the watchmen movie reviews

A quantum man in a universe of mere masked marvels

Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman), Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley).

After the revelation of “ The Dark Knight ,” here is “Watchmen,” another bold exercise in the liberation of the superhero movie. It’s a compelling visceral film — sound, images and characters combined into a decidedly odd visual experience that evokes the feel of a graphic novel. It seems charged from within by its power as a fable; we sense it’s not interested in a plot so much as with the dilemma of functioning in a world losing hope.

That world is America in 1985, with Richard Nixon in the White House and many other strange details, although this America occupies a parallel universe in which superheroes and masked warriors operate. The film confronts a paradox that was always there in comic books: The heroes are only human. They can be in only one place at a time (with a possible exception to be noted later). Although a superhero is able to handle one dangerous situation, the world has countless dangerous situations, and the super resources are stretched too thin. Faced with law enforcement anarchy, Nixon has outlawed superhero activity, quite possibly a reasonable action. Now the murder of the enigmatic vigilante the Comedian ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan ) has brought the Watchmen together again. Who might be the next to die?

Dr. Manhattan ( Billy Crudup ), the only one with superpowers in the literal sense, lives outside ordinary time and space, the forces of the universe seeming to coil beneath his skin. Ozymandias ( Matthew Goode ) is the world’s smartest man. The Nite Owl ( Patrick Wilson ) is a man isolated from life by his mastery of technology. Rorshach ( Jackie Earle Haley ) is a man who finds meaning in patterns that may only exist in his mind. And Silk Spectre II ( Malin Akerman ) lives with one of the most familiar human challenges, living up to her parents, in this case the original Silk Spectre ( Carla Gugino ). Dr. Manhattan is both her lover and a distant father figure living in a world of his own.

These characters are garbed in traditional comic book wardrobes — capes, boots, gloves, belts, masks, props, anything to make them one of a kind. Rorshach’s cloth mask, with its endlessly shifting inkblots, is one of the most intriguing superhero masks ever, always in constant motion, like a mood ring of the id. Dr. Manhattan is contained in a towering, muscular, naked blue body; he was affected by one of those obligatory secret experiments gone wild. Never mind the details; what matters is that he possibly exists at a quantum level, at which particles seem exempt from the usual limitations of space and time. If it seems unlikely that quantum materials could assemble into a tangible physical body, not to worry. Everything is made of quantum particles, after all. There’s a lot we don’t know about them, including how they constitute Dr. Manhattan, so the movie is vague about his precise reality. I was going to say Silk Spectre II has no complaints, but actually she does.

The mystery of the Comedian’s death seems associated with a plot to destroy the world. The first step in the plot may be to annihilate the Watchmen, who are All That Stand Between, etc. It is hard to see how anyone would benefit from the utter destruction of the planet, but remember that in 1985 there was a nuclear standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union that threatened exactly that. Remember “Better Dead Than Red”? There were indeed cold warriors who preferred to be dead rather than red, reminding me of David Merrick ’s statement, “It’s not enough for me to win. My enemies must lose.”

In a cosmic sense it doesn’t really matter who pushed the Comedian through the window. In a cosmic sense, nothing really matters, but best not meditate on that too much. The Watchmen and their special gifts are all the better able to see how powerless they really are, and although all but Dr. Manhattan are human and back the home team, their powers are not limitless. Dr. Manhattan, existing outside time and space, is understandably remote from the fate of our tiny planet, although perhaps he still harbors some old emotions.

Those kinds of quandaries engage all the Watchmen, and are presented in a film experience of often fearsome beauty. It might seem improbable to take seriously a naked blue man, complete with discreet genitalia, but Billy Crudup brings a solemn detachment to Dr. Manhattan that is curiously affecting. Does he remember how it felt to be human? No, but hum a few bars. … Crudup does the voice and the body language, which is transformed by software into a figure of considerable presence.

“Watchmen” focuses on the contradiction shared by most superheroes: They cannot live ordinary lives but are fated to help mankind. That they do this with trademarked names and appliances goes back to their origins in Greece, where Zeus had his thunderbolts, Hades his three-headed dog, and Hermes his winged feet. Could Zeus run fast? Did Hermes have a dog? No.

That level of symbolism is coiling away beneath all superheroes. What appeals with Batman is his humanity; despite his skills, he is not supernormal. “Watchmen” brings surprising conviction to these characters as flawed and minor gods, with Dr. Manhattan possessing access to godhead on a plane that detaches him from our daily concerns — indeed, from days themselves. In the film’s most spectacular scene, he is exiled to Mars, and in utter isolation reimagines himself as a human, and conjures (or discovers? I’m not sure) an incredible city seemingly made of crystal and mathematical concepts. This is his equivalent to 40 days in the desert, and he returns as a savior.

The film is rich enough to be seen more than once. I plan to see it again, this time on IMAX, and will have more to say about it. I’m not sure I understood all the nuances and implications, but I am sure I had a powerful experience. It’s not as entertaining as “The Dark Knight,” but like the “Matrix” films, LOTR and “The Dark Knight,” it’s going to inspire fevered analysis. I don’t want to see it twice for that reason, however, but mostly just to have the experience again.

Ebert’s blog entry on “Watchmen” and the quantum existence of Dr. Manhattan:

http://tinyurl.com/aby7cp

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

• Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach
• Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman
• Carla Gugino as Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Edward Blake/Comedian
• Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias
• Malin Akerman as Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre II
• Patrick Wilson as Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl
• Matt Frewer as Moloch the Mystic
• Gary Houston as John McLaughlin
• David Hayter

Directed by

• Zack Snyder

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Watchmen: Chapter 1 (2024) Movie Review – A faithful adaptation of a masterful comic

A faithful adaptation of a masterful comic

Back in September 1986, Alan Moore released one of the best comic book series of all time, Watchmen. The “anti-superhero” book was deeply thematic, gritty, full of noir-detective narrative threads and brought together a memorable group of characters. Eventually released as a 12-part book series, Watchmen won a Hugo Award among other acolytes, and has seen a couple of adaptations on the big and small screen too.

The Zack Snyder movie is pretty decent, while the Watchmen TV series is a wholly different, and far more artistic, abstract vision of Moore’s book. That one is a love/hate affair for sure.

Fast forward to 2024 and Watchmen is back, this time coming in the form of an animated film with DC Animations. Split into two parts and using CG Animation, Watchmen is a tale of two sides of the same coin. Or, well, a smiley faced badge, if you will. The film adheres very strictly to the source material, with Chapter 1 playing out almost beat for beat the same as the graphic novel.

There are a couple of tangents in this first part, including the comic strip segments and Dr Manhattan’s origin, all thrown in together around this investigative crime thriller and character exploration for what it means to be human – and live in a society like this.

For those unaware, Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 America. Heroes are a part of everyday life but when one of his former comrades in the Minutemen group is murdered, Rorschach sets out to discover who killed The Comedian. In doing so, he uncovers a deadly plot to kill all past and present superheroes. 

Desperate to enlist the help of his retired associates, Rorschach eventually tumbles further down the rabbit hole, biting off way more than he can chew as the truth is revealed in all its ugly glory.

The story itself is a great read and the film does do an effective job of emulating the same style and tone seen in the comics. However, the film also brings with it some of the baggage too. This is an adaptation that could have done with some sharper editing to really make this one zing and why they’ve reordered some of the flashbacks – like that aforementioned Dr Manhattan one – is beyond me.

It also doesn’t help that the animation itself is very hit or miss. While I understand why so many studios are using CG animation nowadays, Watchmen is crying out for the same noir, hand-drawn art-style from the comics to make its way onto screen. There’s a distinct lack of shadow work, and it all feels a bit too sterile and manufactured.

There’s one scene, for example, where Rorschach drops a badge on the side, but the surface is smooth, and there’s no shadow under the badge.

This same issue extends to character models, the backgrounds and even some of the character animations too. It’s certainly frustrating because so much of this adaptation manages to capture the mood of the comics that it almost feels like a betrayal not to get the artwork right from the off.

Furthermore, this also compounds the other problem with this adaptation – the voice acting. The acting all round is an absolute mixed bag and while some voices nail their distinct characters, others do sound a bit off. I’m personally not convinced that Rorschach needed that gravelly of a voice. The way it’s described in the graphic novel is monotone and creepy but the “Where’s Rachel?!” shouty Batman/Wolverine-esque style doesn’t quite work. It’s not a dealbreaker but it’s definitely something worth bearing in mind.

However, those little gripes aside, Watchmen: Chapter 1 is a solid enough adaptation. It does successfully capture the essence of what made the comics so good, bringing together the first 5 chapters of that strip in all their glory. The end point is the perfect place to leave things too, with the second half likely to really pick things up in a big way.

Whether you’re a fan of Watchmen or not, DC Animation have finally delivered a worthy adaptation to prop up next to the comic series. It’s not perfect – especially with the animation style and the voice acting – but if you can look past that, you’re sure to have a good time with this.

Feel free to check out more of our movie reviews here!

• Verdict - 7/10 7/10

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Common Sense Media Review

Not a superhero movie; a dark, gory, complex morality tale.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this non-animated adaptation of the beloved cult graphic novel isn't just another superhero story and is absolutely not for kids. Even the director has said that he purposely made the movie intensely gory to make a point about the consequences of violent behavior. Sex is paired with graphic…

Why Age 18+?

Several intense martial arts fight scenes with close-up, slo-mo shots of limbs b

Tie-in to vast quantities of related merchandise. Almost nothing except for a fl

Plenty of swearing, including "goddamn," "f--k," "s--t," "prick," "bastard," and

A few long, intimate close-up sex scenes include partial male and female nudity.

Some characters smoke; one has a fondness for cigars. Several scenes feature bar

Any Positive Content?

Dark, complex messages about issues like morality, humankind's basic nature, and

Unlike traditional superhero films, which draw clear lines between the evil vill

Violence & Scariness

Several intense martial arts fight scenes with close-up, slo-mo shots of limbs breaking, faces being smashed into walls and furniture, and people being stabbed, punched, and kicked across the room. The film opens with a man being beaten severely and then thrown from a high rise window to his death. A woman is savagely beaten and almost raped. One character seems to relish carnage, whether it's on the battlefield or during an urban riot, while another shows no emotions as he methodically attacks people in inventive and painful ways, including pouring boiling oil on one attacker, sawing off someone's hands and electrocuting him, and taking a meat cleaver to a child rapist. A young child's corpse is eaten by dogs, and the ashes of the rest of her remains are shown in a furnace.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Tie-in to vast quantities of related merchandise. Almost nothing except for a fleeting glance of Fuji Film (remember the non-digital camera days?).

Plenty of swearing, including "goddamn," "f--k," "s--t," "prick," "bastard," and other choice words.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A few long, intimate close-up sex scenes include partial male and female nudity. The only character who's computer enhanced wears no clothing at all and walks around with his penis visible (it's blue, but it's definitely a penis). A prostitute propositions customers on the sidewalk, graphically flashing her breasts. Porn magazine Hustler is visible on a coffee table.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Some characters smoke; one has a fondness for cigars. Several scenes feature bars and drinking. One woman seems to have a drinking problem and is rarely seen without a drink in her hand.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Dark, complex messages about issues like morality, humankind's basic nature, and the specter of mass global destruction. There's not much here that falls into clearly "right" or "wrong" categories; it's all muddled and ambiguous.

Positive Role Models

Unlike traditional superhero films, which draw clear lines between the evil villains and the valiant heroes, the characters here are all very complex antisuperheroes , with complicated motivations and sometimes questionable ends. They all believe they're doing the right thing, though to accomplish their goals they may have to break the law, beat up a few people, or worse; the climax presents a huge moral dilemma, as one character concocts a heinous plot aimed at achieving a noble aim -- but at an enormous cost.

Parents need to know that this non-animated adaptation of the beloved cult graphic novel isn't just another superhero story and is absolutely not for kids. Even the director has said that he purposely made the movie intensely gory to make a point about the consequences of violent behavior. Sex is paired with graphic violence in a near-rape scene, and characters act in ways that seem highly amoral. They also swear constantly (including "f--k" and "s--t"), smoke, and drink. There's plenty of nudity, with some very graphic sex scenes and a computer-enhanced character who walks around nude (sure, he's blue, but he still has a normal male anatomy). Both the novel and the movie examine complex issues of morality, humankind's basic nature, and the specter of nuclear holocaust. Not light stuff, and certainly not for anyone who expects a simple good vs. evil story. If your teens can tackle heavy philosophical questions, they might be mature enough to make sense of the film's complicated plot. Finally, the movie clocks in at 2 hours 41 minutes most of which are chock full of in-your-face violence, darkness, and peril. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (84)
• Kids say (108)

Based on 84 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In an alternate version of 1985 -- Richard Nixon is still president, and Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union have never been hotter -- a surprisingly fit senior citizen is thrown from a high rise to his death. The victim turns out to be the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a gun-toting retired crime fighter known for his keen bloodlust. His former colleagues come out of hiding to find his killer, led by Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), a cloaked avenger with a blotchy, shifty mask. Rorschach thinks the murderer is working down a list of crusaders, and he and the rest of the crew -- including Nite Owl ( Patrick Wilson ), Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), and Silk Sceptre II ( Malin Akerman ) -- are on the hook. Even Dr. Manhattan ( Billy Crudup ), the only one among them who's truly gifted with superpowers, may be in danger. Who's watching the Watchmen?

Is It Any Good?

Purists, take heart: This big-screen adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' revered graphic novel hews fairly closely to the written page, right down to the darkly beautiful world it renders. But that may be its biggest downfall. For no matter how respectful it is to the novel (save for a tweak here and there, including a simplification of the ending), WATCHMEN is curiously unenergetic. Much of it is told in flashback, and the plot moves from one back story to the next. Plus, the dialogue falls flat -- lines like "Here I am, spilling my guts to my archenemy" are best left on the page -- and scenes meant to be climactic are decidedly not. That's not to say that director Zack Snyder didn't try. In fact, he amps up the fight sequences so much that they're martial arts-movie-worthy and even gratuitously violent. That's actually a departure: Watchmen is famously cerebral -- the action isn't the point, and by focusing on the superheroes' battle prowess, the film undercuts the novel's attempt to humanize them.

The cast is uneven. As Sceptre II, Akerman is wanting. She struggles to plumb depths and pales in scenes that pair her with the deeply serious (and, not surprisingly, first-rate) Crudup. But even he is outshined by Haley, whose continued success is heartening (it's good to see him cement the comeback he achieved with Little Children ). Haley's Little Children co-star, Wilson, is also fantastic, perhaps because he, too, has opted for a palpably realistic performance, instead of the stylized one that Goode unfortunately adopts. All of that said, Watchmen deserves to be watched. The special effects are impressive, the cinematography admirable. Just don't expect the same thrill that fans of the novel must have experienced when they first cracked open the book.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the movie's portrayal of human nature. Are people good? Bad? All of the above?

If your teens have read the book , ask them how the movie is different -- and what impact having real people in the roles has on the story.

According to director Zack Snyder in an interview with Entertainment Weekly , "I wanted to make sure everyone understood: This is not a kid movie. Violence has consequences. And doing that with a PG-13 just dilutes that message." Do you agree? Does the violence in this movie have more impact because it's not illustrated?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 6, 2009
• On DVD or streaming : November 14, 2023
• Cast : Billy Crudup , Malin Akerman , Patrick Wilson
• Director : Zack Snyder
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 163 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language
• Last updated : September 15, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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‘Watchmen’ Review: A Dazzling Reinvention of a Landmark Comic

By Alan Sepinwall

Alan Sepinwall

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen landed on comic book fans in the fall of 1986 with the force of a thunderbolt, if not that of a giant psychic interdimensional squid. (You kind of had to be there .) The series was, among other things, a murder mystery, an alternate history commenting on that particular era of Cold War pre-apocalyptic paranoia, an extremely R-rated superhero story, and, oh yeah, a ruthless deconstruction of superhero comic books. Across 12 issues, Moore and Gibbons dismantled, harshly examined, then garishly reassembled every structural and thematic device the medium had been using all the way back to the birth of Batman and Superman. What kind of person, the book asked, would put on colorful tights and a mask to go beat people up in public? How different would our world be if people with godlike powers existed? Watchmen interrogated everything, down to the way individual panels were traditionally laid out. It was a comic book for adults, not just because of the sex, the language, and the excessively graphic violence, but because of its themes and the way it questioned the very nature and purpose of stories like it.

Watchmen , along with Frank Miller’s Batman story The Dark Knight Returns , utterly transformed the image and aspirations of the comics industry. They birthed the perpetual cycle of “Zap! Bam! POW! Comics Aren’t Just For Kids Anymore!” headlines, and inspired other creators to tackle more mature content. But most of Watchmen ‘s creative descendants only skimmed along the surface of what made it so radical. They adopted the sex, the violence, and the sense of self-loathing about superheroes themselves, in a desperate cry to be taken seriously, but lacked Moore and Gibbons’ deeper ambitions. At the same time, Watchmen itself began to gather a reputation as unfilmable, with directors as varied as Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky, and Paul Greengrass trying and failing to make a movie out of it. Eventually, Zack Snyder succeeded with his 2009 movie version. Snyder’s take has its moments (particularly an opening credits montage inserting superheroes into iconic American images across four decades), but in faithfully adapting the comic’s pulpy plot, it missed all the conceptual daring that was the important part. Characters who were meant to illustrate the absurd arrested development of superheroics were instead badasses having fights with bullet-time effects. It was like someone proving they could trace over a Picasso painting, without understanding what the original artist was doing with his strange rendering of the human anatomy.

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Even the Snyder film’s most ardent supporters admitted the source material would have been better served as a premium cable series, which would have room for both the story and its many weird flourishes, and for the larger questions the comic raised. A decade after Snyder, Watchmen has finally landed at the screen home where it probably always belonged, HBO, but in an unexpected fashion. Damon Lindelof , the inspired, divisive mind behind Lost and The Leftovers — two shows with a generous helping of Watchmen DNA already — is in charge. Rather than simply retell the comic story at greater length, Lindelof has taken an enormous swing. He’s sidestepped adaptation altogether and created a sequel set in the same universe as the comic, that is faithful to the events of that story but only features a few characters from it. The setting — present-day Tulsa, Oklahoma — is completely different. So is the show’s central theme of white supremacy.

Where Snyder’s focus on following the letter of the law with Watchmen caused him to utterly miss the spirit of the thing, Lindelof’s disruptive approach comes far closer than you might expect at first, given how many departures he’s taken from where the comic book left off. Not all of it works, but it’s a fascinating — and frequently thrilling — attempt to rebottle some of the same lightning that Moore and Gibbons unleashed back in the Eighties.

Lindelof’s take isn’t a deconstruction of superhero shows, nor of TV dramas in general, in the way that the comic picked apart other comics. Television has been deconstructing itself plenty in the post- Sopranos era, and even some comic book dramas have done it, whether through the psychedelic imagery of Legion or the self-aware goofiness of Legends of Tomorrow . But he’s successfully taken the comic’s larger sociological questions and extrapolated them out to the terrifying world we live in now. In Ronald Reagan’s America, for instance, the thing that seemed on the verge of destroying us was nuclear war, and much of the comic’s story was fueled by fear of everyone dying under a mushroom cloud. In Donald Trump’s America, the existential threat is white nationalist extremism — and, beyond that, more casual but pervasive forms of racism — which Lindelof turns into the Seventh Kalvary, a KKK-style movement whose members wear masks inspired by Watchmen vigilante Rorschach. The Kalvary’s terrorist actions in turn have forced police officers to assume costumed identities, like Regina King’s Tulsa cop Angela Abar, who patrols the streets in a fetish nun outfit, calling herself Sister Night.

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Cops dressing like superheroes is an inversion of a plot device from the comics, where masked vigilantes were legally banned in the Seventies. But it also feels unnervingly applicable to our world, where events like Botham Jean’s murder (and its violent aftermath) can create the impression — particularly in minority communities — that the police are already a team of untouchable vigilantes. That Angela herself is black is a complication the series examines early and often, with Lindelof again taking advantage of the fiery brilliance of King, who was briefly part of The Leftovers ensemble.

The story deftly toggles between our own history and the alternative one Moore and Gibbons crafted. We open decades before any event from the comic, with a horrifying depiction of the real-life 1921 massacre in the Greenwood section of Tulsa, which at the time was known, to the displeasure of local Klan members, as “Black Wall Street.” And then we land in a version of 2019 where Robert Redford has been president for a quarter century, and where Angela and her boss, Judd Crawford (Don Johnson) are at open war with the Seventh Kalvary. The series takes its time explaining how our past is connected to its present, particularly via an inscrutable man in a wheelchair played by Louis Gossett Jr. It’s also in no hurry to reveal how figures from the comic book — including Jean Smart as an older, hard-bitten version of Laurie Blake, who once fought crime as the scantily-clad Silk Spectre; and Jeremy Irons savoring every bit of scenery he can chew as an enigmatic exile who sure seems to be smartest man in the world Adrian “Ozymandias” Veidt — figure into this new story. There are parts that may be impenetrable to viewers who don’t know the original story (or even the movie’s slightly modified version of it), but the eventual explanations — and particularly the link from the Greenwood prologue to the present day — prove incredibly effective.

Along the way, Lindelof and his collaborators (including fellow Leftovers alum Nicole Kassell as lead director) continue to ask how the world would be different — both better and worse — if it had superheroes in it. The series as a whole isn’t a takedown of Peak TV, but there’s a great running gag involving show-within-the-show American Hero Story , a stylized anthology that’s Zack Snyder crossbred with Ryan Murphy. And through the use of this more cynical Laurie Blake — played with delightful and very necessary wry humor at all times by the great Jean Smart — the show nimbly continues the work of analyzing why someone would put on a mask to get what they want, whether they’re a would-be hero or a racist villain.

At times, Watchmen falls into some of the same traps that could make the first season of Leftovers so difficult to get through. The tone can be dour, the show’s visual palette frequently more muted than the material seems to demand. (The hypnotic synth score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is more up to the challenge than many of the photography choices are.) But then we’ll cut to whatever ridiculousness Jeremy Irons is up to, or alien squid will rain out of the sky (again, you kind of have to be there), and Watchmen will come to dazzling life in the same jaw-dropping manner in which Lindelof’s two previous series so often did. The sixth episode, a largely black-and-white trip back to New York in the late Thirties, unlocks the show’s secrets and themes so smartly and audaciously, it left me feeling the same visceral, disbelieving thrill I haven’t experienced since Kevin Garvey sang karaoke to escape The Leftovers ‘ afterlife, if not since we found out that Lost ‘s John Locke was in a wheelchair before the plane crash. It’s the best kind of magic trick, where you can’t stop wondering how they pulled it off, even as you keep applauding the end result.

Alan Moore has famously disavowed any filmed adaptations of his work, and anyone else working with Watchmen in particular. It’s hard to imagine him even watching this show, let alone approving of all the deviations between his work and Lindelof’s. But I’d like to imagine an alternate version of history where Moore hasn’t been burned too often in the past by others playing with his toys. In that timeline, he sits down to watch what Lindelof has done with his signature work. He’s baffled at first by how little resemblance it bares to what he and Gibbons once did. But gradually, he lets the tiniest of smiles peek out from under his signature Old Testament beard as he sees how much this Watchmen can feel like his Watchmen , even if they look nothing alike.

Watchmen debuts October 20th on HBO. I’ve seen six of the nine episodes.

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Watchmen Chapter 1 Review: The Animated Movie Is a More Faithful Adaptation

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The following contains spoilers for Watchmen Chapter 1 , now available digitally.

When Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons pitched Watchmen in the 1980s as Who Killed the Peacemaker? , it was originally going to use Charlton Comics characters like Blue Beetle, The Question, Peacemaker, and Captain Atom. These characters instead became the inspirations for Nite Owl, Rorschach, The Comedian, and Dr. Manhattan respectively when DC Comics editor Dick Giordano accepted the pitch -- but as an original story with original characters. This afforded Moore and Gibbons the creative freedom to tell the story they wanted, without the restrictions of the mainstream DC Universe.

Watchmen became more than a dark take on superheroes. Instead, it satirized the different ideas of power that superheroes embodied, effectively (if perhaps unwittingly) challenging readers' understanding of superhero fiction. That made Watchmen an unprecedented success for DC Comics. Not only did the comic continue to be reprinted for the next four decades, but it also led to three adaptations: Watchmen: Motion Comic , Zack Snyder's Watchmen , and HBO's TV sequel Watchmen . Warner Bros. Animation's Watchmen Chapter 1 is the fourth adaptation of the comic, but it leaves its own stamp on the property rather than just being the latest take.

Watchmen Chapter 1 Faithfully Adapts the Comic

The animated film isn't following zack snyder's movie.

Watchmen: Each Character's Charlton Comics Inspiration, Explained

Drawing inspiration from Charlton Comics characters, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons combined that with their own clever ideas to create Watchmen.

Watchmen Chapter 1 is inevitably going to be compared to Zack Snyder's 2009 live-action film . While the theatrical release didn't feature everything from the comic Snyder wanted to include -- like Tales of the Black Freighter -- later DVD and Blu-ray versions did, namely Watchmen: The Director's Cut and Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut . The latter spliced the Tales of the Black Freighter animated movie with the live-action film.

While Snyder's movie alone gives Watchmen Chapter 1 big boots to fill, the animated movie does not aim to replicate Snyder's take on the property. Instead, it aims to recapture Moore and Gibbons' story the way they originally envisioned it . This means that the animated movie ditches Snyder's blue filter in favor of the comic's brighter colors. This creative choice effectively recaptures the original story's 1980s vibe, and succeeds in capturing the comic's version of an alternate history. The brighter color palette also helps the sci-fi elements stand out even more, namely the retro-futuristic cars -- something that was notably absent in Snyder's movie .

Another thing Watchmen Chapter 1 does differently is that it maintains the comic's more grounded tone by not using slow motion and stylized choreography for its action sequences. In the same way Moore and Gibbons depicted the comic's fight scenes as very street-level with no significant injury detail, the animated feature follows suit . This is most notable in the sequence where the Knot Tops attempt to mug Daniel Dreiberg and Laurie Juspeczyk in an alley -- unaware that they are Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II. No compound fractures and gore are depicted, showing that the titular heroes are highly skilled fighters, but not to a superhuman degree.

Watchmen: Chapter 1 adapts the first five issues of the comic, but it also doesn't 100 percent replicate Gibbons' comic panels. The movie does replicate the perspectives used in the comic's nine-panel layouts, but doesn't present the comic's events in the same order. In the original comic, The Comedian flashbacks are shown during his funeral in Watchmen #2, "Absent Friends." In the animated movie, the flashbacks are shown the first time the characters become aware of his death.

Another way Watchmen: Chapter 1 cleverly adapts the source material is how it incorporates the Tales of the Black Freighter comic Bernie reads. Whereas the original comic often juxtaposes panels from the Black Freighter comic with corresponding panels from the main Watchmen story, the animated feature mounts the Black Freighter comic's narration boxes over scenes depicting the main Watchmen story. These sequences are accompanied by vocal narration to drive home how these parallel stories connect. In scenes that exclusively focus on Bernie reading the Black Freighter comic, the movie opts to depict the comic itself instead of doing a separate animated sequence. This effectively creates the "comic within a comic" sequence that the original Watchmen is known to do. Last but not least, the animated movie manages to insert Hollis Mason's Under the Hood narration as part of its end credits.

Watchmen Chapter 1's Vocal Performances Succinctly Capture the Heroes

The cast offers their unique takes on most characters.

10 Animated Movies With The Best Casts

Animated movies need a talented cast to voice the characters and films like The Lego Movie and TMNT: Mutant Mayhem have many A-list stars.

Another part of what carries Watchmen Chapter 1 is the vocal performances. The actors succeed in bringing the characters to life in their own unique way. Most of the stars opt to do their own takes on the characters, as opposed to vainly attempting to recapture what Zack Snyder's 2009 cast had already achieved. The one exception to this is Bosch: Legacy star Titus Welliver , whose performance as Rorschach is nearly identical to that of Jackie Earle Haley's portrayal of the character in Snyder's live-action adaptation.

Welliver opting to keep the same voice works in favor of the story . Rorschach's most identifiable trait as a character is that he has a cynical world view that's coupled with extreme right-wing prejudices. Though depicted as an uncompromising and passionate crimefighter, he also has contempt for his former colleagues -- including Daniel Dreiberg, who was his frequent collaborator prior to the Keene Act of 1977. When he's not wearing his "face," Rorschach is presented as having an unkempt appearance and keeps a dirty apartment. Welliver captures these traits perfectly through his vocal performance. The roughness with which he speaks illustrates both the character's penchant for intimidation and his scruffy nature.

As Laurie Juspeczyk, Katee Sackhoff succinctly brings out the second Silk Spectre's frustration with her life's lack of meaningful progression. Sackhoff also captures Laurie's emotional vulnerability and need for human connection . The latter pushes Laurie away from her romantic partner Dr. Manhattan , and into the arms of her colleague Daniel Dreiberg. The latter is portrayed by Matthew Rhys, who does an excellent job at presenting Dan as a laid-back person who is compassionate towards others -- especially Laurie -- by giving Dan a soft voice. Likewise, Michael Cerveris provides Jon Osterman and Dr. Manhattan with distinct voices. Before his transformation into Dr. Manhattan, Jon is more expressive and even excitable; post-transformation, Dr. Manhattan has a more robotic elocution to indicate his loss of touch with humanity.

The biggest departure comes from Rick D. Wasserman as Edward Blake AKA The Comedian. Fans of Zack Snyder's Watchmen will be more used to Jeffrey Dean Morgan's portrayal of The Comedian , who's presented as having a bit of a drawl. Wasserman plays The Comedian as being more rough around the edges, which is reflected in a deeper, gruffer voice . Though that works to capture the violent nature of the character, it may also throw some viewers for a loop. Though not prominently featured in Watchmen Chapter 1 , Troy Baker and Adrienne Barbeau also bring their A-game to the table. Baker excels as the calm and collected Adrian Veidt, while Barbeau expertly portrays the aging Sally Jupiter, reminiscing about her days as a Golden Age superhero.

But despite the outstanding performances, the voice work is not without some flaws. There are scenes where an emotional beat is not well captured -- seemingly due to the voice actor speed-reading through their lines. In other cases, the voice actor doesn't capture the right emotion that a scene demands, making the animation and vocal performance feel out of sync with each other.

Watchmen Chapter 1 Would've Benefited From 2D Animation

The 3d approach works against the movie.

Watchmen's Original Ending Couldn't be Adapted for Surprising Reasons

Hollywood's decision to alter Watchmen's controversial finale might have been more than a creative decision.

Animation-wise, Watchmen Chapter 1 is presented with gorgeous visuals and backgrounds, helped by its bright color palette. The downside of this, however, is that the characters could've benefited from 2D animation . They're designed in the vein of Dave Gibbons' original artwork. The bright colors also augment the comic book look that the animated movie seeks to emulate. As such, much of the characters' appearance and movements would look much more natural and fluid in the 2D format.

As 3D animated characters with 2D features, the characters look like they were rotoscoped in a style similar to Richard Linklater's 2006 movie A Scanner Darkly . Though not necessarily a bad stylistic choice, the 3D/2D combination doesn't really work in the movie's favor, and is a bit distracting. Even if the characters were presented entirely in 3D with no 2D features, this still wouldn't fit the aesthetic of the original comic. 2D animation would've done a far better job at preserving the characters' original looks from the comics, while still letting them look sharp as animated figures.

While Watchmen Chapter 1 isn't a perfect adaptation of the comic that redefined superhero stories at the tail end of the 20th century, it's the closest fans will get to a fully adapted version of Watchmen . The animated feature takes very few liberties with the source material, opting to be as authentic as possible, while also finding ways to stand out from previous adaptations.

Watchmen Chapter 1 is available now digitally, with a Blu-ray release on Aug. 27, 2024.

Watchmen: Chapter 1

As a former vigilante is found dead in an alternate 1980s, a complex web of secrets begins to unravel, exposing the fragile peace between superpowers in this modern animated adaptation of Alan Moore's classic series. Former heroes, now outcasts, are drawn back into the shadows to uncover a sinister plot that could threaten global stability, forcing them to question their own moral compasses.

• The animated movie faithfully adapts with comic with unique visuals.
• The animated movie's soundtrack and color palette preserves the story's 1980s vibe.
• The animated movie's vocal performances are hit and miss.
• The animated movie would've looked better in 2D animation.

Watchmen Review

01 Jan 2013

162 minutes

Recently quizzed on his expectations for the movie adaptation of his hallowed graphic novel Watchmen, Alan Moore — shaman, philosopher, citizen of Northampton and visionary comic-book auteur — was heard to sigh. “Do we need any more shitty films in this world?” he grumbled not-unreasonably. After all, a muddled V For Vendetta and the gigantic snafu that was The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen had led him to finally cut all ties (including financial) with the movie world. Let them do what they will, just don’t involve me. He concluded his diatribe with the simple remonstration that Watchmen, his masterwork, was “inherently unfilmable”.

Which is not exactly encouraging for a director attempting their dream project. But Zack Snyder, hot from his stylised-if-juvenile adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300, is a determined man. Even if Moore had turned his back, Snyder was one of the faithful, Watchmen his Bible, and would treat it with a care unprecedented in the annals of Hollywood screw-ups. Every sinew of directorial effort has been bent on proving the author wrong.

Equal parts celebration, parody and exotic dissembling of an entire industry, the novel is dizzy with storytelling devices: not just comic-strips, but biographical chapters, diaries, newspaper reports, poetry quotations, medical files and a warped, ultra-violent story-within-a-story called Tales Of The Black Freighter (sensibly siphoned off by Snyder into an accompanying animated DVD release). It was less the Citizen Kane of graphic novels than the Ulysses — a vortex of astonishing ideas that could take you years to fully compute. Stick that into two hours of family entertainment then, Zack…

In this gloomy, alternative Nixonian America, an outcast superhero has been tossed out of his apartment window. Still, The Comedian, former member of the disbanded Watchmen, has some ugly secrets. Rorschach, a paranoid sleuth whose ink-blot mask eerily ebbs and flows with his moods, can smell conspiracy, but his fellow ex-Watchmen are hard to convince. Ultra-brain Ozymandias is locked away in his ivory tower solving the energy crisis, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre are fretting over freakish pasts, while Dr. Manhattan — the only genuine superhero, having been blasted in a freak atomic accident — has become detached from human emotion, capable of knowing his future and travelling to Mars on a whim.

It’s a whodunnit, although what exactly has been done is hard to say. It’s an action movie heavy on dialogue, although the movie styles up the punch-ups into slow-mo montages slickly edited to effective if anomalous tunes — a Snyder predilection that can lean towards the wearily hip. It’s an origin story, or rather five origin stories flashbacking through time. It’s a bleak, rangy tale of a planet beset with disorder, a parable about power, and a superhero soap that shuttles between multiple story arcs that almost divides the film into comic-book cells.

Greater reputations than Snyder’s have wrestled with the beast to no avail. Terry Gilliam, no stranger to whirling structures and otherworldliness, couldn’t figure it out. Paul Greengrass, no stranger to political subtexts and propulsive action, was abandoned by a sceptical studio. Amid the mud-hurling of the recent court case, the script was accused of being an “unintelligible piece of shit”.

That Snyder has gotten a version to the screen at all is a triumph. He has found a way — although this is 160 minutes of a dense, geek-orientated blockbuster for grown-ups. Inevitably, but hardly catastrophically, it fails to truly capture the cascade of ideas and bracing cynicism of Moore’s writing. Yet there is a challenging, visually stunning and memorable movie here, moored halfway towards achieving the impossible.

It will also inevitably be judged from two angles: what it means for those that have read the comic-book, and those who will enter the cinema unequipped, say, with the history of the Minutemen, predecessors of the Watchmen, or the nature of Bubastis, Ozymandias’ genetically mutated lynx. Snyder nearly manages a film for both, but errs to the former. While necessarily filleting down the vast story to something palatable for human bladders, he is slavish to the original text. In his desire to encompass the novel’s strands, storylines and their payoffs are short-changed, leaving the film emotionally subdued, more an intellectual mystery than natural thriller.

And there is no compromising for the junior dollar: arms are snapped, heads hatcheted, and Viet-Cong splattered like flies by Dr. Manhattan, while Silk Spectre keeps her kinky boots on during mid-flight coitus. The entire atmosphere, dunking the cleaner lines of the novel into a pungently vivid, rain-sloshed superhero noir, lacquered in blood stains and midnight shadows, is superbly realised, a true world-unto-itself far more stimulating than Iron Man’s Windowlened sparkle or even The Dark Knight’s shimmering, Michael Mann-ish nightscapes.

In boldly keeping the book’s (then contemporary) 1985 setting fraught with Cold War paranoia — the plot teeters on the brink of nuclear war — the film becomes a less urgent period-piece. The political spine is now cute, as America taunts the Soviets as it has Dr. Manhattan as the ultimate deterrent. A hairless blue man with it all hanging out, he comes care of a mo-capped Billy Crudup that’s about 70 per cent successful — much better in close-up than the distracting mid-shots dominated by his blurry-blue CG cock.

Of all the Watchmen, it is Rorschach and Nite Owl who are most successful. Jackie Earle Haley finds the leery, psychopathic heartbeart of the faceless Bogart, and you half-wish Snyder might have stuck with Rorschach as protagonist rather than spreading the net so wide. No doubt the purists would have wailed. Patrick Wilson, too, is just right as the tortured Owl, a hero bereft in his own identity. It is Mathew Goode as oddball Ozymandias, and Malin Ackerman as Silk Spectre who botch line-readings, ill-at-ease in latex that is part suit and part joke.

Which should tell you Snyder has caught the novel’s provocative mindset. Fundamentally, Moore was asking how a universe of costumed crime fighters might actually work. A quest borrowed by Nolan for his Batman rethink. Here, though, there is dark satire: Batman (now Nite Owl) can’t get it up, impotent without his suit on; Wonder Woman (now Silk Spectre) carries the mountain of her mother’s guilt (a previous Silk Spectre marooned in old age); Superman (now Dr. Manhattan) has taken on the unreachable guise of a god. Best of all, there is Philip Marlowe (now Rorschach), with his do-or-die morality and Taxi Driver voiceover, the most hideously human of the bunch. Holed up in the clink, the inmates try to dispose of the despised crime-fighter. Unmasked and dead-eyed, Earle Haley turns to his foe and, shortly before dousing him in boiling chip fat, chillingly delivers Moore’s deathly magic: “None of you understand. I’m not locked up in here with you. You’re locked up in here with… ME!” And he’s the hero.

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Watchmen (2009)

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‘Watchmen’ Review: Damon Lindelof’s Spectacular HBO Series Is Equal Parts Insightful and Exciting

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Much of what “ Watchmen ” is about — and Damon Lindelof ‘s substantial adaptation of Alan Moore’s sprawling graphic novel is about quite a lot — can be summed up in a joke. Well, it’s not really a joke, but the cunning and cutting Jean Smart still sells it that way.

“You know how you can tell the difference between a masked cop and a vigilante?” Smart, as FBI Agent Laurie Blake, asks.

No-bullshit Tulsa police detective Angela Abar, played by Regina King, answers plainly, as expected: “No.”

“Me either,” Laurie says — and that’s the end of the joke.

Masks, identities, and the murky, muddled truth they form are central themes of “Watchmen.” If the cops and criminals wear masks, how do you tell them apart? Who’s the hero and who’s the villain? Who, in other words, do you trust? Looking beyond the veils people share with the world, “Watchmen” finds fundamental truths about an America divided by a lack of faith in itself, its people, and its institutions. The series’ scope is astonishing given its subject matter, and even more so given its relentless entertainment value. Through six episodes, “Watchmen” has already provided a bounty of intelligent theories to study and debate, but it’s designed to be one helluva good time, as well.

Related Stories ‘Watchmen’: Regina King Shares the Big Gesture That Convinced Her to Join HBO’s Ambitious Adaptation ‘Watchmen’ Trailer: HBO Gives the Clearest Look Yet at What’s at Stake in New Adaptation

And it is. While it’s best to go into “Watchmen” sans spoilers, a bit of framing can be helpful in getting a grip on its hefty world-building. Everything that happened in Moore’s graphic novel is canon — the creation of Dr. Manhattan, winning the Vietnam War, even the Minutemen are all part of the past for everyone in the series. Certain events will be referenced, plenty of easter eggs are well-placed, and some established characters (like Laurie) play key roles in the new story, but you do not need to know the original comic by heart to appreciate this fresh creation from Lindelof and fellow executive producers Tom Spezialy (“The Leftovers”), Stephen Williams (who also directs), and Nicole Kassell (who helms the first two episodes).

The immaculate pilot, directed by Kassell with powerful fixed framings (reminiscent of the comic’s panels) and rich contrasting colors, sets up a conflict between local law enforcement and domestic terrorists. The Tulsa P.D. have negotiated a truce, of sorts, with a masked group known as the Seventh Kavalry — until an officer-involved shooting reopens old wounds.

In examining their conflict, “Watchmen” starts upending expectations and provoking conversation. Many of the targeted police officers, led by King’s character, are black. The Kalvary, who wear the mask of a former hero named Rorschach, is made up of white supremacists. This juxtaposition of a powerful black police force and a powerless white minority is purposeful, though not in obvious ways from the outset. The choice grows more effective and affecting as the series rolls on, as does much of the show’s more enigmatic scenes, set-ups, and subjects.

Lindelof has always enjoyed throwing his audience for a loop. Whether it’s an unexpected flashback, the sudden introduction of a new character, or starting a season by chronicling a pregnant cavewoman giving birth, the “Lost” and “Leftovers” showrunner tosses curveballs for the same reason a pitcher does: to keep the batter/viewer on their toes. But he also trusts his audience as much as he respects them. Seemingly random scenes always serve a purpose, if not multiple purposes, even if they can be overwhelming. At one point, a character says, “There’s a vast and insidious conspiracy at play, here in Tulsa. If I told you about it, your head would explode, so I have to give it to you in pieces” — that’s how it can feel watching “Watchmen”; as though your brain might snap from information overload. (Thank goodness HBO is still on a weekly rollout.)

Still, it’s balanced — if you’re feeling overwhelmed, it’s easy to appreciate the endless easy pleasures offered by this exceptionally cool adaptation. Big, loud, and intense action scenes are captured in giant fields, where the choreography of each movement is played out like a badass ballet. The same goes for the convincing hand-to-hand fights, which make the most of an able cast. Speaking of, King is nothing short of amazing — yes, she’s got an Oscar and three Emmys, but she puts even more range on display in a turn that effortlessly pivots between invulnerable and vulnerable. Jeremy Irons is having a ball as Probably Who You Think He Is, while Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, and Don Johnson each make you fall for them all over again. And yes, the costumes are so damn good-looking Halloween 2019 is going to be overloaded with cops in yellow masks.

When Smart tells that joke, she isn’t wearing a mask. She’s with the FBI, so she doesn’t have to. In “Watchmen’s” alternate reality, only local police are required to hide their identity. Anyone else who dons a disguise is considered a threat, in part because of Laurie’s past actions. Back in the ’80s, Laurie ran around as Silk Spectre, one of the many “heroes” who were either outlawed or privatized for government use after the public grew suspicious of their intentions, powers, and purpose.

Now in HBO’s “Watchmen,” Laurie is staring at a new form of costumed justice, and that figure is staring right back. The past and present are looking at one another, and neither likes what they see. “Watchmen” asks how we move forward from there; how we evolve, how we coexist, how we trust one another again. There’s no easy answer, but you’ll be shocked at how rewarding the search can be while watching this “Watchmen.”

“Watchmen” premieres Sunday, October 20 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

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Watchmen: chapter 1 review - too-faithful storytelling makes for an only adequate dc adaptation.

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• Alan Moore's graphic novel gets another shot at life with Watchmen: Chapter 1 , a faithful, yet flawed, adaptation.
• The 3D cel-shaded animation offers a unique approach to the material, yet feels cheap in parts.
• The cast are well-chosen for their roles, particularly Titus Welliver as Rorschach, and the adherence to the source material's story is welcome, but ultimately feels too familiar and lacking surprise.

The world of Alan Moore's iconic graphic novel is coming back to the screen with Watchmen: Chapter 1 , the third major adaptation of the source material. Zack Snyder first adapted the superhero satire with the 2009 movie of the same name, which saw a generally polarized response from critics but, much like other Snyder movies, has amassed a cult following since. Lost alum Damon Lindelof came back a decade later with the HBO Watchmen miniseries , which served as a sequel to the graphic novel and explored the same universe 34 years later, which garnered widespread acclaim, including 11 Emmy wins.

Watchmen: Chapter 1

With Watchmen: Chapter 1 , director Brandon Vietti goes back to Moore's source material for a more direct adaptation of the graphic novel, following infamous vigilante Rorschach as he investigates the death of Edward Blake, a former fellow vigilante who went by the name of The Comedian. Rorschach believes the murder is tied to a conspiracy to kill all former masked vigilantes, something his former teammates Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl lI, Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias, Doctor Manhattan and Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre II shake off. But when more things occur pointing towards this being true, they all race against time to discover the truth.

The Story Stays True To The Watchmen Novels (For Better Or Worse)

Adapting source material to the screen is never an easy feat, particularly one as expansive as Moore's Watchmen , whose complete collections of all 12 issues have been comprised of 400-plus pages. Where Snyder elected to tackle as much as he could in one 163-minute movie, and Lindelof took to a nine-episode miniseries approach, Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski has instead split the novel up into a two-part movie, following in the footsteps of other Warner Bros. movies like Dune .

...this faithful approach to the adaptation leaves little actual surprise for any longtime Watchmen fans.

Watchmen: Chapter 1 breaking its source material into two parts allows for some deeper development of some of its storylines. Doctor Manhattan's challenge of being a man out of time feels far more captivating than in Snyder's movie, while Laurie grappling with her familial past connection to The Comedian also allows us to be more emotionally invested. Straczynski even finds a way to incorporate the Tales of the Black Freighter substory into the film, something that had to be spun out into a separate animated feature for Snyder's adaptation.

The biggest problem, though, is that this faithful approach to the adaptation leaves little actual surprise for any longtime Watchmen fans. Certain shots look pulled right from the panels of the graphic novels, but even with some stories getting greater focus, the ultimate flow of the plot is far too similar to past adaptations to differentiate, making it far too predictable for anyone other than those who are new to the franchise.

Watchmen: Chapter 1's Cel-Shaded Art Style Is A Nice Twist (But Looks Cheap In Parts)

Over the past decade, Warner Bros. has taken an animated approach to adapting their iconic DC storylines to the screen, though the majority have gone with a hand-drawn 2D style. Rather than keep this trend, however, Watchmen: Chapter 1 goes for a cel-shaded 3D animation style, feeling reminiscent of 2018's Batman Ninja , or Vietti's previous 3D animated effort, Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League. Despite this change, Watchmen: Chapter 1 largely stays true to Dave Gibbons' designs and atmosphere for the graphic novels.

This visual approach leads to some uniquely compelling sequences in the film, the most notable being that of Doctor Manhattan's exile on Mars and venture back through time to reflect on various events in his life, including the accident that turned him into the superpowered being he is now. The montage of The Comedian's rampage in Vietnam and on American soil with anti-vigilante protesters also proves to be stunning to watch, with many elemental details around him contrasting nicely with him at the center of the frame.

That being said, this animation style is often out of place in Watchmen: Chapter 1 , and even seems a bit cheap in parts. Many of the characters' movements feel about as fluid as that of a Lego figure, particularly during some of the movie's action sequences, while others' emotions aren't effectively conveyed through their facial animations. The cel-shading may do its best to retain the dark and brooding atmosphere of its source material, but it can't help the 3D animation from feeling too cartoonish for much of the film.

Watchmen: Chapter 1's Cast Is Great (But Can't Surpass Their Predecessors)

Watchmen: Chapter 1 has assembled an absolutely stacked roster of actors for its cast, including Perry Mason 's Matthew Rhys as Nite Owl II, Battlestar Galactica 's Katee Sackhoff as Silk Spectre II and Bosch 's Titus Welliver as Rorschach, among many others. Vietti certainly did a great job finding the right people to bring the iconic Watchmen characters to life, with Rhys, in particular, nicely capturing the innocent naïveté of Dan, while Rorschach's gravelly cynicism is translated perfectly by Welliver.

Despite their best efforts, though, none are quite able to surpass the iconic performances of their predecessors. Welliver, in particular, may prove to be a solid successor to Jackie Earle Haley's Rorschach in Snyder's Watchmen , and yet there are times I couldn't help but feel like he was imitating Haley's performance rather than crafting his own. Rhys and Sackhoff similarly bring a lot of great emotion to their roles, but still come across as dry in moments where Patrick Wilson and Malin Akerman found ways to make their scenes pop.

Ultimately, Watchmen: Chapter 1 is a relatively promising start to this two-part adaptation of Moore's graphic novels, though it's brought down by familiarity, failure to surpass its prior adaptations, and a somewhat rushed pace. Though it may not have required a long runtime to tell the full story of its source material, the fact that Chapter 1 is only 83 minutes long is a missed opportunity to flesh out Moore's world and keep even longtime fans guessing.

A mysterious murder in an alternate 1985 sets the stage for an unraveling conspiracy involving former superheroes in this animated update of the classic series. As tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union escalate, masked vigilantes grapple with their pasts while confronting a dark truth that could change the world forever.

• Remains very true to Alan Moore's graphic novel.
• The 3D cel-shaded animation offers a unique approach to the material.
• The cast are well-chosen for their roles, particularly Titus Welliver as Rorschach.
• The dedication to faithfulness makes for a familiar ride.
• The animation feels cheap in moments.
• Despite their best efforts, the cast never surpass their predecessors.

Watchmen Review

A well-intentioned but frustrating adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel..

3.5 out of 5 Stars, 7/10 Score

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The Movie Review: 'Watchmen'

I first read Alan Moore's seminal comic Watchmen when it was published in graphic-novel form in 1987, and it was a minor revelation. The audacity of Moore's grim story of costumed heroes plagued by psychosis and alcoholism and lust, teetering on the brink between justice-seeking and sadism, was exceeded only by the style and imagination with which he (and illustrator Dave Gibbons) told it: the meticulous, nine-panel format that lent structure to the madness, the Philip K. Dickian comic-within-a-comic read by a peripheral character, the lengthy excerpts from (fictional) autobiographies and journal articles scattered throughout. It's not without reason that Watchmen was long believed to be unfilmable.

Opinions will vary on whether self-announced "visionary" director Zack Snyder's $100 million-plus adaptation is proof or refutation of this belief, though count me among those who judge it the former. Watchmen is in some ways an impressive movie, but it is a drearily over-literal one, the sober, well-financed retelling of a hallucinatory fever dream.

Snyder's film opens sharply, tweaking the sequence of Moore's original. It's 1985, and Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), aging but still athlete-fit, watches television in his luxurious New York apartment. As a perfume ad set to Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable" comes on, a mysterious figure bursts in and begins taking Blake apart, hurling him into walls and furniture and, finally, through his wide plate glass window. It's a long way down to the street.

We soon learn that before his terminal fall Blake was a former crime-fighter named The Comedian, who'd more recently worked as a kind of paramilitary thug for the U.S. government. (With one notable exception, Moore's "heroes" are not super-powered.) To get us up to speed, Snyder offers a historical montage on the evolution of costumed crusaders from the 1940s on, the early glories and tragic endings: a Mothman who went cuckoo, a lesbian avenger murdered with her lover, the eventual outlawing of the mask-and-tights set. It's a nice sequence, although, in contrast to the sly appropriation of "Unforgettable," it's set ham-fistedly to "The Times They Are A'Changin." (From here on out, the film rarely misses a chance to have a musical cue tell us something we already know: "The Sounds of Silence" accompanies a funeral procession, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" plays as one character wrangles with the captains of global industry, "Flight of the Valkyries"--!--blares during a Vietnam battle scene.)

No one much bothers over the death of The Comedian, except for Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), a fellow vigilante and borderline sociopath who worries it may be the work of a "mask-killer" and sets himself the twin tasks of solving the crime and warning other former heroes of the threat: nice guy Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), vinyl vixen Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman), corporate titan Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), and the omnipotent Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), a former physicist whom a nuclear accident rendered blue, bald, and (frequently) butt-naked.

These varied vigilantes bicker, bully, rehash the (mostly woeful) past, and, by fits, re-inspire one another to action. Snyder is loyal to his text to a fault, and such alterations as he dares--the tighter, more telegraphic opening, the replacement of a climax involving a giant, interdimensional psychic squid with something rather less goofy--are frequently improvements. But there are problems both with the tale, which was an awful lot more subversive 20 years ago than it is today, and the telling, which in contrast to Moore's radical experimentation is disappointingly staid and straightforward, imprisoned by its own legend.

In the 1980s, Watchmen was the definition of envelope-pushing, a bleak, violent subversion of a relatively innocent genre. But over the subsequent two decades the pop-cultural envelope has been stretched outward more or less continuously, by Tarantino and "24," by the dark inquiries of David Lynch and Neil LaBute and Todd Solondz, by the torture porn of Saw s and Hostel s, and on and on. The superhero genre in particular has been tweaked and twisted and turned inside-out in recent years: It's not merely The Dark Knight that has stolen some of Watchmen 's thunder, but to lesser degrees Hancock and The Incredibles and even Ang Lee's Hulk . At this point, we half-expect anyone in tights and cape to turn out to be a dangerous lunatic.

The absurdities and uglinesses of Moore's original work are also more evident because Snyder's film is incapable of the narrative gymnastics of the comic. Though he retains Moore's fractured chronology and frequent flashbacks--to The Comedian's attempted rape of Silk Spectre's superheroic mother, to the accident in which (apologies to "Arrested Development") Dr. Manhattan blue himself--he does not undertake the more literary ventures that gave the original such unexpected texture: the "Tale of the Black Freighter" mirror narrative, the "found" book excerpts, etc. As a result, Watchmen , which ought to highlight the strengths of its source material, too often reveals the weaknesses instead.

Snyder's cast runs the full spectrum from awful to awesome. Malin Akerman--who in 27 Dresses and the Farrelly remake of The Heartbreak Kid was cast in the role of beautiful woman who's nonetheless so irritating you desperately want her to go away--is no more tolerable in the (intended) sympathetic role of Silk Spectre. As Ozymandias, the "smartest man in the world," Matthew Goode has the wan whiff of puberty to him. Crudup, the most accomplished actor of the bunch, is largely wasted as Manhattan, his wry demeanor buried under so much CGI that the most memorable aspect of his portrayal is probably the glowing blue manhood with which Snyder equips him. Patrick Wilson is solid as paunchy sweetheart Nite Owl, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan is rather good as The "with heroes like you, who needs villains?" Comedian.

But the film's best performance by far is Jackie Earle Haley's Rorschach. For the bulk of the movie, his face hidden by a mask on which ink-blot-like shapes form and re-form, he rasps with a cold fury that would have Christian Bale's Dark Knight cowering in the Batcave lavatory. But it is when he is unmasked and incarcerated for a time that the character--and the film--come most fully to life. Though the diminutive Haley is about the size of one of Mickey Rourke's steroidal biceps, he may offer the most compelling portrait of violent retribution since the latter's turn in Sin City . One of Snyder's shrewdest alterations was to take perhaps the best line in the comic, which appears in a psychiatrist's report, and place it back in Rorschach's mouth, a warning to his fellow prison inmates, many of whom he put there and all of whom want him dead: "None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me."

Such appeals to adolescent testosterone take one only so far, however, and not nearly the length of Watchmen 's 163-minute running time. Bit by bit, the convoluted plotting, sensualized ultraviolence, excruciating musical choices (did I mention an extended sex scene set to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"?), and line readings in which Malin Akerman wrestles with the concept of character like a bunny with an anaconda overwhelm everything in their path. By the time a giant ball of energy is dropping down on Times Square toward the film's conclusion you may worry that New Year's 2010 is already upon us. Grant Snyder this much, though: It took balls to have the last line in his opus spoken by a major character be "Nothing ends. Nothing ever ends."

This post originally appeared at TNR.com.

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'Watchmen: Chapter 1' Review: DC’s Animated Adaptation Can’t Justify Its Existence

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The Big Picture

• Watchmen: Chapter 1 is a faithful animated adaptation of the graphic novel, but falls short in capturing its dark tone.
• The animation style feels tonally off, resembling a Telltale Games' look, which detracts from the story's effectiveness.
• The film has a strong voice cast and some interesting visual moments, but the scattered narrative and lack of cohesion make this adaptation seem unnecessary.

For a comic book series that was once considered unadaptable, that certainly hasn’t stopped DC from trying to adapt and continue Watchmen in a myriad of ways. After Zack Snyder ’s Watchmen in 2009, it seems the floodgates for this series have opened to all sorts of possibilities. In the last 15 years, Watchmen has received a video game with Watchmen: The End Is Nigh , a prequel miniseries of comics in Before Watchmen , a sequel series of comics with Doomsday Clock , another series named after Rorschach , a Watchmen motion comic, and the most successful of these, HBO’s Watchmen series, which continued the story of the original graphic novel rather than adapt Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons ’ tale directly.

The latest attempt to keep the Watchmen brand alive in some form is Watchmen: Chapter 1 , the first installment of an animated adaptation of the original graphic novel. Directed by Brandon Vietti , who previously directed such DC Animation projects as Batman: Under the Red Hood and co-directed Superman: Doomsday , Watchmen: Chapter 1 brings this to the screen in a fairly faithful fashion. But with an animation style that feels tonally off for this narrative and an adaptation that doesn’t take any of its own chances, Watchmen: Chapter 1 doesn’t so much ask who watches the Watchmen, but rather, why you’d choose to watch this instead of just reading the original graphic novel?

Watchmen: Chapter 1

Watchmen: Chapter I is a 2024 animated action thriller that begins with the murder of The Comedian, a government-sponsored superhero. This event prompts his former colleagues, who are now outlawed, to come out of retirement and investigate. Their quest leads them into a complex mystery that could threaten their personal lives and the world itself.

What Is 'Watchmen' About?

Set in an alternate version of the 1980s, Watchmen tells the story of a world where superheroes and supervillains exist and used to be prominent, but now, most are either retired or work for the government. When one such hero, The Comedian ( Rick D. Wasserman ), is found murdered, it seems as though someone is out to get rid of this old guard of heroes. One vigilante who never stopped, Rorschach ( Titus Welliver ) hits the streets to try and find answers, while trying to get the help of other former heroes, like his old partner Nite Owl ( Matthew Rhys ), the smartest man in the world, Ozymandias ( Troy Baker ), and a real-world Superman who transcends space and time, Dr. Manhattan ( Michael Cerveris ). As humanity seems to be heading towards war, Rorshach tries to solve a mystery that could help save the world.

Written by J. Michael Straczynski , the creator of Babylon 5 and co-creator of Sense8 , Watchmen: Chapter 1 sticks extremely close to the source material , even making the in-world graphic novel, Tales of the Black Freighter , part of the narrative. At least in this first part, Straczynski isn’t taking any major chances in this adaptation, and considering how strong Moore’s story is, this is a logical choice. Even Snyder’s adaptation did away with the Black Freighter elements to streamline the superhero story. For those who know the story of Watchmen , this retelling will make perfect sense, but again, it also seems almost unnecessary for those who already have read this tale. However, this currently fractured narrative, which is as of now only half-told, might be a bit too scattered for those unfamiliar. Naturally, Chapter 1 is fragments of a story building without a satisfying conclusion that it is heading towards. At barely 80 minutes, it seems strange to not just release it as one cohesive piece.

'Watchmen: Chapter 1's Animation Style Is an Odd Choice

Another unusual choice for Watchmen: Chapter 1 is its animation style. While stills of this chapter look fairly accurate to Gibbons’ original art, in motion, this looks more akin to the cel-shaded animation of Telltale Games like The Walking Dead , The Wolf Among Us , or Tales from the Borderlands . This shift in look is arguably the biggest alteration to this story, and yet, it just doesn’t feel right within this world. The decision to go with this style gives it a more cartoonish feel that often undercuts the darkness Watchmen needs to be effective.

However, this approach does have its strengths, even though it is mostly a weakness. For example, this style does work for Dr. Manhattan’s look, and particularly makes this character’s trip to Mars a fairly compelling scene, as he goes back through time, investigating his own history. Vietti’s direction also allows us to soak in this alternate 1980s aesthetic more than most other versions. There are many scenes where we watch our characters quietly walking the streets at night, and we can glean quite a bit from this show-don’t-tell approach. The city is still teeming with crime and questionable figures, while electric vehicles drive through the night—an example of Dr. Manhattan’s contributions to technology over the years. Chapter 1 occasionally takes its time to help give us a good idea of this world and the feeling that seeps into those who live within it.

But 'Watchmen: Chapter 1' Does Gather a Great Voice Cast

Watchmen: Chapter 1 also collects an impressive voice cast for its adaptation. Welliver’s vocal chords deserve a moment of silence, considering the gruff performance the actor is giving sounds like it must’ve been a strain, but it works here. Especially in Rorschach’s final scene, Welliver’s vocal performance shows this man's desperation and dedication to fighting crime by any means necessary. Rhys is also an inspired choice for Nite Owl/Dan Dreiberg, as he excels at balancing the boring mundanity of Dan with his heroic side. Baker and Wasserman both voice Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan, respectively, with a similar lean, as though they’re both tired of being the smartest person in the room. Katee Sackhoff also is a smart choice for Laurie, showing her confusion and frustration in her relationship with Dr. Manhattan, as she tries to find her own identity away from this bond.

Yet despite its brilliant voice cast and quieter moments that allow us to breathe in this unique version of New York City, Watchmen: Chapter 1 struggles to justify its existence . Its awkward animation choice doesn’t mesh with this concept as well as it should, and loses some of the spirit Moore and Gibbons gave with their original graphic novel. It’s a style that will feel off for those who already love this world, and for those uninitiated, the scattered structure won’t leave much of an impact without Chapter 2 to show where this story is headed. Moore has always been bullish against adaptations of his work, and while that’s come off as close-minded in some cases—particularly with the HBO series—it sort of makes sense with this version. Watchmen: Chapter 1 is a compelling curiosity, but never matches the power of its source material, and, if anything, should make people turn to the graphic novel instead of checking out yet another adaptation.

Watchmen: Chapter 1 is an intriguing idea with a strong voice cast, but rarely matches the tone or spirit of the original story.

• Watchmen: Chapter 1's voice cast, especially Titus Welliver and Matthew Rhys, provides smart takes on these characters.
• The quieter moments allow us to soak in this alternate history more than most other adaptations.
• The animation style feels wrong for this narrative, deviating from Dave Gibbons' art style.
• Splitting this story into two chapters will likely be all setup and no payoff for those new to this world.

Watchmen: Chapter 1 will be available to stream on VOD in the U.S. starting August 13.

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Movie Review: Watchmen (2009)

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• --> March 21, 2009

In Zack Snyder’s brilliant film version of Watchmen , it isn’t business as usual for a group of rag-tag costumed do-gooders living, working, and laying low in the alternate world of a Nixon-era 1985, a time when masked crime fighters have been outlawed. In much the same way as Chris Nolan did for Batman in the The Dark Knight , Snyder (who also directed 300 ) moves the crime fighters away from the cartoon landscape – the natural habitat of super heroes – and puts them into a neo-noirish, angst ridden world poised at the breaking point.

No comic book action film, however lofty, would be complete without all the requisite accouterments. Fans of Watchmen and similar work will be happy to know that Synder serves up pulse-pounding, intricately choreographed action sequences and astonishing visual and special effects. His set design is that of a world in trouble, deep in the shadows — part 80’s corporate greed, part 40’s film noir; a Bladerunner world reinvented.

Yet at the heart of the movie are such philosophical concerns as, is humanity worth saving? Is the price for peace too high if to achieve it, one must kill millions to save billions? Saving the world and watching over humanity is the job of the Watchmen — as Adrien Veidt says, “We can do so much more. We can save this world . . . with the right leadership.” But in the tradition of great drama/tragedy, there’s always a “rub”:

The Comedian: . . . It’s like you always say, we’re society’s only protection. Night Owl II: From what? The Comedian: You kidding me? From themselves.

It’s the ultimate irony. The big joke.

News anchors report that the United States and the Soviet Union are dancing perilously close to the edge of the abyss (nuclear war), which is represented symbolically by The Doomsday Clock, now set at 5 minutes to midnight. That same night, an intruder bursts into the home of former crime fighter The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and kills him. Does one thing have anything to do with the other? Investigating his death is the vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) who concludes that someone is out to discredit and kill off costumed superheroes. But why? Rorschach seeks out his old comrades to help him unravel the mystery surrounding the The Comedian’s murder — Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), Night Owl II (Patrick Wilson), and Adrien Veidt (Matthew Goode). What they discover together turns out to be a profound betrayal of all their beliefs.

Snyder establishes a tone that is appropriately dark, somber and brooding, though one could wish for a little light — and humor — to penetrate the veil and relieve some of the darkness as the has-been heroes dig for answers. Watchmen isn’t light comic action entertainment. It is heavy all the way around, from its tone, to the visuals, and through the thematic content.

Watchmen also presents a different take on super heroes — here we get to see them functioning in the real world. These are not squeaky clean individuals or other-worldly beings — they are ordinary people with extraordinary powers. They are susceptible to the gamut of human failings — alcoholism, abuse, insanity — and that vulnerability is what makes them so fascinating.

This immersion also helps the 162 minute running time pass effortlessly. Scenes may at first seem a little disjointed or confusing, but Synder’s technique to expand on the narrative through flashbacks to create the back story not only answer the questions that inevitably arise (and in a way is consistent with detective work) but also fleshes out the characters into complex, individuals rather than one-dimensional cartoon cut-outs. In particular, I applaud Synder’s imaginatively conceived expository title sequence which provides history as well as context.

The cast is undeniably attractive, but merely competent in the acting department with the exception of Jackie Earle Haley who shines in his role as the cynical, tortured, yet strangely likeable Rorschach. He’s a bit grubby without the mellifluous ink-blot mask, but he breathes life into a character who comes off as creepy and nihilistic, but in truth possesses great character and compassion for a society he claims he despises.

Watchmen is an exceptional achievement for Snyder who pushes beyond the boundaries of established comic book action films, surprising us with a film both real and thought-provoking, energetic yet measured, edgy yet profound — the thinking person’s comic action film.

I've been a fanatical movie buff since I was a little girl, thanks to my parents who encouraged my brother and I to watch anything and everything we wanted, even the stuff deemed inappropriate for minors. I work, write, and reside in San Francisco the city where I was born and bred.

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'Movie Review: Watchmen (2009)' have 2 comments

March 26, 2009 @ 6:54 am Cristine Alvero

I love this movie! And by the way great review, I really appreciate it!

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August 1, 2009 @ 11:27 pm Michelle

I didn’t like this movie at all. It was distasteful. Just another movie trying to cover up poor acting and directing with sex and nudity. It should have been named “hang out with my wang out”. Some things are best left to our imagination. Another book ruined on film.

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In Theaters

• Patrick Wilson as Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl; Jackie Earle Haley as Walter Kovacs/Rorschach; Malin Akerman as Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre; Billy Crudup as Jon Osterman/Dr. Manhattan; Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias; Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Edward Blake/The Comedian

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• Zack Snyder

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Positive Elements   |   Spiritual Elements   |   Sexual & Romantic Content   |   Violent Content   |   Crude or Profane Language   |   Drug & Alcohol Content   |   Other Noteworthy Elements   | Conclusion

Movie Review

It’s 1985.

But it’s a 1985 you’d be utterly unfamiliar with. Richard Nixon is serving his fifth term. Costumed vigilantes—superheroes, some call them—have been outlawed. And, from the window of a New York penthouse, a man plunges to his death.

So begins Watchmen , a movie adapted from the lauded graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It took more than 20 years to push Watchmen to the screen: Many considered the book unadaptable. Moore—no fan of Hollywood—wanted it that way.

Watchmen , with its myriad subplots, characters, allusions and time shifts, certainly doesn’t lend itself to a popcorn muncher. Neither does it lend itself to written synopses. About the best I can do is say that at its most simplistic it’s a mystery story—one that Agatha Christie would want no part of.

The dead man turns out to be a guy called The Comedian, a costumed crime fighter who, because he works for Nixon’s government, was one of the few superheroes allowed to keep his gig. Then he’s thrown through a thick plate glass window after being beaten senseless—a cold-blooded killing without a punch line, only questions.

Rorschach, a rogue vigilante who takes his name from his ever-mutating mask of blotches, is determined to ferret out answers.

“Maybe someone’s picking off costumed heroes,” he growls to Dan Dreiberg, a one-time superhero who decided to retire his alter ego—Nite Owl—when the government made costumed crime fighting illegal. Nite Owl doubts Rorschach’s conspiracy theory at first, but he quickly realizes something’s up. Dr. Manhattan, the only superhero with actual superhuman powers, has exiled himself to Mars because he believes his strange abilities cause cancer in others. A gunman nearly kills Adrian Veidt, a wicked-smart businessman who once adventured under the name Ozymandias (and still markets his own line of action figures). And Rorschach gets framed for the murder of one-time villain Moloch the Mystic.

Positive Elements

Much of what was once considered revolutionary about the book Watchmen feels, well, a bit old now. These superheroes are (mostly) human, filled with very human frailty and failings. While Batman and Spider-Man may have issues, some Watchmen are just plain bad . A couple are downright pathological. Still, they harbor kernels of goodness inside their dark, dark shells: Rorschach’s uncompromising adherence to his own code of right and wrong. Dr. Manhattan’s evolving belief that humanity is a real miracle—”like turning air into gold.” Ozymandias’ desire to lead humanity into a new age of hope and peace.

Right and wrong, hope and peace, miracles. That’s all good, right?

Spiritual Elements

Philosopher Voltaire once said that “if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.” So it’s fitting that, in the essentially godless world of Watchmen (most characters seem to believe that God is absent or, at best, too distant to care), we meet Dr. Manhattan.

Run-of-the-mill superheroes serve as lowercase-g gods—capricious beings who both protect and judge the populace, and whose failings harkens back to ancient mythology. To underline the connection, the film showcases a hero-filled dinner party, with the participants aping Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”

But far above them all looms Dr. Manhattan, a one-time scientist named Jon Osterman who was radically transformed during a lab mishap. Now he’s big and blue (and generally naked) and has the ability to manipulate matter, see into the future and zap from place to place faster than Rorschach can say “hurm.”

When America’s industrial/military complex first unveiled Manhattan to the world, one of his friends allegedly said, “The superman exists, and he is American.” Turns out, the guy was misquoted.

“What I said was, ‘God exists and he’s American,'” he says.

Manhattan denies this: “I don’t think there is a god,” he says. “And if there is, I’m nothing like him.” But because his abilities are so far above those of the average human, Manhattan becomes a godlike avatar: When he’s sent by the U.S. government to fight in Vietnam, surrendering Viet Cong bow to him. People say things like, “Even Dr. Manhattan can’t be everywhere at once.” And Manhattan takes on a uniquely Old Testament-style aura at the end of the film, when humanity (mistakenly) thinks he’s killed millions of people. Apparently fearing more “divine” retribution, the world makes peace with itself and, when superhero Silk Spectre asks Nite Owl whether peace can possibly last, Nite Owl says, “As long as people think Jon’s watching us, we’ll be all right.” Manhattan even says he now loves life again—and that he’s going to a different galaxy to create some.

Much of the book, and subsequent film, seems to ruminate on naturalist William Paley’s famous 1802 “watchmaker” argument—that the universe is so complex it supposes a designer, or watchmaker. It’s interesting to note that Manhattan’s father was himself a watchmaker, teaching his son the trade. Manhattan, after his transformation, ponders a universe where “nothing is made—a clock without a craftsman.” Clocks and watches show up repeatedly. For instance, Manhattan sets his watch on top of a Bible. And the very name Watchmen takes on a suggestive tone when these ideas come to mind.

Characters occasionally quote from scripture. Rorschach muses over ancient Egyptian concepts of the afterlife.

Sexual & Romantic Content

Dr. Manhattan spends most of the film in the big, blue buff, and audiences see him every which way: back, side and front. He sends nude duplicates of himself to pleasure girlfriend Silk Spectre—resulting in a bizarre foursome. (They’re interrupted during foreplay.)

Later, Silk Spectre becomes Nite Owl’s main squeeze, and the two engage in a graphic sex scene, complete with nudity (her breasts and both of their backsides), much movement and a climax—all while Leonard Cohen’s song “Hallelujah” plays in the background. Another physical tryst, where the two strip and writhe around on a couch, ends when Nite Owl finds himself to be impotent without first doing superhero-type work. Nite Owl also has a dream in which he and Silk Spectre, both nude, meet in the middle of a barren landscape and “strip” their nudity, revealing superhero outfits underneath. They then kiss before being obliterated by a nuclear explosion.

Dr. Manhattan, pre-transformation, has sex with his girlfriend; she later leaves him after he develops an interest—and passionately kisses—Silk Spectre (who’s 16 at the time).

Silk Spectre’s mom, Sally (who also was a costumed adventurer named Silk Spectre), is sexually assaulted by The Comedian. We’re asked to watch as he attacks her. (He unzips his pants during the assault. She’s in a state of partial undress.) We learn later that he and she also have a consensual encounter.

Elsewhere: Silk Spectre’s outfits are slinky and provocative. Rorschach’s mother was apparently a prostitute. Another prostitute flashes her breasts at a passing superhero. Audiences catch glimpses of pornographic magazines and movies. A naked man is seen frolicking during a party.

An old-school female superhero kisses another woman. …

Violent Content

The two are later found dead in bed together, the words “lesbian whores” scrawled in blood across the walls. A male superhero is a sadist. A villain is said to be a masochist who follows superheroes around, begging to be beaten.

That’s the tame stuff. Watchmen put the “graphic” in “graphic novel” when it was released piecemeal in 1986 and ’87. It’s as bloody a comic book as you’ll likely see, and it, as Slate reports, “helped kick off a decadent death spiral that would see adolescent violence peddled as adult content full of rape, murder and corpse-burning.”

But the book looks positively demure compared to the film’s butchery.

In the book, Rorschach dispatches a pedophile killer by chaining him inside his house and then burning it to the ground, with readers only seeing Rorschach walking slowly out the door. In the movie, Rorschach chains the pedophile up—then buries a meat cleaver in the evildoer’s skull. Repeatedly.

In the book, Dr. Manhattan blows up a criminal’s head, a cloud covering the carnage. In the movie, Manhattan blows up several criminals simultaneously: Blood coats bystanders; gore hangs from the ceiling.

“Nobody over 25 could take any joy from the savagery that is fleshed out onscreen, just as nobody under 18 should be allowed to witness it,” writes Anthony Lane in The New Yorker . “You want to see the attempted rape of a superwoman, her bright latex costume cast aside and her head banged against the baize of a pool table? The assault is there in Moore’s book, one panel of which homes in on the blood that leaps from her punched mouth, but the pool table is [film director Zack] Snyder’s own embroidery.”

When people get shot, we see skin separate like a burst balloon. When people have their arms broken, we see the bones stab through the flesh. Arms are cut off with buzz saws. Dogs fight over the leg bone of a murdered little girl—foot and shoe still attached. Dr. Manhattan has his body stripped into oblivion, layer by layer … twice. The Comedian shoots and kills a pregnant woman (he fathered the child) after the woman slices his face with a broken bottle. Rorschach, as a child, rips off someone’s ear with his teeth.

Superheroes punch, kick, shoot, stab, poison, immolate, harpoon and vaporize legions of people. And that’s not counting the 15 million folks who get obliterated by explosions at film’s end. Clearly, Watchmen shares far more with Saw than Spider-Man .

Crude or Profane Language

Twenty-plus uses of the f-word and at least a half-dozen s-words. God’s name is abused 25 or so times. (It’s paired with “d–n” more than a dozen times.) Jesus’ name is callously interjected at least another six. A wide variety of vulgarities and crudities—”b–ch,” “b–tard,” “h—” and so on—are heard throughout.

Drug & Alcohol Content

The Comedian smokes cigars and drinks to excess. Sally also appears to be a heavy drinker: She offers a margarita to her daughter in the early afternoon. Ozymandias poisons champagne, killing dozens of scientists. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre share some wine over dinner. Manhattan’s first girlfriend buys him a beer. Nite Owl drinks the stuff, too. Moloch, in an effort to treat cancer, takes medication made from apricot pits—which has been declared illegal.

Other Noteworthy Elements

Silk Spectre throws up. Rorschach makes several height- and weight-related jokes. Rorschach’s mother tells him she wishes she had had an abortion. Most of the characters break the law by fighting crime in costume, and some assault law officers.

Watchmen , the book, is a brutal, bleak and bitter tour de force. Named by Time magazine as one of history’s 100 best novels, it explores philosophy, politics, theology and human nature. It culminates in a literally monstrous act of heroism: In order to “save the world,” one of the protagonists unleashes a made-up monster on the streets of New York—the mere appearance of which kills millions of people. Our “hero” feels bad about the loss of life—but he figures that their unknowing, unwilling sacrifice saved the human race. And, while Moore obliquely suggests that the man’s gone mad, he eventually leaves it up to the reader to decide: Did he do the right thing?

Watchmen , the movie, retains that cruel sense of despair. At times, its adherence to the source material feels almost slavish. Yet it’s a bit pastiche, too, layering in extra—gratuitous—sex, blood and gore just for raw, big screen shock value.

As a book, Watchmen is messy. As a movie, Watchmen is a mess. In fact, I’ll go so far as to call it dispirited, depressing schlock—both as a work of art and as a mode of message. Fanboys may be enthralled, but I’d imagine the uninitiated will walk away appalled, confused and even strangely bored. At the advance screening I attended, where folks generally stay glued to their seats, I saw a number of people leave the theater. Some never came back. This isn’t a movie as much as an assault.

“Who watches the Watchmen?” one graffiti artist paints in both the movie and book. If I had my druthers, I know what my answer would be:

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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‘Wolfs’ Review: Brad Pitt and George Clooney as Themselves

They play underworld fixers in this trifle of a movie, though really they’re here to look enviably fabulous.

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By Manohla Dargis

“Wolfs” — a new something or other starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt — would like you to think it’s a thriller with a helping of comedy, though maybe a comedy with guns and guts. Whatever the case, it isn’t remotely tense or mysterious, and its modest thrills derive wholly from the spectacle of two beautifully aged, primped, pampered and expensive film stars going through the motions with winks and a degree of brittle charm. The movie is a trifle, and it knows it. Mostly, though, “ Wolfs ,” written and directed by Jon Watts, is an excuse for its two leads to riff on their own personas, which can be faintly amusing and certainly watchable but also insufferably smug. It’s insufferable a lot.

Clooney and Pitt play underworld fixers, the kind of misterioso professionals whom people with power and money hire to clean up their messes. Much like the character in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” played by Harvey Keitel — named Winston Wolfe but known as the Wolf — the fixers here swoop in and, with some elbow grease and a duffel bag large enough to hold a body, discreetly make the problem go away, or that’s the idea. Tarantino’s influence is conspicuous throughout “Wolfs,” most notably in its reams of self-aware dialogue, theatricality, casual violence and focus on characters talking to and at each other, including in a diner booth.

The fixers in “Wolfs” meet cute, as it were, early on when Pitt’s unnamed character interrupts Clooney’s mid-job inside a sprawling penthouse in a New York hotel. Since neither character has a name, it’s easier to refer to the actors playing them, which is very much to the movie’s meta-referential point. Clooney is tidying up a gruesome mess involving a local politician, Pam (a reliably appealing Amy Ryan). Faced with a potentially career-torpedoing situation — there’s blood and shattered glass on the floor, along with what may be the body of a dead male prostitute — Pam has speed-dialed a mysterious number hoping for help. Clooney comes to the rescue, and it’s on.

Pitt’s arrival baffles Clooney and adds to what becomes a messier, more dangerous problem. After some teasingly testy back and forth, the two settle into a wary partnership. Pam cleans up and splits as Clooney cleverly deals with her mess in between side-eyeing Pitt. (If you ever wanted to know how to unobtrusively move a body, this movie offers a helpful to-do list.) And then Pitt spies a backpack holding several bricks of drugs, and the cleanup becomes instantly far more complicated. It gets trickier still when the body turns out to be alive, and he flees into the night. Called the Kid (Austin Abrams), he looks a bit like Griffin Dunne in Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours,” another nocturnal adventure that racks up mileage in downtown New York.

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Watch brad pitt and george clooney pal around on the red carpet at ‘wolfs’ premiere.

Besties Brad Pitt and George Clooney flaunted their bromance at the premiere of their new film, “Wolfs.”

Pitt, 60, and Clooney, 63, laughed and greeted each other in front of cameras at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., on Wednesday.

The dynamic duo appeared to be having a good time as they joked around with each other ahead of the screening.

The “Fight Club” star was seen giving his friend a pat on the back and playfully pointing at fans.

Clooney looked sharp in a sleek black suit layered over a black button-down shirt with no tie.

Pitt coordinated with the “ER” alum by ditching his tie and opting for a dapper tan suit over a white shirt. He accessorized with black sunglasses.

The “Ocean’s Eleven” co-stars were seen walking energetically together as they entered the theater.

Earlier in the evening, Pitt arrived at the premiere with his girlfriend, Ines de Ramon , on his arm.

The couple looked smitten as the Oscar winner cozied up to the jewelry designer, 31, for all to see — though she did not join him on the step-and-repeat with Clooney.

However, the “Descendants” star has clearly given their love his stamp of approval, as he and wife, Amal Clooney, were seen on a double date with Pitt and de Ramon in Venice last month.

Their lavish Italian night out came after the pals promoted their forthcoming Apple TV+ film at the Venice Film Festival , marking Pitt’s red carpet debut with his girlfriend after dating for nearly two years .

The Jon Watts-directed movie follows a fixer hired to cover up a high-profile crime, only for his night to spiral out of control when he is forced to work with an unexpected counterpart.

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The project marks the first time Pitt and Clooney have reunited on screen since starring in their 2008 movie, “Burn After Reading.” Before that, they formed a close bond while co-starring in the “Ocean’s” franchise in the early 2000s.

The BFFs opened up about their friendship during a joint interview with GQ in August, with Clooney noting they have been pals “for a long time.”

“And it’s fun because we also check in on each other every once in a while, which is an important part of this. Things get complicated in life, and you always have to make sure everybody’s OK,” he said.

Pitt went on to gush about Clooney, saying he is “the best at understanding, seeing the chessboard and the potential moves.”

“I’ll call George on numerous occasions when things get bumpy,” he added.

“Wolfs” hits select theaters on Sept. 20 before heading to Apple TV+ on Sept. 27.

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