Watchmen the movie

Ok so here comes my inevitable Watchmen review. Depending on how well you know me one of my loves in life is comic books. I’ve always enjoyed them from when I was a kid reading the Beano to an adult reading Manga or Graphic Novels. When I was in University I wrote my dissertation on images of women in Manga and western girls comics. If anyone is interested to know more about that project then just get in touch with me via the site.

Anyway although I’d never actually read Watchmen – I’ve read other books of Alan Moore’s there are quite alot of them! I was aware of the story prior to going into see the film.

Watchmen is essentially the story of a group of superheroes who find that the realities of life are much harder than life in comic books really makes out. I’ve always loved that about Moore’s writing that he takes certain characters and gives them dimension rather than it being a flat story of good vs. evil. Quite often you end up sympathising with the bad guys or rethinking your opinions of the good as the story moves along perhaps without even realising it. It reflects the lapses in judgement that we all have as people on a day to day basis. The characters of Watchmen are no exception to this and the story takes twists and turns through various flashbacks and happenings during real time showing how the past has affected each person.

Each character represents different viewpoints or aspects of the human condition such as youth, love, truth, violence. Here these options constantly clash with each other giving the story its momentum and questions such big issues as what it is to be human.

If your unfamiliar with Moore’s work this may come as a bit of a shock to the system, it isn’t a traditional good guys vs. bad guys story. With its foot in a alternative past during the cold war nixon era its distopian view of the past offers us in the future an insight into where we are now. Life will always be difficult but people can and do strive to adapt.

Watchmen is also a visual and auditory feast, playing off the traditional bright coloured superhero costumes and a soundtrack which perfectly captured the feeling of the film. I’d recommend going to see it even if quite a few of the critics have berated it.

For example one review stated “The set pieces are surprisingly flat and the characters have little resonance. Fight scenes don’t hold a candle to Asian action. Even the digital effects are ho-hum. Armageddon never looked so cheesy.” Read the rest here

Who knows if we’ll ever get to see anymore Alan Moore films in cinemas I for one hope so, even if they did take out the giant time inter-dimensional squid at the end.

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