed by Leonard Cohen
Courtesy of Columbia Records and Sony Music Entertainment (Canada)
By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment

User Reviews

My favorite movie ever?

For over 25 years now, I have cited Blade Runner as my favorite movie of all time. After seeing Watchmen, I may have to reconsider.

First, I'm glad I went to see the movie alone. I've heard so many comments focused on a blue dick, or the length of the movie, or some other such nonsense, that I'm sure watching it with someone would have been a constant barrage of commentary and complaint. And no, that's not Javier Bardem.

Yes, the movie is long; nearly three hours. But, unlike the dreadfully insipid Titanic, at the end of this movie I wasn't asking for those three hours of my life back. And, as with all such movies, you must be able to look beyond the literal.

Watchmen is iconic and iconoclastic, deconstructionist and revisionist, laden with allegory and allusion. Consider, for example, the character Ozymandias. I'm wondering how many people who viewed the film ever even heard of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem by the same name. The character even quotes the poem on a plinth in his Antarctic lair. The allusion is amazing. Here's the full quote;

And on the pedestal these words appear -- "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.'

Clearly one must see the allusion to the work, in this case, of a superhero who hopes to leave mankind a lasting legacy, but realizes in the back of his mind that everything is eventually lost in time. Ozymandias was the first poem I ever examined from an expositional point of view, and I was blown away. The use of it in this movie is equally impactful.

Then there is Dr. Manhattan, named, of course, for the Manhattan Project, which yielded the atomic bomb. His character is an allegory for God, and his relationship with man mirrors the apparent detachment with which God sees suffering in the world He created. The deity reference is reinforced often, and one thinks of Oppenheimer's citation of the Bhagavad-Gita, in which Vishnu takes on a godly form and says, "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

In an expository scene in the second act, Dr. Manhattan has a sort of recollection of his life. His account is dizzyingly elliptical, since he does not see time as linear the way others do. This scene has the lyrical feel of my favorite piece of fiction, Alan Lightman's almost unbearably beautiful Einstein's Dreams, and the reference to Einstein cannot be ignored.

But the real beauty of Watchmen is the moral diversity of its superheroes. Each is flawed in different ways, allowing us to inhabit different ethical perspectives, intellectually at least, and witness their consequences. Everything from Rorshach's refusal to compromise, which makes him a doomed fugitive, to the ultimate compromise envisioned by Ozymandias, who can dispassionately evaluate scenarios where millions of lives are sacrificed, calls into question our most cherished beliefs. Where does it leave you? Well, that's for you to decide.

From a purely entertainment perspective, Watchmen is stunning. The visuals are state of the art, and do not suffer from the sort of mental rejection I have for some movies that present too many special effects to swallow at once as reality. And Watchmen doesn't suffer from Hollywood's apparent fascination with camp in comic book movies. Camp works to some degree in Spiderman, since he's a somewhat humorous character to begin with. But the excess of camp rendered the Fantastic Four sequel unwatchable. Watchman proves that superheroes can use more subtle forms of humor, such as irony, without devolving into camp for cheap laughs.

And the music, oh, the music. If you didn't grow up in the 60's and 70's, you will surely miss some of the impact, but don't worry. Even a second hand recollection of such iconic tunes will suffice. I am reminded of the painfully awful Across the Universe, which couldn't even pull together a decent movie built around the greatest catalog in modern music. Watchmen does it in spades.

I LOL'd, I cried. The people in the theatre applauded at the end. I vowed to wait 24 hours before writing a review to see if my euphoria passed. It hasn't.